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Star Vault AB liquidation, or hoax?
Picklebeast
Member Posts: 273
SO far THIS http://www.mortalonline.com/forums/68669-star-vault-blocket.html has been posted and there is no official response (yet the Mods "moved" the thread ) yet they have not deleted the thread.
Apparently, SV (or someone claiming to be SV) has posted computer and office equiptment for sale on a swedish classified ad website- Selling things for Erock bottom, liquidation prices.
Is SV quietly going to "exit stage left" and take their place in History as the most incompetent and shady company ever to release an MMORPG? Has SV sold out and now trying to "cut their losses"? Is SV just updatng all their equiptment and selling off the old stuff (hard to believe this, since we know their money is tight) OR is this just a hoax (hard to believe since SV has not pulled/deleted the thread BUT took the time to "move" it from general discussion)?
Stay tuned folkss as that Stock report is due out on Nov 25th and it looks like a scramble is going on ahead of that report.
EDIT/Add- https://www.blocket.se/malmo/Kontorsmobler_slumpas_bort__billigt_36743166.htm here is the ad- in case this thread is deleted so I am not accused of making things up =P
Comments
Either way there not going to get much from that Ikea stuff ;p
Velika: City of Wheels: Among the mortal races, the humans were the only one that never built cities or great empires; a curse laid upon them by their creator, Gidd, forced them to wander as nomads for twenty centuries...
lol =D
Well, considering that the entire worth of the company (based on current stock) is worth less than the unreal liscense they hold (depending on the time and day- It dips and rises a bit) that furniture and computer equiptment must be worth negative numbers lol- So anything they can get is better than nothing I guess. =P
-Just seems very odd timing-Black Opal leaves and now this - Right on the heels of the next stock report.
Is there going to be an announcment of some sort soon? Stay tuned, it may get very interesting in the next 2 weeks.
OMG my sides split at that .Poor Ikea they do have a reputation for cheap stuff but I remmeber when I was shopping for DIY I would always go there and get stuff.
Looks like they're just 50 bucks short of finishing TC, which will revolutionize the MMO world forever and herald the age of Mortal Online 3.0...
...kidding, for those who didn't notice. I think they are indeed finally closing down, and not even trying to make profit anymore from these sales - it's just cheaper to give old furniture away like this than to properly dispose of it.
Who knows if this is real or not, honestly doesn't matter... SV selling furniture still pales in comparison to how they treat customers and how poorly they operate.
The good thing is that Google is full of great information, so short of Henrik's dad ponying up money for another stupid idea of his son's, he should be out of the gaming world forever and into some other unethical scandal where he tries to take advantage of other people.
Not that that's great either...
I agree, but with the prices they are giving away their stuff- It looks like a liquidation and the end...
And I am inclined to think this isnot a hoax since SV have not (as of yet) deleted this thread or came forward to say anything at all.
-they made this bed with the treatment of their paying customers and it looks like the bed is being given away for peanuts
EDIT/ADD- An Official response- So this is true but "nothing to worry about" they are just apparently selling stuff they do not need... And with all the money they are making, what's wrong with upgrading equiptment? Buisness do this all the time...
SO_ BAsed on this response- It is safe to assume that its the end... As I have said counless times, MO is dead by Jan 1st 2012 and this (to me) is another sign that MO is quickly coming to a messy end.
And I promise that subscribers will get NO WORD until they are down to the last 30 or so days (if even then) they may just not be able to log in one day and find the forums down- This is the way "fly by night" companys operate.
#14 (permalink)
GM Athanas
GameMaster
Join Date: Sep 2011
Posts: 7
Rep Power: 15
Quote:
Originally Posted by strutsekake
The unofficial comment on this is that starvault is selling some office furniture...
It is truly %#@^&;*! amazing, isnt it....I mean...I never thought a mmo company could actually sell their old office furniture....I have see everything now, this is mindblowing.
M I N D B L O W I N G !
This ^^^^^
__________________
I have no doubt that when SV goes bellyup, that their subscribers will be the last to know of what is impending.
Probably right before the majority file for a renewal on their monthly CC bill. Because leaving ethically would be too unlike SV.
Their hardwood flooring is pretty good at a great price. The rest is meh and for gods sake stay away from the electrical stuff.
Velika: City of Wheels: Among the mortal races, the humans were the only one that never built cities or great empires; a curse laid upon them by their creator, Gidd, forced them to wander as nomads for twenty centuries...
Wow... just look at how empty the office is in the second picture...
I kind of figured they would milk it to Q2 next year, but I dunno.. having a firesale of your PCs and office furniture is a pretty bad sign. I mean, no one could seriously believe that they ordered new furniture or were buying brand new PCs...
All time classic MY NEW FAVORITE POST! (Keep laying those bricks)
"I should point out that no other company has shipped out a beta on a disc before this." - Official Mortal Online Lead Community Moderator
Proudly wearing the Harbinger badge since Dec 23, 2017.
Coined the phrase "Role-Playing a Development Team" January 2018
"Oddly Slap is the main reason I stay in these forums." - Mystichaze April 9th 2018
Sorry but that "honor" goes to NPCube for unleashing Dark&Light on the world....
On a more serious note: As much as I hate SV as a company, lets try not to sound to happy about it going out of business. Remember, not matter how small the "team", those are real people losing their jobs...
A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true...
Nope, SV won the race imho.
