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Indiegogo threatens to recoup Spectrum Vega+ funds, new release date promised

Update: Former MD of Retro Computers Ltd refutes allegations made by company's directors, while current MD maintains her stance

UPDATE: Retro Computers Ltd MD Suzanne Martin has responded to Andrews' comments to Gamesindustry.biz, maintaining that delays to the ZX Vega are the direct result of actions by him and his current business partners.

Martin claims Andrews and his colleagues have been "sending threatening legal letters to current and past production partners in an effort to intimidate, harass, spread doubt, stop production and damage the supply chain, whilst simultaneously damning us in public for the apparent no-show of the Vega+."

"Calling for us to 'refund or deliver' is exactly the kind of disingenuous statement that has become the catch cry of an organised group of trolls we know to be associated with the former directors - and one we have become all too familiar with," she says.

Update: Former managing director of Retro Computers Ltd, Paul Andrews, has commented on the dispute between himself and the current directors of RCL.

"Myself and Chris Smith refute all the allegations made by the current directors of RCL," said Andrews in a statement to GamesIndustry.biz.

"For example, the high court injunction was only to stop the unlawful removal of my shares in RCL by its current directors, (something ruled for in our favour by the judge), it was in no way to stop RCL making the Vega Plus.

"We urge the RCL directors to either refund backers asking for refunds, or to deliver the Vega Plus to the people who paid for it, that is all we have ever wanted. We retain all paperwork to confirm all the facts in these matters."

Original story: Retro Computers Ltd, the company behind the repeatedly delayed Sinclair ZX Vega+ handheld, has confirmed it will launch in April 2018 after Indiegogo threatened to recoup backers' funds.

Speaking with the BBC, the crowdfunding platform said that it had set an end-of-May deadline for delivery of the product, which was due to launch in September 2016, or it will begin recuperating backers' money.

The London-based company was funded to the tune over £500,000 via Indiegogo in March 2016, raising 366% of its target. However, it was later blocked from raising additional funds through the platform due to repeated delays and failure to communicate with backers.

Yesterday's three-part update on the company's Indiegogo campaign page apologised for "extended periods of radio silence", and attributed internal rifts within RCL for the delay.

According to the post, former managing director Paul Andrews served the team with an injunction "timed to land the moment we were ready", which left company "paralyzed."

Furthermore, Andrews and another former RCL partner supposedly "refused to hand over the necessary code" and, a second-set of CAD designs had to be commissions for "exactly the same reason".

However, Andrews told the BBC that he disputed several of the allegations levelled against him in the update.

There were also a number of design issues including a light bleed into the display, and a need to re-engineer the console's buttons.

The update has been met with a mixed response from backers with some offering support while others continue to demand refunds. Despite this, RCL informed the BBC that the first batch of consoles will be ready "in a few weeks time".

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Ivy Taylor

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Ivy joined GamesIndustry.biz in 2017 having previously worked as a regional journalist, and a political campaigns manager before that. They are also one of the UK's foremost Sonic the Hedgehog apologists.