Tag: Kickstarter

Pathfinder Online Has Three Employees Left


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Pathfinder Online, currently in early enrollment, has three employees left. In an announcement on the official website yesterday, Acting CEO Lisa Stevens revealed that the majority of the Goblinworks team has been laid off due to a lack of funds. The company is currently seeking outside investments in order to ensure that the game can make it to open enrollment, however right now the three employees and servers are being supported by the community.

Due to the commitment that you have made to the game, your current subscriptions are able to keep the core team employed and the servers live.  We will continue to move the game forward with that team and keep the servers live as long as the continued financial support from the community is there.

The bad news accompanies even further bad news, that CEO Ryan Dancey has resigned his position due to personal reasons. Given Dancey voicing his disapproval of the community’s outreach efforts earlier this year, the news that Pathfinder is facing financial difficulty may not be all too surprising.

According to the news post, Pathfinder presently has enough funding to keep the servers up through September. Anything after that is wholly dependent on subscribers.

(Source: Pathfinder Online)

CIG Might Refund $2.1 Million Kickstarters, Derek Smart Promises Lawsuit


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Cloud Imperium Games publicly announced that they refunded Derek Smart’s Kickstarter pledge and disabled his account may strike as odd, given they accused him of using the game to push his own MMO, and even odder if you consider that Smart allegedly has never posted on their forum. On his Twitter account, Smart reacted to the public statement by CIG with one of his own: Make a public apology or face a defamation lawsuit.

My attorneys are sending a strongly worded letter demanding a PUBLIC apology. If I don’t get it, I WILL take legal action.

In addition to the lawsuit, Smart also mused on the idea that CIG might refund all Kickstarter backers, presumably in response to comments about involvement by the Federal Trade Commission who recently opened up a division to handle crowdfunding.

I think I know what they’re trying to do. As I said in article KS & RSI pledges r diff. Looks like they r ready to refund $2.1 KS backers. IF they refund $2.1 in KS backers, the rest who bought directly from RSI website, are screwed by the TOS. Unless they sue or FTC steps in.

CIG has not yet responded to these new allegations.

(Source: Twitter)

Derek Smart Used Star Citizen “To Promote His Line of Defense Game,” Smart Refunded & Banned


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In what might be the first case of public corporate banning, CIG’s Ben Lesnick has posted a message on the official forums announcing that they have refunded Derek Smart’s Kickstarter pledge and disabled his account, effectively telling the veteran developer that he is no longer welcome as part of the community. In a thread discussing the refund on the main forums, a poll has gathered close to 30% support for the option to refund one’s pledge.

Our ToS (or in this case, the Kickstarter ToS) allows us to refund troubled users who we would rather not have interacting with the community. The process lets us entirely disable their accounts, preventing them from playing the finished game. Think of it as the video game equivalent of a ‘we reserve the right to refuse service to anyone’ sign in a restaurant. We’ve used this ability a limited number of times in the past, always with the aim of improving the community.

The action was spurred when Smart first posted his belief that Star Citizen will never be released, as it was promised, leading up to his latest blog post asking for an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission as well as offering a list of demands. CIG accused Smart of using Star Citizen as a platform to promote his own game, Line of Defense.

(Source: Star Citizen)

Project Gorgon Going Again For Kickstarter Gold


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It’s been a while since we last heard from Project Gorgon, coming up short of its $100k Kickstarter goal. Later on last year, the game was successfully approved by Steam Greenlight voters, securing it a spot on the digital platform. Since then it’s been pretty quiet as far as updates go.

Project creator Eric Heimburg announced this week that Project Gorgon will be making another stab at Kickstarter, marking the game’s third go at the crowdfunding website. If you’re interested at all in Project Gorgon, you can actually play the game in its most current version, free, off of the official website. Project Gorgon is still in alpha and has a small but rather loyal following.

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[Less Massive] Jagged Alliance: Flashback Bad Reviews Led To Withheld Content


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(Full disclosure: I backed Jagged Alliance: Flashback on Kickstarter for $25)

Information has come to our attention that, back in January, Full Control made blatant threats to withhold content over negative user reviews. When Flashback launched after a successful Kickstarter and early access period, backers slammed the game with poor reviews over bugs, missing features, and unfulfilled Kickstarter rewards. In an announcement posted to the Kickstarter page, Full Control blames the community for the game’s poor sales, demanding that users revise their scores or face that further content will not be released.

