Let’s get one thing straight: The Spectrum Vega Plus does not exist and Retro Computers Ltd. has lied every step of the way. On to the story.
It seems as though the long saga of Retro Computers Ltd. is finally reaching its tired, stretched far too long, conclusion. This month, RCL was given a simple set of instructions by Indiegogo following numerous, increasingly ridiculous excuses for delays and minimal contact with their base of backers: In return for an extension to June 15, Indiegogo wanted contact information for Sky representatives, that RCL needed to refund any backer who asked for a refund, and provide RCL with a review console.
These demands should theoretically be easy, especially the review console since as we all know, RCL allegedly had the whole stock set to ship between March 8 and 12 until the Cobra Commander of retro games, also known as former directors Paul Andrews and Chris Smith, dastardly reached out and encouraged developers to pull licenses over unpaid licensing that RCL claims it totally paid.
Keeping with tradition, Retro Computers Ltd treated deadlines like guidelines and completely ignored them, and now Indiegogo is sending in the A-Team. According to an update sent out to backers just tonight, Indiegogo announced that it is working with a collections agency to recoup funds in an effort to refund backers. They note that the effort will take considerable time, and that the campaign is still open to the Vega+ team should they decide to update us on their big shipment of Vega Plus units that may or may not exist.
All demands by backers to see photographic evidence of the release-version Vega Plus have been ignored by Retro Computers Ltd.
Dear Vega+ Backers,
As you are aware, we recently provided the Vega+ team a provisional extension (June 15th) to fulfill, based on some requirements from us. These included sending us contact information of Sky representatives, and refunding backers immediately upon request, as well as providing Indiegogo with a review console.
Unfortunately, these asks have not been met and we are unable to further provide the Vega+ team an extension. This has been a challenging situation for all involved, and one we thought would be resolved with the backers receiving their game consoles.
This week, we will be working with a collections agency to attempt to recoup funds disbursed, in an effort to be able to refund backers. Please note that, while we are pursuing collections, this process can take considerable time and the Vega+ team still has the opportunity to fulfill on their obligation of shipping the consoles to backers. We refer you to the Vega+ team for any updates on shipping. The campaign is still open to the Vega+ team, and they continue to have the ability to update you all via our platform.
We hope that the Vega+ team follows through on their promise, and that any remedial efforts on our part will be rendered obsolete.
The ZX Spectrum Vega is now available for pre-order for those of you who didn’t get in on the original Indiegogo campaign two years ago for the product that is now more than a year and a half past its expected shipping date. For the low cost of £139.99, you too can secure yourself a recreation of the ZX Spectrum in handheld form with 1,000 licensed games, or at least pay for a product that shows no indication that it will ever actually release.
What games? Nobody knows, the website says to check back in on May 4 around 5-6 p.m. but that date has long come and gone and Retro Computers Ltd refuses to release the list because developers are still pulling their titles over allegedly unpaid royalties. They also refuse to update that page with its past due dateline. Due to a dispute over license holding, RCL has apparently had to reach out to the owners of all 1,000 games to make sure that they are still cleared to publish, a cross-check that I will remind you is happening twenty months after the device was originally supposed to ship. Evidently nobody bothered to check in that time whether or not RCL actually held the rights to the games they were hoping to publish.
In fact, the Vega Plus got so close to shipping that RCL was ready to give out a tentative date: May 8 through 12, which they missed and subsequently ignored until the 14, announcing then that the device was held up due at the eleventh hour to the aforementioned licensing dispute. Surely if RCL had the devices presumably ready to ship out within days, they would be available to show a photograph of even one finished, finalized piece of hardware, yes?
They haven’t, and any requests for such have been wholly ignored. No game list, no photos of the device, no photos of the box of the device, a company so incompetent that they are still figuring out licensing rights twenty months after the original shipping date. One thing that RCL haven’t forgotten to comment on are the numerous claims that longtime boogeymen and former directors Paul Andrews and Chris Smith are wreaking havoc on the company, eating their steak and ruining their lives.
If you are considering pre-ordering the Vega Plus on the RCL website in spite of this, I have a bridge that needs investors.
