Did Space Empires V kill Space Empires?

[DarkHorse]

The odds are there might be a viable successor to the SE games, but there won't ever be any further development of existing, or hope for any new, SE franchise games

Worse, they made a Facebook game out of it

[NTJedi]

Originally Posted by Black_Knyght

Firstly, SE5 was just TOO different from the previous incarnations, and had too many issues combined with an altogether new game style and awkward learning curve.

Unfortunately many game sequels take this poor direction even with successful games... instead of improving a successful game developers will create a new game. The sequel of a successful game merely needs to fix previous bugs, add more game content, improve AI design/coding, increase map sizes and add more strategy.

While it didn't happen with SE5... the biggest mistake made by game developers is the extreme focus with providing the most recent high-end graphics.

[DeadZone]

Originally Posted by NTJedi

While it didn't happen with SE5... the biggest mistake made by game developers is the extreme focus with providing the most recent high-end graphics.

Disagree about the high-end graphics
It used DX8.1 which was already outdated by 5 years (and mostly replaced in the gaming market also)
Which is why many people had problems with the game in Vista, due to DX8 not being installed with it, meaning it was emulated

[Gandalf Parker]

And not a very good FaceBook game either. It appears to be a game shell used for many of the FB games which has strained itself to seem to be Space Empires themed. But it doesnt feel like an SE game.

[jRides]

I had no idea Aaron had been barred from developing Space Empires. I actually thought that his new ground combat game was him developing ground combat for the next SE incarnation.

[Gandalf Parker]

Barred? Thats news to me.
I guess I do remember something about him selling the game to Strategy First.

[jRides]

It was news to me too, Gandalf. I was just going by what Black Knight posted on the first page of this thread (post 20);

Secondly, and more importantly, selling off the franchise to Strategy First was a catastrophic mistake, and a costly one to Aaron personally. They even went so far as to have barred him contractually from working on another 4x space game for quite some time, and then all but abandoned any further development or support for SE5.

[Azselendor]

Strategy First turned space empires into farmville

And it sucks!

[Ironmanbc]

Financial difficulties

On March 12, 2009 Strategy First's parent company Silverstar Holdings Ltd was formally delisted from the NASDAQ market after failing to meet a timeline extension to become compliant with NASDAQ Marketplace Rules, specifically they "had not regained compliance with the stockholders’ equity requirement"[10]. The final statements publicly published by Silverstar were for the period ending December 31, 2008, filed on February 20, 2009[11]. In these statements, Silverstar indicated that Strategy First revenues were minimal for the three months ended December 31, 2008 ("about $400,000" out of revenues of $8.7 million), with the bulk of revenues coming from the Empire Interactive division. Silverstar's total loss for this period was $3.4 million. As of December 31st 2008 Silverstar reports current assets of about $4 million versus liabilities of $17 million. Accounts Payable and Royalties Payable totaled $4.3 million, versus only $422,000 in available cash. In their management review Silverstar states "These factors raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. Since June 2008, the Company has been seeking to raise additional capital in the form of both debt and equity; to this point with no success. The results of the quarter ended December 31, 2008 have further impacted the Company’s liquidity position and without a very short-term solution to this lack of liquidity, there is substantial doubt about the Company’s ongoing viability."

Subsequent to the SEC 10-Q filing, Silverstar reported that on May 1st 2009 their Empire Interactive division filed for "administration" (bankruptcy) in the UK, and that "Empire has sold its intellectual property assets to New World IP, LLC ",[12] and all 49 staff were laid off.[13] New World IP then leased the rights to publish Empire's entire catalogue to Zoo Games.[14]

Additionally, Silverstar has reported that it is in default on its repayments on both its 2008 and 2006 Debentures

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategy_First

[dumbluck]

heh. if SF is that desperate for cash, maybe Aaron can buy the rights to SE back with the change in his pocket... :P