also play copy kitty

Oh the devs are @AzureLazuline and @Raibys

Obviously not a 1:1 but a few years back I worked for a startup that got acquired by Apple: during our onboarding / converting to becoming an Apple employee process, the number of documents they made us sign was borderline comedy but the stuff that always stuck out was that I, a musician tangentially tied to video games (mostly event performance and song licensing rather than outright scoring) was given a contract that stipulated that creating music for 'industries where Apple has an interest' was prohibited.

Me, (being an idiot) thought the wording of the agreement was vague, so I directly emailed our HR contact for the acquisition team to get clarification. (Don't do this lmao) and what they told me:

1. I could not produce music for a video game released on any console, any physical or digital storefront, or free service. (They even stipulated itch.io!! and this predated the epic trial lmao)

2. I could not develop (in my spare time) any video games and release them, same criteria as above.

3. I could not produce music for any films, television or streaming shows.

4. I could not license existing music to any of the above.

I was also told in no uncertain terms that unless any of the above was completed and / or had signed contracts prior to the company sale close (aka my first official day as an Apple employee) they would view it as a breach. (Oh and there still could be a conflict of interests clause depending on the scenario that would need to be reviewed by the conduct team.)

I think the kicker is that the company in question I was a part of had nothing to do with video games or entertainment in any way whatsoever. It was a device management platform that got folded into Apple Business Manager.

Anyway, gamedev and tech is a goddamn mess.