(Update: MMO Fallout incorrectly stated that George Cropper and James Ball Duncan were involved in Retro Games Ltd. This has been corrected by Paul Andrews and is not the case.)
In the previous Crowdfunding Fraudsters, I talked about how Retro Computers Ltd had broken out the B-Team. As opposed to the likes of managing director Suzanne Martin who has gone completely silent, this group of people were allegedly not employed by RCL, but appeared on the Facebook page and social media to stoke the flames, acting more like unpaid thugs or bullies, riling up the diminishing list of remaining loyal followers and making unsubstantiated, unqualified remarks on the progress of the system, only to tell people to “get over it” when those claims didn’t come true. Their job also consists of blaming bad vibes from “haters” as what is causing the ZX Spectrum to go from a possible early launch to now 13 months past the original shipping date. As I joked, Retro Computers Ltd is the only company whose machinery is gummed up by Twitter trolls.
We’ve already gone over Lee Fogarty, a man who claims that he is not paid by RCL despite his company Creative Spectrum being hired to maintain their website, not to mention his name still being plastered as the author of every single news article that goes up on the website. Creative Spectrum, for those of you who follow the link above, is in the process of being striked as a company as its accounts due May 31, 2017 have still not been filed according to Companies House. There is an objection filed against this striking filed at this time.
But we’re here today to talk about the third wheel, Jan Saggiori. Saggiori, a hacker whose role in Murdoch’s Pirates is well worth a read, joins Lee Fogarty in slandering RCL’s competition in a way that is both sanctioned by Retro Computers Ltd in that it is allowed to propagate on their highly-curated and allegedly anti-negativity “Democracy” Facebook group, while also allowing the company to distance itself should any of the subjects decide to sue. Fogarty and Saggiori, through my time observing the channel, have made consistent remarks regarding former RCL directors Paul Andrews and Chris Smith, referring to both as scam artists and criminals, making predictions that the two would be in prison, and of course making prison rape jokes at their expense.
The slanderous comments have extended to Retro Games Ltd (Not to be confused with Retro Computers Ltd,) a company headed by Paul Andrews and involving George Cropper and James Ball Duncan (Update: It’s been clarified that neither of the two individuals are involved in Retro Games Ltd). Saggiori used the Democracy Facebook page to essentially dox several members of the group, posting their personal phone numbers and addresses, calling them scammers, and encouraging people to contact them demanding refunds. Saggiori also posted a link to a fake website for the Commodore 64 mini (an RGL product), which similarly reveals personal contact information for Andrews, Cropper, and Ball, while simultaneously slandering the company.
The website happens to be registered to Jan Saggiori. Viewers should be aware that the website’s registered information was not verified by Nominet (website registration service) with any third party and the possibility exists that it was fabricated by whoever registered the website. We can, confirm, however, that Saggiori himself was sharing links to the website so even if he isn’t its creator, he is supporting and disseminating personal details.
And while, again, neither Saggiori nor Fogarty are directly employed by Retro Computers Ltd, the company has not made any visible efforts to stop either party from using their social media pages to slander the company’s competition.
Tamara Thomas, who we pointed out made an odd comparison between releasing information on the Vega and someone dying for a kidney transplant, has been silent and, according to her husband, has not been present in the group for months and has nothing to do with this week’s unprofessional, and potentially illegal, display. For his own part, Preston has released a statement that posting the details was “disgusting” and condemned it. Thomas is no longer an admin of the Democracy page.
In addition, when I pointed out on Twitter that a new Crowdfunding Fraudsters was coming out, my access to the Facebook page was revoked.
Now for updates on the system itself. Back on August 9, RCL posted this promise to backers that the units would ship within the next 8 weeks.
We can also confirm we have secured rights to some of the biggest games in the Spectrum scene, and the final games list will exceed all expectations. We aim to begin shipping the Vega+ to backers within the next 8 weeks, and to follow this immediately with our first shipments to retail.