But at the same time, the gamers or even you as backers have not yet given us credit for this work by revising your reviews on Steam. We still have user reviews that are at this point hurting sales – and thus the possibility of doing future updates. Things hang in a thin thread due to bad sales with bad user review. Heck – I would not buy a game myself that has 40% positive on Steam.

If you really think JAF is only worth 40% positive, then so be it. I cannot change your mind then, and we will be forced to stop here. But with only a few changed reviews or a good handful of more positive reviews, the new gamer perception would improve a lot and possibly gamers will give the game another chance. And with improved sales, we can again do more updates and features.

They didn’t (Steam page stands at 54% positive currently), and as per their word, the entire JAF team was laid off, ending development. Full Control has since ceased operations, aside from console ports of their final game: Space Hulk Ascension. CEO Thomas Lund has found new employment at Sybo Games, a developer whose library consists of two endless runner mobile apps. Lund notes:

“But at least I have enough control of my budgets to be able to “land” the entire company and avoid bankruptcy. Even though we will not be producing any more content after May, I want Full Control to continue selling the Space Hulk and Jagged Alliance games, and providing community support for several years to come.”

One thing is obvious from the tale of Full Control. Backlash from aggrieved Kickstarter backers isn’t just swift, it can be deadly.

Credit for the extensive research all goes to Reddit user TheLARPKing.

Crowfall’s Backer Stretch Goals Thus Far


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With about 70 hours left to go in the Crowfall Kickstarter, more than fourteen thousand have pledged their support. The latest stretch goal is the Guinea Beast pack animal. The next stretch goal, at 14.5 thousand backers, will offer bonus tax-free land parcels to backers at varying tiers.

  • Female Centaur characters and enhanced particle effects.
  • All-father statue for all backers.
  • 1 free month VIP for everyone.
  • Character mounts and caravans plus bonuses for higher tier backers.
  • Guinea Beast pack animal for everyone.

(Source: Kickstarter)

Crowfall Begins Phase 2: Kickstarter Now Available


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The timer on Crowfall’s website hits zero today and it may not surprise many of you that it lead to a Kickstarter campaign. The self-described Throne War Simulator is asking for eight hundred grand over the next month, with an estimated delivery of December 2016.

In Crowfall, players battle it out over multiple worlds for control of the land. The game promises meaningful season changes, limited campaigns on procedurally generated maps, player control over maps, and a lot of destruction.

You can grab a digital copy of the game for as low as $30 during the Kickstarter campaign.

(Source: Kickstarter)

Project Gorgon Makes Another Kickstarter Run


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Project Gorgon is a fantasy MMO set to launch on PC, Mac, and eventually Linux. You may remember the game from its previous attempt at Kickstarter, at which developer Eric Heimburg (who worked on both Asheron’s Calls and the never-surfaced Star Trek Online by Perpetual Entertainment) missed a goal of $55 thousand. Heimburg’s wife, Sandra Powers, may be a little more identifiable as the producer of Everquest II and Asheron’s Call.

Project Gorgon is available to download a very early access version. The goal is to charge a $5 subscription, however free to play is not off the table.

(Source: Project Gorgon)

MMOrning Shots: Skara'd Of The Dark


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Today’s MMOrning Shot comes to us from Skara: The Blade Remains. I had the opportunity to do a bit of sparring on a very early version of Skara, and while the game is still has a very long way to go, it already looks fantastic on the Unreal Engine 4. You can check out Skara’s Kickstarter page at the following link.

Check out MMOrning Shots every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

MMOrning Shots: Skara’d Of The Dark


2014-06-29_00006

Today’s MMOrning Shot comes to us from Skara: The Blade Remains. I had the opportunity to do a bit of sparring on a very early version of Skara, and while the game is still has a very long way to go, it already looks fantastic on the Unreal Engine 4. You can check out Skara’s Kickstarter page at the following link.

Check out MMOrning Shots every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.