Strategy First acquires Malfador Machinations

[Atrocities]

Rollo said:
Who says he didn't?

And btw, after working with S1st for quite some time now I think Aaron probably has a better insight and more informed opinion of them than most people who make up their minds on pure internet hearsay.

Well said.

[Tim Brooks]

Not that SFI is a bad company, they just have to prove themselves again after the bankruptcy and Stardock scandel.

I disagree. What they did to developers is criminal IMHO, especially Stardock and Brad Wardell, but there were many others. Many of these developers are still hurting. Companies like this make it hard on us indie publishers also. You don't think developers who had dealings with SF are really gun shy when it comes to publishing deals?

David Gervais said it: SF was bought by a company with 22 million in assets. Seems like a 'good' company would do the right thing, and make sure these small devs got their money.

pure internet hearsay

Uhh, what hearsay are you speaking of?

[David E. Gervais]

The history of SFI as I know it,..

1) Small group of 6 people that wanted to make strategy games.
2) Same small group made a Hockey Game instead (due to it being easier to sell) That bombed.. Game Name "Solid Ice".
3) They than managed to secure a deal to develope an Indianna Jones game for Lucasarts. SFI spent allot of money in the dev and in the end Lucasarts decided to cancel the project due to not wanting it released when the 'Last Crusade' came out. Lucasarts made an adventure game based on the movie instead.
4) In order to try and generate income SFI used the talent of it's artists to do artwork for games. Steel Panthers, Age of Rifles, Jagged Alliance, etc. Things were looking better.
5) Work began on Deciples,.. they also turned to 'publishing' to help generate more money.. Things were looking good for several years..
6) IMHO they grew too fast in the development dept.(having close to 100 employees at their peak) Making the payroll was a high priority at that point because the government had been pulling all the strings and forced them to pay employees before contracts,.. As I understand it all of the money recieved from the government was conditional on creating employment.
6) BAM! as a publisher they made the mistake of investing close to 800k$$ in an external development house. They virtually lost that and this happend when things were just starting to look good.
7) This caused a massive leak in the HMS SFI and drastic measures needed to be taken.. How drastic? The company was forced (by the government comiteee that was overseeing SFI) to file for "Bankruptcy Protection" the result,.. the entire in-house dev team(s) were laid off. (100 good people lost their jobs) And the amounts due to external developers was put on hold. Afecting not just Stardock,.. Mind you they have been the most 'Verbal' in spreading the news that they felt they got the shaft.
8) No one said the developers were never going to get their due, No one said that SFI is 'Still' Working to make things right. (SFI seems to be a bit 'classier' in the sense they do not spread bad news just to vent. That is called slander.) And when the storm passes, All Stardock will need to say is "Finally we got what they owed us" But can they undo the 'Badmouthing' they perpertrated over the net? SFI gets a bad rep because thay didn't want to play the crybaby game? I know the people at SFI. They have always tried to do the right thing.

Tim, as a businessman you of all people should know that sometimes things happen beyond your control. All anyone can do is try to make things right. It happens to be a slow process. Stardock got 'wounded' but A Lot of my friends got 'Killed' when SFI was forced to shut down it's in-house dev. I have no doubt Stardock has and will recover from this event,.. but they are not making it easier for SFI to makes things right.

Nuf said,.. Cheers!

[Tim Brooks]

SFI seems to be a bit 'classier' in the sense they do not spread bad news just to vent. That is called slander.

slander
n 1: words falsely spoken that damage the reputation of another 2: an abusive attack on a person's character or good name [syn: aspersion, calumny, defamation, denigration] v : charge falsely or with malicious intent; attack the good name and reputation of someone

Oh I get it. SFI was the good guy. The developers and the government were evil. Sorry for voicing my opinions.

Didn't have time to finish my post (the phone!) so Iam adding this edit.

David, where your logic breaks down is that

1) if they lost $800,000 and then couldn't pay their developers, then they weren't spending their money, they were spending developers money.

2) what are they doing buying Malfador when that money could go to paying developers back, if that is their priority.

Now, you can say what you want, and for all I know your facts are wrong. But I have spoken to many of their developers over the last couple of years, and I get almost the same story from most, so I tend to believe them. SF was slow in paying and underpaying before they declared bankruptcy.

And yes, I know that sometimes things happen beyond a company's control, but it sounds to me, and no one has come forward with facts that change my impressions, that the developers weren't their priority and it seems like they still aren't.

Nuf said.

[Atrocities]

I don't know anything but what I read and or have read on the net about SFI. From the sounds of it, Canada is too blame. Blame it all on Canada!