Incidentally today marks the 8 week point since this announcement was made, making yet another false release date in a growing list of unfulfilled promises tossed out by an increasingly silent company. The following photo was posted on Indiegogo on September 1:
In the month since this post, promising “regular updates” and “new images,” not a single new image or update has been posted to the Indiegogo page. RCL is now more than five months late on their roll of honor, thirteen months late on the system itself, and four weeks late on their promise for “regular updates” and “new images.” The Indiegogo page is still, despite RCL’s claim to have never refused a refund request, plastered with users complaining that their repeated refund requests have gone ignored for months on end.
The most up to date release schedule places the Vega+ launching “mid-October.” MMO Fallout has been made aware of some relevant past incidences revolving around certain RCL staff. That information will be expanded upon once we are able to more fully investigate its veracity.
The saga of Retro Computers LTD and the ZX Spectrum Vega Plus continues. If you haven’t read our previous coverage, you can do so here. While RCL has consistently responded to angry backers in an unprofessional manner, mostly by sending out social media admins to agitate the masses, the company finally began responding on Indiegogo today.
To announce that an announcement would be coming.
We will be making an announcement very soon. We are also very sorry that a hardcore group of people who have been refunded Ratcliffe and Co are still posting abusive comments.
Rather than utilize some free time to update backers, RCL then chose to spam its own wall, posting the following message no less than 40 times in the span of an hour or two.
Chatter on side channels suggests that RCL breaking their multi month silence may be due to the impending release of their bank records by shareholder Paul Andrews.
Regardless this appears to be just another case of RCL being tone deaf in their dealing with angry backers. Despite claiming that no refunds are denied, a quick inspection of the Indiegogo Page still shows numerous fresh claims of ignored refund requests.
If Retro Computers Limited wants to convince me that the Vega Plus is going to be released, they need to prove it. For those of you who haven’t seen the original Crowdfunding Fraudsters regarding the ZX Spectrum Vega Plus, you can read it here. Today we’re revisiting the ZX Spectrum Vega+, a handheld device slated for release in September 2016. It still hasn’t launched.
1. Retro Computers Ltd Breaks Out The B-Team
Where the previous Crowdfunding Fraudster article focused on figures like RCL Managing Director Suzanne Martin, founder David Levy, Chris Smith, and Paul Andrews, Darren Melbourne, and more, the follow up is going to focus on three people whose opinions are entirely present despite being exponentially more immature and irrelevant than people we’d actually like to hear from: Tamara Thomas, Lee Fogarty, and Jan Saggiori.
Thomas and Saggiori are volunteer administrators of the unironically named “Democracy” side of the Retro Vega+ Facebook group, a title which gives superficial authority along with a ban hammer and delusions of respect. You also get gems like comparing waiting for photos of a video game console to a donated kidney and people dying:
Thomas and Saggiori’s unofficial job is to act as bullies on behalf of RCL, berating frustrated backers so when RCL pushes another delay, they can point to the people that Thomas and Saggiori have deliberately provoked and claim that the delays are due to complaining. Evidently RCL’s systems operate on juju, because people getting angry that Thomas showed up to tell them to “get over it” causes the internet to stop functioning and, thus, prevented RCL from posting photographs and video on Facebook for well over a week a few months ago, rather than RCL’s own incompetence at meeting deadlines. The group has mostly replaced Managing Director Suzanne Martin, whose primary job appeared to be selling photographs and video footage as a multi-million dollar effort.
Fogarty, meanwhile, is the web admin and definitely not the spokesman for Retro Computers Ltd, as despite his name appearing in the author box on what appears to be every news piece over at the RCL website, or constantly posting pictures with the test devices on the Facebook page, we can only assume that an actual spokesman wouldn’t be making jail rape jokes in regards to the other side of ongoing lawsuits.
Much like Thomas and Saggiori, Fogarty’s job appears to be primarily antagonizing the slowly dwindling number of backers from the relative safety of not being an employee, while simultaneously claiming complete ignorance on why anyone would be so hostile toward RCL when clearly all they are guilty of is providing a positive atmosphere with a channel where correspondence has completely died and no one posts due to the overanxious ban hammer.
