AirBNB Squatter allegedly developer of vapourware Kickstarter game

Here’s a story that shows why you couldn’t pay me enough to rent out my home on AirBNB.

Cory Tschogl of Palm Springs decided to use the service to rent out her vacation condo to a man. The rental was supposed to last for 44 days, now this fellow is refusing to leave. He’s also allegedly exploiting California landlord-tenant law in an attempt to squat indefinitely.

The homeowner says electricity consumption has quadrupled since he moved in, largely due to her tenant leaving windows and doors open with the AC on full blast. She has threatened to turn the power off is he doesn’t pay up. No, says her new sponge of a tenant. He needs it for his $1000 to $7000 a day home business.

What does any of this have to do with video games? Turns out, quite a lot. Local television station KESQ discovered the squatter is Maksym Pashanin, developer of Kickstarter funded adventure game Confederate Express. The game was successfully funded last November. He had originally asked for only $10,000, but received almost $40,000 from backers.

The game was supposed to be due out in June, but has yet to launch due to “restructuring” at Pashanin’s studio Kilobyte Inc.

He has promising annoyed backers a free copy of his second Kickstarter funded game Knuckle Club. He’s asking $25,000 but has only received about $700 at the time of writing with less than a month to go.

Pashanin is now claiming the delays because another company wants to buy Kilobyte, and they want Knuckle Club finished first.

Neighbours at the condo complex told KESQ that Pashanin and the squatter are indeed the same person. His brother Denys has also been spotted at the condo.

As the Consumerist correctly points out, not every delayed Kickstarter project is a scam. However, my bullshit senses are tingling on this one. Polygon spoke to ConEx team member Andreas Inghe, who claimed he hasn’t heard from the brothers in quite some time. “I have been waiting for months for an update on when I could start making more music for them, considering that they had officially put me on the Kickstarter page. I am still waiting (have been waiting for almost a year), but I don’t know what to think anymore. It all seems a bit fishy. But I could be pleasantly surprised in the end, or not. I hope it will go as planned!”

Polygon’s attempts to reach Kilobyte Inc for comment have gone unanswered.

For AirBNB’s part, they have offered to help Tschogl with her legal fees. With all the recent horror stories, it certainly makes you think twice about putting you home up. Now you know why your landlord requires so many references and background checks.

Sources: The Consumerist, Polygon, KESQ