Jake Shirley is seeking at least $35 million from Timothy Kim and Paradoxum Games in a federal lawsuit over ownership and revenue from the Roblox hit Tower Defense Simulator. A public docket summary shows that Shirley filed the complaint September 18 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
The complaint alleges breach of an oral contract, unjust enrichment and copyright ownership claims, according to Aftermath’s original report. Shirley is asking for $10 million in allegedly unpaid partnership distributions, another $25 million for his claimed partnership interest, and a ruling that recognizes him as a co-author and co-owner of the game.
Those claims are allegations at the opening stage of a lawsuit, not findings by a court. Neither Kim nor Paradoxum Games responded to Aftermath’s request for comment.
A partnership built through Discord
Shirley says he and Kim met on Discord in 2017 and worked on two games before Kim brought him into Tower Defense Simulator, which the complaint describes as a high school computer science project. According to Shirley, Kim offered him 30% of the game’s revenue through chats and calls rather than a written partnership agreement.
The complaint says Shirley’s share rose to 40% in 2020. Both developers formed S corporations, left college and focused on the game. Dexerto reports that Tower Defense Simulator has accumulated nearly five billion visits on Roblox.
The filing also describes an unusual payroll arrangement. After two software engineers joined, Shirley alleges that the team set aside roughly $50,000 every few months in a separate Roblox account and paid the engineers in Robux before dividing the remaining proceeds 40-60.
How the relationship allegedly broke down
Shirley says tensions rose after the team moved into an office in 2022 and Kim asked him to sign an employment agreement. Shirley refused because he considered himself a partner rather than an employee.
He alleges that his final revenue-share payment, $92,749, arrived in September 2023. After November talks to unwind the relationship failed, Shirley says he was removed from the company’s business accounts and received an email terminating his employment in December.
The case now puts that central disagreement before the court: whether the informal arrangement created an ownership partnership or an employment relationship. The docket summary reviewed for this article listed the complaint and initial summons documents, not a judicial ruling on that question.