Otherwise the team has pretty much moved on to the elementary school tactic of “I’m not touching you,” posting photos of beta testers and describing how much testers are enjoying their units, and then acting surprised when backers get frustrated. Why? We’re only eight months past deadline for a piece of hardware that was so much on track that it may have had the potential to launch early.
2. The Breach of Security, or, Lying to the Public
Late April, Retro Computers Ltd announced that a security breach had occurred on their domain names:
We have been made aware that late yesterday afternoon a security breach occurred on a number of domains belonging to Retro Computers Limited. This includes the zxvega.co.uk and retro-computers.co.uk URLs
Except there ultimately was no security breach, and this lie has been repeated numerous times from parties both within and outside of Retro Computers Ltd. What happened was that domains were released to the public and picked up and redirected to domains criticizing Retro Computers Ltd.
3. The Perpetual Victim Complex
It should be of no surprise that RCL’s habitual lying and perpetual status as victim often intermingle, either that or this is the first product in the history of Indiegogo to be derailed by people complaining in the comments section. After months of pointing fingers at the “hate mob,” a mostly non-existent entity that seems responsible for RCL’s self-inflicted PR wounds, was responsible for coercing developers into pulling their titles from the Vega Plus, an expose from The Register (with an increasingly immature response from RCL with each new article) shows that the reason actually may point to a dead beat dev. Turns out that, rather than by virtue of internet trolls, RCL hasn’t been paying royalties and rights holders are pulling out.
4. The Continued Refusal of Refunds
Last time we checked out Retro Computers Ltd, the company made a statement that they have never refused a refund, an idea that took all of ten minutes to disprove thanks to the dozens upon dozens of comments on the Indiegogo page claiming numerous refund requests with no response. Unsurprisingly, the Indiegogo page is still filled with complaints of unfulfilled refunds and users resorting to filing fraud claims via Paypal and through their credit card companies to force the refunds through.
5. Cooking Minute Rice In A Week
One big thing I pointed out in the last Crowdfunding Fraudster was that Retro Computers Ltd is completely incapable of performing even the most benign tasks within a reasonable time frame. The company has gone completely silent as of late, with its last announcement being on May 9.
The Roll of Honour email is coming at you this week Please log into your account to confirm all of your details are up to date as we cannot be responsible for wrong ones. And if you have chosen a ‘rude’ name, or you no longer go by a name previously chosen, give this some thought as once it is locked it is locked, and it’s very difficult to change.
Incidentally, I started writing this redux back in early June, and with it now being July and RCL still having not released the roll call list, we’ll be surpassing two months with the company unable to complete simple tasks like publishing a list of backers.
The Vega Plus is supposed to launch this Summer, but we still don’t have a game list (we don’t even have a roll of honour), and we don’t even know if the device has begun manufacturing. In standard RCL fashion, the company’s habitual lying has turned out a new low: The news announcement on May 9th ends with an apology and a promise to “update more regularly from now on.” In promising more updates, the company has gone completely silent.
6. In Plain English, But Not On This Website
I’ve received a few emails asking if I’d be doing an In Plain English in regards to the lawsuit(s) between RCL and its founders, and the answer to that is a tentative: Maybe. There hasn’t been an In Plain English piece about these lawsuits because right now all I have is information from the insanely biased sources of both sides, which contradict one another, and I don’t have the confidence to report on any of it as a result. The United States has Public Access to Court Electronic Records, allowing lawyers and press (like yours truly) to gain access to dockets. The UK doesn’t have that, to the best of my knowledge.
So it’s something I’m working on but can’t make too high of a priority because, as ridiculous as this project is, I’m hesitant to dedicate too many resources to something already outside MMO Fallout’s “scope.”
7. In Conclusion (again)
Barring sudden access to court records, this is the last that MMO Fallout will cover on the Retro Vega Plus. I had a few comments on the last piece about treating Retro Computers Ltd with kid gloves, but I stand by most of what I said. While I’d like to hold out some hope that the Vega Plus will be released, but right now RCL seems to be doing a live reenactment of the I Love Lucy candy factory scene, quickly losing whatever control they had on the situation as the conveyor belt just gets faster and faster.