Seriously though, none of us know the first thing about what compensation Aaron has arranged for his former company. He might have been given 10,000 copies of some old game that he loved so much that he just had to have it as payment for selling Malfador. The point is, despite the past transgressions, yes mistakes were obviously made and people lost more than they should have, it’s the future that matters now. To that end, I wish SFI and Aaron the best. However, as a caveat, if they screw Aaron, and by extension the fans, I swear to God, I will resurrect this thread and give SFI the *** whipping beating of all time. That I promise! (Even if I have to do it from the grave!)

[Hunpecked]

Atrocities: "However, as a caveat, if they screw Aaron, and by extension the fans, I swear to God, I will resurrect this thread and give SFI the *** whipping beating of all time. That I promise! (Even if I have to do it from the grave!)"

Be afraid, SFI. Be very afraid. For Atrocities, death is only the beginning. And in cyberspace, no one can hear you scream...

Any other movie taglines I left out?

[Tim Brooks]

The point is, despite the past transgressions, yes mistakes were obviously made and people lost more than they should have, it’s the future that matters now. To that end, I wish SFI and Aaron the best. However, as a caveat, if they screw Aaron, and by extension the fans, I swear to God, I will resurrect this thread and give SFI the *** whipping beating of all time.

Too bad for Stardock you aren't a Galactic Civilizations fan. Or to put it another way, good for Strategy First that you aren't a Galactic Civilizations fan!

Really guys. I apologize for even posting here. However, I was a developer for over 5 years and released 5 games into retail. Was treated fairly on only one, although not screwed like the Strategy First developers. It is the reason I started Shrapnel Games. So this is a subject that I have real feelings about.

[Caduceus]

We all respect both of you, Tim and David.

I'm interested in your discourse in such a public forum (and would understand if you took it out of our purview and carried on in private).

[Renegade 13]

Atrocities said:
From the sounds of it, Canada is too blame. Blame it all on Canada!

You'd better watch it!

[Thermodyne]

David E. Gervais said:
The history of SFI as I know it,..

1) Small group of 6 people that wanted to make strategy games.
2) Same small group made a Hockey Game instead (due to it being easier to sell) That bombed.. Game Name "Solid Ice".
3) They than managed to secure a deal to develope an Indianna Jones game for Lucasarts. SFI spent allot of money in the dev and in the end Lucasarts decided to cancel the project due to not wanting it released when the 'Last Crusade' came out. Lucasarts made an adventure game based on the movie instead.
4) In order to try and generate income SFI used the talent of it's artists to do artwork for games. Steel Panthers, Age of Rifles, Jagged Alliance, etc. Things were looking better.
5) Work began on Deciples,.. they also turned to 'publishing' to help generate more money.. Things were looking good for several years..
6) IMHO they grew too fast in the development dept.(having close to 100 employees at their peak) Making the payroll was a high priority at that point because the government had been pulling all the strings and forced them to pay employees before contracts,.. As I understand it all of the money recieved from the government was conditional on creating employment.
6) BAM! as a publisher they made the mistake of investing close to 800k$$ in an external development house. They virtually lost that and this happend when things were just starting to look good.
7) This caused a massive leak in the HMS SFI and drastic measures needed to be taken.. How drastic? The company was forced (by the government comiteee that was overseeing SFI) to file for "Bankruptcy Protection" the result,.. the entire in-house dev team(s) were laid off. (100 good people lost their jobs) And the amounts due to external developers was put on hold. Afecting not just Stardock,.. Mind you they have been the most 'Verbal' in spreading the news that they felt they got the shaft.
8) No one said the developers were never going to get their due, No one said that SFI is 'Still' Working to make things right. (SFI seems to be a bit 'classier' in the sense they do not spread bad news just to vent. That is called slander.) And when the storm passes, All Stardock will need to say is "Finally we got what they owed us" But can they undo the 'Badmouthing' they perpertrated over the net? SFI gets a bad rep because thay didn't want to play the crybaby game? I know the people at SFI. They have always tried to do the right thing.

Tim, as a businessman you of all people should know that sometimes things happen beyond your control. All anyone can do is try to make things right. It happens to be a slow process. Stardock got 'wounded' but A Lot of my friends got 'Killed' when SFI was forced to shut down it's in-house dev. I have no doubt Stardock has and will recover from this event,.. but they are not making it easier for SFI to makes things right.

Nuf said,.. Cheers!

Hey David, you seem to have a line on this. IIRC, SF was getting tax dollars in return for creating jobs and never really had the income stream to replace the government money. And the cash ran short, they were prohibited from using monies that came from the government to pay outside debt (especially for debt outside of Canada)

Now, I also seem to recall that there were actions and judgments against them here in the states. Do you know if these were cleared by the bankruptcy? I have my doubts, Canadian courts having no jurisdiction in US state courts and such.