http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47924168/ns/business-sports_biz/#.T-Tk7vWcdaQ
Wow, That retirement money went quick.
Sounds to me like some bad decisions were made (even on a state governmental level) and some hard decisions not made in keeping all that runaway spending down. I mean.. how many Millions was being spent on basically one game that ever (somewhat) reached release? Crazy.
He left ASL to go produce silly computer MMORPG's....what else would you expect to happen??
:P
The company had 300 people...that's alot for a software startup. The ones that I have seen and been associated with usually don't go over a 50 until they book some sales.
Quote from: GJK on June 22, 2012, 07:18:01 PM
He left ASL to go produce silly computer MMORPG's....what else would you expect to happen??
:P
Speaking of the former, what does this mean for MMP?
Dang, that's terrible news. Sorry to hear that.
Quote from: Arctic Blast on June 22, 2012, 08:49:01 PM
Quote from: GJK on June 22, 2012, 07:18:01 PM
He left ASL to go produce silly computer MMORPG's....what else would you expect to happen??
:P
Speaking of the former, what does this mean for MMP?
Not a thing I don't think; he hasn't been involved with them much if at all for a number of years now.
Quote from: ArizonaTank on June 22, 2012, 08:04:44 PM
The company had 300 people...that's alot for a software startup. The ones that I have seen and been associated with usually don't go over a 50 until they book some sales.
Yeah, that was my point. It looked like there was some
serious runaway spending going on. Somebody should've brought in "The Bobs" long ago. :D
Quote from: Nefaro on June 23, 2012, 07:39:44 AM
Quote from: ArizonaTank on June 22, 2012, 08:04:44 PM
The company had 300 people...that's alot for a software startup. The ones that I have seen and been associated with usually don't go over a 50 until they book some sales.
Yeah, that was my point. It looked like there was some serious runaway spending going on. Somebody should've brought in "The Bobs" long ago. :D
From what I've read, that isn't the case at all. What have you actually read about this? His company actually produced some successful software, so it's not like he simply started a company and hired a thousand people and ran it into the ground. There are some controversial loan arrangements and possibly unkept promises at play here - lots of stuff in the background the general public is not privy to.
While some software companies may be able to make a go of it on a shoestring, the more successful ones tend to employ large numbers of staff, either permanent or free-lancers. I'm not convinced he did anything terribly wrong.
MAD, nice to see you here. I'm actually up in Dallas for the weekend and was thinking of our visit here a while back. I hope that you're doing well-
Back on topic, MMP has emphatically stated that this will have no impact on their operations.
Quote from: GJK on June 24, 2012, 09:50:47 AM
MAD, nice to see you here. I'm actually up in Dallas for the weekend and was thinking of our visit here a while back. I hope that you're doing well-
Back on topic, MMP has emphatically stated that this will have no impact on their operations.
Good to see you too. Been busy as always with work and the reserves. And stalking friends on FB, you included. :)
MMP and particularly ASL seems to be doing well for itself, though I don't know how much money they really make at it - they are all part-timers there with one exception. Full credit to Schilling for being brave enough to follow his dream - ASL was a 30 year old game system with a very small following. No doubt it is popular - modules sell out their preorders within 24 hours - but his horizons are obviously bigger. And I don't get the sense he is stupid by any stretch. I think it is very possible he had some bad luck coupled with less than favourable parternships in government which I suspect he would not be willing to talk too openly about. All of this is speculation, just as everyone else in the thread is doing, but there are a number of articles about this on the internet with which people can inform themselves.
Mocking him for having 300 staff makes no sense; particularly in the context of creating a 21st century videogame product. I'm sure no one here needs to be reminded that Modern Warfare 3 released to an opening day of 400 million dollars in sales - in the first 24 hours. That's an outlier, but shows what is possible. They don't do that with 2 coders, an animator, and Microsoft Paint.
Quote from: Michael Dorosh on June 24, 2012, 10:33:40 AM
Mocking him for having 300 staff makes no sense; particularly in the context of creating a 21st century videogame product. I'm sure no one here needs to be reminded that Modern Warfare 3 released to an opening day of 400 million dollars in sales - in the first 24 hours. That's an outlier, but shows what is possible. They don't do that with 2 coders, an animator, and Microsoft Paint.