It looks like the tribulations of Retro Computers Ltd never seem to cease. In an update posted to Indiegogo backers today, Retro Computers Ltd has warned that their domains have been taken over by a third party and are redirecting to other websites (full announcement below). The zxvega.co.uk domain now redirects to a website “Bum Fun Gaming,” who hosts a Youtube channel heavily criticizing the company while the retro-computers.co.uk domain is forwarding viewers to a website that has been archiving the events of the Vega+ crowdfunding campaign.
It is unknown at this time what involvement, if any, the hosts of these websites have. While Retro Computers Ltd. is referring to this incident as a security breach, domain records for both websites suggest that both domains were not renewed by a third party company put in charge of managing said domains, and as such both were opened up to the public. RCL has denied these claims and is stating that they owned the domains until 2018.
We have been made aware that late yesterday afternoon a security breach occurred on a number of domains belonging to Retro Computers Limited. This includes the zxvega.co.uk and retro-computers.co.uk URLs
We do not currently have control of these domains and an unauthorised third party has taken over these accounts. We we are working to recover our property from this person or persons whom we have identified and reported to Action Fraud and the Metropolitan police.
For security reasons please only contact us through the Indiegogo portal and not via emails that contain either URL We will provide a new email address for team members in the very near future.
Do not send any personal details via email and this information may not be secure.
Fraudster:
2a: a person who is not what he or she pretends to be :impostor;
Meet the Sinclair ZX Spectrum Vega+, a handheld device designed with the backing of Sir Clive Sinclair himself, and a modern representation of everyone’s favorite 80’s computer system designed by Sir Clive Sinclair. The Vega+ was crowdfunded on Indiegogo back in March 2016 to the tune of over half a million pounds, exceeding the goal at 367% with a scheduled delivery date of September 2016. As you’ve probably guessed by this article’s existence, it hasn’t shipped yet. As nature seems to demand in these stories, the actions of Retro Computers Limited and those involved are a much more interesting crapshoot than the actual product itself, which again hasn’t shipped yet.
(Full disclosure: I backed the Vega+ to the tune of £110, I fully expect this fact to be used against me but in the interest of disclosure and because my name and contribution are public, I will say it again here.)
A lot of this story dates back to the origin of the hardware’s funding, with the departure of directors Paul Andrews and Chris Smith, their exit due to irreconcilable differences, with both maintaining a 25% share in the company despite doing everything possible to distance themselves from it. If that doesn’t make sense, keep reading, I promise it doesn’t get any clearer. As someone who still eats at the McDonald’s that I’ve tried to burn down, I can completely understand the logic.
The agreement between Retro Computers Ltd and Cornerstone Media International Ltd went sour over unpaid bills and RCL headed up a lawsuit over breach of contract allegations. When asked if RCL would be able to ship the Spectrum on time, managing director Suzanne Martin had the following to say:
“The team at Retro Computers Limited and our partners are fully committed to delivering the Vega+ in accordance with our IndieGogo campaign, and with the added bonus of some new features created by the new technical director and his team,”
Evidently not, because in September the RCL crew went on Indiegogo to announce that the product was on schedule to hit its October launch. Wait, October launch? Well, on one hand it’s just a month delay and they’re having a launch party. Who has a launch party without a launch product? And the notice did say that the product would be available on select online retailers for the holiday season, so that’s something to go off of, right?
A launch event, for selected backers, supporters and media, is planned to take place at SMS Electronics Limited , in Beeston Nottinghamshire. SMS are the manufacturer of both the original Vega and the new Vega+ products, on behalf of Retro Computers Limited. Andrew Maddock, CEO of SMS said “We are excited that the project is going ahead and will soon be in volume manufacture.”
The next announcement told backers to make sure that their contact and delivery details were up to date, and that they’d be in contact over the following week to discuss delivery schedules. Now that we’re in November/December territory in our story, it’s probably a good time to tell the backers what’s been going on. As it turns out, that play test that RCL did with the first Vega+ systems identified a problem that simply needed to be fixed. There’s a light on one side that won’t light, so they’re taking it back to the factory to fix it up there and bring it back here.
