On April 5th, developer Jason M. Appleton announced that he had signed away the rights to Greed Monger due to exhaustion and a lack of funds. The IP is now in the possession of James Proctor and Joel Hager, the former being the project’s lead programmer in the beginning. Joel Hager is an associate of Proctor’s that has worked with him in the past on game projects, but more in terms of project coordination and PR management. This announcement came after three years worth of struggle and criticism both from the gaming community and backers.

Appleton stressed in his update that he is not being paid at all by James Proctor or Joel Hager, nor is he expecting a payment in the future. He states that his sole interest is in ensuring the game’s future. He strongly feels that Proctor, with his ability to program and actually develop the game, is very important, also citing Proctor’s passion for the project. Interesting, since Proctor had apparently quit the team unexpectedly (no date given as to when), but apparently that occurred over creative differences with Appleton.

Proctor and Hager are currently forming a new team in order to resume work for Greed Monger. Unfortunately for backers, updates will no longer be offered through Kickstarter as Appleton used his personal account to create the original campaign. Updates from Proctor and his new team have been promised on GreedMonger.com, but a month in there’s very little.