Pfff.
Still sounds to me like they were trying to instantly become Blizzard Entertainment with their first release. That's one helluva gamble. Companies swimming in money like that didn't just do it overnight, they started out small as did many others and built their way up. Going from zero to all-out Big Time in such a notoriously fickle industry as digital games, and specifically MMOs, was certainly a huge gamble. Throwing more & more borrowed money at a problem isn't always a solution that works, either. I wish the guy had succeeded but that's not the case.
This observation isn't "mocking" at all. No need to be a drama queen about a quickly and fatally crashed company receiving some criticism and hindsight. Maybe others with the same idea will take note.
This article does a decent job of breaking down how things unraveled over time for 38 Studios. Things may have happened quickly at the end, but the problems were building for quite awhile.
http://articles.boston.com/2012-06-23/business/32383893_1_film-tax-credits-studios-curt-schilling
Quote from: Nefaro on June 24, 2012, 11:12:15 AM
Quote from: Michael Dorosh on June 24, 2012, 10:33:40 AM
Mocking him for having 300 staff makes no sense; particularly in the context of creating a 21st century videogame product. I'm sure no one here needs to be reminded that Modern Warfare 3 released to an opening day of 400 million dollars in sales - in the first 24 hours. That's an outlier, but shows what is possible. They don't do that with 2 coders, an animator, and Microsoft Paint.
Pfff.
Still sounds to me like they were trying to instantly become Blizzard Entertainment with their first release. That's one helluva gamble. Companies swimming in money like that didn't just do it overnight, they started out small as did many others and built their way up. Going from zero to all-out Big Time in such a notoriously fickle industry as digital games, and specifically MMOs, was certainly a huge gamble. Throwing more & more borrowed money at a problem isn't always a solution that works, either. I wish the guy had succeeded but that's not the case.
This observation isn't "mocking" at all. No need to be a drama queen about a quickly and fatally crashed company receiving some criticism and hindsight. Maybe others with the same idea will take note.
It wasn't their first release.
I really suggest you do some research on the subject before calling names, either here on the forum, or with respect to Curt Schilling, who is a pretty well-respected member of many different communities - sports, wargaing, video game, etc.
For what it is worth,
Kingdoms_of_Amalur: Reckoning was released this year. It received critical praise, including a 9 of 10 score by IGN. Wikipedia cites a source saying it sold 330,000 units in the U.S.
Quote from: Michael Dorosh on June 24, 2012, 09:39:09 AM
From what I've read, that isn't the case at all. What have you actually read about this? His company actually produced some successful software, so it's not like he simply started a company and hired a thousand people and ran it into the ground.
They produced a single game, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, that did well enough as a first release from a new company. Everything was really riding on the MMORPG they were developing, 'Copernicus', which was delayed several times.
Quote from: Michael Dorosh on June 24, 2012, 11:27:11 AM
For what it is worth, Kingdoms_of_Amalur: Reckoning was released this year. It received critical praise, including a 9 of 10 score by IGN. Wikipedia cites a source saying it sold 330,000 units in the U.S.
The IGN score is a bit higher than most of the other scores the game was given, but I agree that it was mostly well received. It apparently sold 1.2 million copies in it's first 90 days, but that may not have been even half of what was needed to break even.
http://www.joystiq.com/2012/05/24/kingdoms-of-amalur-reckoning-had-to-sell-3m-just-to-break-even/
Quote from: Michael Dorosh on June 24, 2012, 11:27:11 AM
I really suggest you do some research on the subject before calling names, either here on the forum, or with respect to Curt Schilling, who is a pretty well-respected member of many different communities - sports, wargaing, video game, etc.
You suggest I what? ::)
Mirth just posted a brief rundown of how things were going for the company. There's no need to pretend everything was hunky-dory the whole time. If you've convinced yourself that no mistakes were made, then please continue on thinking so - just don't bother trying to convince me or tell me where to go.
I've not called names yet, but if you want to continue "suggesting" I do anything, then perhaps we'll arrive at that point.