“Assembling and playing with these first units we identified an improvement we believed was essential to the Vega+ gaming experience. An improvement that would make the feel of the product far better, including a correction in the design of one of the buttons making it more robust and able to withstand the rigours of extended game-play.”
Well since we missed the September, then October release dates, what do you have for us now, Jack? After thanking backers for their patience, RCL announced the new, new, new release date:
“This change has caused a brief delay and we are truly sorry about that, but we needed this time to improve the product and we have now completed the necessary revisions and we are delighted to announce that we will ship the first units in February 2017.”
Very good, now hopefully this won’t be overridden by the next quoted announcement.
“First Vega + units will ship after the 20th February 2017”
It’s like I knew it was coming. Yes, the schedule had once again changed to a tentative “sometime in the future,” let’s play it by ear and see where nature takes us. You see up until this point the talks of delays have been pretty much all about technical designs, making the device as cool as it can be, normal stuff that happens with hardware manufacturing. We got the child’s view of the parent’s impending divorce with all the nastiness cut out. Now all of a sudden RCL starts talking about lawsuits. We learned from the world of petty business tactics that Andrews and Smith had not just left the company, they threw the baby out with the bathwater, then stole the baby and the water.
Seriously, after promising that the duo would hand over all assets, they didn’t, meaning RCL was now on the hook piece of Vega+ hardware and no firmware to back it up. To top off matters, this is the point where Cornerstone Media could no longer figure out who owned the rights to the Vega and subsequently stopped paying royalties, hence the lawsuit.
Unfortunately the handover did not include any technical assets, and specifically excluded the software for the Vega+ which had already, in December 2015, been developed to the point of having working prototypes available in time for the January 2016 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. We therefore had to create the Vega+ technology completely from scratch, starting in May, and the development work had to be carried out by a small team who did not have any of the specific Vega knowledge and experience of Chris Smith who led the development of both the Vega and the company’s Vega+ prototypes.
And then, to top off the cake, according to Retro Computers Ltd, they used their powers (likely as shareholders) to try and stop RCL from suing Cornerstone over the breach of contract. Paul Andrews then, allegedly, began contacting developers who had pledged their games to the Vega+ and tried to convince them to withdraw their support from the system. Again, I can understand. This takes me back to the days when I sent in my college application and then penned a letter writing campaign to tell the applications board that I wasn’t college material. I’m just looking out for my own well being.
I’m going to reiterate because I feel like this is important enough to again be summarized and hammered down: 25% shareholders are allegedly calling business partners and trying to convince them not to do business with their business. Perhaps these guys should get into automobile accident fraud law, they seem really skilled at throwing each other under buses. The great thing about text is that you don’t hear the frustrated vulgarities of the editor trying to wrap his head around this whole ordeal. I’ll leave it up to RCL to once again ask why the hell the shareholders are damaging their own business.
Once again, the question needs to be asked of Mr Andrews and Mr Smith, as to why they would wish to damage Retro by attempting to prevent the recovery of a significant amount of money owed to the company. The recovery of this money would enable Retro to make additional royalty payments to all the games rights owners whose games are in the Vega, and to make an additional donation to our chosen charity, Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity.
But it gets better. It always gets better. This is where we need to introduce a new player, Darren Melbourne. Melbourne is the director of a company that is not a Chinese knockoff of Retro Computers Ltd, even though it is named suspiciously close, Retro Games Ltd, and was founded less than two years after RCL, and it also has a few of RCL’s ex-directors. Retro Games Ltd has four equal shareholders, including Melbourne and coincidentally enough Paul Andrews and Chris Smith. What are the odds? By virtue of happenstance, Retro Games Ltd launched an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign in April 2016, a point that oddly coincides with Smith and Andrews deciding that they couldn’t stand it anymore at RCL.
What were they crowdfunding, you ask? Well it just happened to be a different modern version of a different old computer system, in this case the Commodore 64 which is in fact not the Spectrum. The campaign, which the trio had been working on going back to March, constituted a conflict of interest according to RCL director David Levy. Chris Smith retained ownership of the firmware for the Vega and Vega+ which he allegedly offered to sell to RCL for twenty grand. According to reports, they refused and in April appointed Janko Mrsic-Flogel and Suzanne Martin without Smith and Andrew’s approval, and made their own firmware.
At one point in this whole debacle, the two parties went to court over attempts to remove Smith and Andrews as shareholders, if for anything for the crime of being the worse hype men in the history of business. In November, the Chancery Division court ruled against RCL.
Nicholas Cooper, 99% owner of Cornerstone Media International Ltd (said defendant) put his company into liquidation at the end of January this year. Cooper, thanks to Chief Master Marsh, has been named a defendant and will be held personally liable along with his company to the tune of over one hundred fifty thousand pounds in funds that RCL hopes to recover from the botched business deal. RCL’s deal with Cornerstone Media happened after the company stopped paying royalties for the Vega, which were suspended (according to Cooper) due to the dispute over ownership of the Vega firmware.
But let’s go back to Darren Melbourne, who in a correspondence with RCL’s lawyers, had the following to say:
“I’ve been in the games industry for over thirty years and I personally know at least three quarters of all of the rights holders of games on the Vega. I will write to each rights holder encouraging them to approach RCL [Retro Computers Ltd] for the royalties that are owed in respect of their titles. I will also encourage them to withdraw permission for their games to be used on the Vega.”
According to RCL, Melbourne has gone further by not just contacting a children’s hospital charity (that RCL had made a donation to) to slander the team, but showing up at the home of Sir Clive Sinclair himself, of which he was apparently immediately booted out.
The Unsubstantiated Threat of Violence
But where would a campaign such as this be without threatening the press? According to a BBC report published earlier this month, when the news agency contacted RCL in December to ask about the status of the Vega+, they were threatened with legal action. Evidently, according to RCL’s lawyer Michelmores LLP, the BBC has it out for RCL:
“Our clients are concerned that the BBC is in fact supporting and participating in a malicious campaign intended to denigrate our clients’ reputation,” wrote lawyers Michelmores LLP in a letter to the broadcaster.
Absolutely, keep up the narrative that it’s a campaign of hate, it puts you in the same crowd as Digital Homicide and every egotistical independent creator for whom threats are a convenient excuse for not doing the job they’re paid for. In addition to the legal threats, RCL wanted the ability to view BBC coverage 48 hours before it went live so they could point out any “false information.” The BBC refused, and if you haven’t noticed it’s given rise to a huge amount of other press taking an extra close look at Retro Computers Ltd. Us not exempt, and I did indeed give RCL plenty of time to add any comments. They ignored my email.
I do want to point out that I’m not casting doubt or making light on whether or not people have made death threats against Retro Computers Ltd. This is the internet, I am guaranteed to get a death threat for writing this article, because this is the internet and there are a lot of psychopaths who are on here. I’ve received death threats over covering the death threats reported by other people. It does not take a lot to invoke the wrath of the internet’s mentally unstable underground, let alone when you’re a public facing company.
No Refund Requests Received = No Refund Requests Denied
Suzanne Martin boldly told Eurogamer that “we have never refused a backer a refund,” a statement that stands at odds with the Vega+ Indiegogo page which is currently saturated with comments of people reporting numerous, if not a few dozen, refund attempts going unanswered. I suppose if you never check the page, your email, or any other forms of contact that people have used to get in touch with you, you technically never say no.
“RCL, I have emailed you for a refund request on two different sources, the comment section being third source in the last 30min, I know how forgetful you can be at getting back to people and posting online manuals etc so I posted here now can I please get my refund?”
“Just for clarity I will once again post my refund request of £105 for the Clive (Black). Probably kicking into mid 20’s now in terms of refund requests. Eagerly awaiting any new info or footage which may change my opinion on this but currently I still want off this ride until that is forthcoming.”
“Still waiting for even a reply on refund request. It seems RCL doesn’t deny refund requests by way of ignoring them.”
I would point out that the RCL Facebook page is similarly plastered, but it isn’t. Those users are banned and their posts deleted, talks of refunds are against the rules there. It isn’t uncommon for me to check my phone and see that six people have posted things on the RCL Facebook page only to click the link and find nothing there.
You People Need To Get Over Yourself
As if to compound the bad PR, over at the Vega’s ironically named “DEMOCRACY!” page, a closed Facebook group where for the past week MMO Fallout has quietly observed regular bans for skepticism, loyalty to the product is fervent if not fanatical. News postings covering the Indiegogo campaign are immediately labeled fake news, in spite of either the inability or unwillingness of those pointing fingers to notate any actual inaccuracies. Claims of upcoming fact checking of articles never seem to come to fruition, and paranoia is also high over fake accounts, and the group seems to have deep contempt for another Vega+ group seemingly made up of those banned from the official group, to the point where RCL people are regularly seen calling it a “hate group.”
Just read this following passage to skeptics and try not to forget that we’re still talking about a piece of consumer hardware, specifically complaints over a video being delayed.
RCL’s inability to meet basic deadlines for what should otherwise be pretty mundane stuff doesn’t go far to help their image either. This week, the company promised photos, videos, and footage of the system booting up, which were posted late because taking shots with a smart phone is a monumental task in 2017. They did release this shot of the units which looks pretty fancy if I do say so myself, but not until after acting as though having an employee take a few snapshots on his phone during lunch might push the launch date back to October.
I actually delayed this piece by a week to give Retro Computers Ltd time to put out these shots and videos that they were purportedly making, because I didn’t want to call them incompetent or question that the product actually existed only to be shot down by the end of the week. They delivered, with the photo above and most recently the video below.
RCL doesn’t have to go far to find haters, but the public face of the company sure puts a lot of effort towards taking disgruntled backers and turning them into pissed off jilted lovers thanks to comment deletion and banning. They do have their work cut out for them as the “public” (closed group) discussion page on Facebook, where the mood regularly swings between healthy skepticism and paranoid delusion, has put together the most skilled assortment of expert digital photographers to ever haul freight and set them on the task of using forensic analysis (read: pixelated photos) to determine (read: confirm their already made conclusion) that the pixels look all wrong and therefore it’s all a giant conspiracy. It’s only a matter of time before we find out that the materials used in the Vega+ models are from the faked moon landing.
In Conclusion
This is the longest Crowdfunding Fraudsters I have ever written and definitely the longest from start to finish, because the story is ridiculous and I felt that some of the pieces needed to be put together. I also had some serious doubts about publishing this piece at all, because the more I dove into it the more apparent it became that this wasn’t the case of an incompetent crew receiving a lot of money and getting in over their heads with promises that they never conceivably could make, as it usually is, but the case of what would have been a well oiled machine seemingly sabotaged from the inside. To put it in another analogy, by most accounts the train was running fine until one of the conductors broke the steering wheel off and jumped ship. Train. The train should reach the station any day now, but having that steering wheel would have been nice.
So as much as a certain Facebook group probably relishes in the thought of people like Suzanne Martin and David Levy sitting in the RCL offices every day, sipping tea out of cups made of backer money and laughing maniacally, I have my doubts. If the crew at RCL is guilty of anything, it is of talking too much about the wrong topics. Focus less on giving intricate details about the aspects that people care less about, like the lawsuits, and put that time into talking about the things that people do want to hear, like game lists, like acknowledging delays. More importantly, acknowledge delays. Stop promising that you’ll put something out “tomorrow,” only to say nothing when it’s several days later and you haven’t produced anything. In fact, stop using the term “tomorrow” entirely, just boot it from your vocabulary.
Barring some crazy shift, I think it’s likely that backers will eventually receive their products, myself included. A six or seven month delay, assuming it does launch this month or in April, isn’t crazy for hardware. It is unfortunate, but not entirely out of this world. I expect by that point most of the drama going on at both Facebook pages will mostly cease, but who says you can’t enjoy it while it lasts, or until they figure out my Facebook profile and I get banned.
MMO Fallout 