Don't care about them losing their jobs, they're crooks. You might as well be unhappy about a burglar being put in jail. Also, Henrik isn't actually a real human, just a sociopath.
Judging by the way they treated me and the rest of the community, why should I or anyone feel sorry for them? Personally I hope this was all wasted time for each of them and that they'll have trouble finding a new job in their industry sector after this fiasco. I bet they all worked for free anyway, their payment were empty promises. Wanna bet?
I doubt SV will just kill it, though. The remaining 30 fanboys will still keep paying for their three accounts even when the server is offline. Henrik just needs to promise them some special crap for "when the server is back up".
I'm happy about them closing business, they diserve it, they are arrogant spoiled children who thought they were geniuses and didn't have to listen to anyone and could just handle their community like nazis.
I like Sandbox MMO's and I hate that kind of aweful publicity which will only result in no major company going for sandbox projects because of how much of a failure this was.
If you honestly like sandbox MMOs, the best way to counter the "awful publicity" is to post positive comments/publicity about the sandbox games you do like (or at least cautious optimism)
As much as you won't admit it, MO is nothing like what "sandbox" MMO means in even loose definitions.
Just having the option to do anything with no linear path with a broken ass game doesn't make it a sandbox.
LOL.
That is all.
Wow- There is quite a bit to comment to here.
I suppose the first place to start is in regards to the comment talking about "not being happy if SV folds because people will lose their jobs."- This is normally a very valid point. I know I must sound like a heartless asshole at times when it comes to SV, MO and their employees.
In truth, I am very compassionate about the issue of job loss. I am highly pro Union, pro Labor and pro People. I hate the ideea of job loss and the stress people go through scrambling to make their mortgage, pay bills, provide for their family and find new work. Two years ago my wife and I donated to the United Steelworkers Christmas fund because of the mass layoffs at National Steel.
-That being said, yes, I am happy tht it looks like SV is going to fold. When the announcment comes (and it will...soon) I will feel a bit vindicated.
Henrik Nystrom was the "skipper" who steered this ship with bad decisions at every turn. The mismanagment was astounding. As I have said (again and again) the CEO should have been removed by the Board of Directors due to mismanagment... The Board of Directors is ALSO where the greatest number of SV's employees reside- So those who do lose their job are responsible for rubber stamping everything Henrik wanted and NOT removing him when it became evident he was clueless. The board did nothing to censure Henrik as he hyped and hyped every little thing and never delivered- The bad PR that was directly a result of the CEO could haee been averted. The bad choices could have been stopped. Henrik could have been shackled OR replaced- He was not. He was allowed to run the company into the dirt.
Those that were not a part ofthe Board of Directors were incompetent themselves at developing/programming basic game systems (as seen by how well MO "works") and others at SV had th sole purpose of trying to censor the forums and hide the truth to garner a few more subscriptions.
The guy(s) who did some of the art and graphic design will have little problem finding work (as some of the graphics are top notch IMO) but most from the SV clan will never work in the industry again- For good reason.
Even Matts (who I personally think is a decent guy who really tried here) is a modder and not a game developer.
The ones I feel sorry for are those who were suckered in to buying stock. The ones who were shown the "powerpoint presentation" and those fantastic game trailers . The guy who made those game trailers can easily go to work in advertising since he/she has a knack for making shit look like Gold...
-Some companys deserve to fail and SV leads the pack. From the constant lies to the hype to the censorship and bullying. From the mismanagment to the GMs being crooked, to the amount of exploits and all the other reasons listed in this forum if you care to read 1000 threads- Good riddance SV, good fucking riddance.
Next point: Dark and Light being the worst game/company ever... I disagree. Dark and Light had far more people following it so more people have heard of it (who has heard of MO?) and thus it has a "worse name" but I think SV are far more shady and incompetent (just on a smaller scale ).
I did not follow DnL from the beginning like I have MO (so much of this is based on my personal "involvment") in fact, I have never followed a game as close as I have MO. MO was like a comedic experience of "what will they do next-".. I have to admit, when SV folds a part of me will die , lol... Looking at this forum and the MOFO has become a part of my daily routine. I would say MO has been the most entertainment I have gotten from an MMO since UO- And I do not even play MO. I played for approx 5 months, never recieved my disks and felt terribly ripped off- Yet now, seeing how much entertainment value I have gotten for the price of a game with a missing disk and 5 months sub- It was a bargain. =P
Next Point: MO is NOT a sandbox. MO was sold as a sandbox, supposed to BE a sandbox but was NOT a sandbox game. MO was a PVP deathmatch in a persistant world. MO was a "guild" game.
The reason UO (what I was told would be MO's inspiration) was so great was (honestly) because of the very players MO discouraged from playing- The Carebears. By attracting non PK folks by giving them tons of fluff to do (building houses, decorating, real trade tools, etc.) they gave the PKers someone to kill and the carebears something to "fear"... This worked so nicely because ALL types of players had something to do- A reason to play.
As I have said- All wolves and NO SHEEP= Very bored wolves.
A sandbox is about building- Building a world that CAN BE DESTROYED. MO was ONLY about destroying. The things which could be built were pointless, generic and had no customization . There was no fluff. The ONLY thing to do really was PVP. Everything centered on PVP and Guilds...This was NOTHING like UO.
Having no quests does not make a sandbox... Hell, you can read waaaaaay back discussions about this. There is many things which make a sandbox and MO had no sand- No tools to shape the world, nothing...
MO was a PVP deathmatch guild game which had nothing in common with UO... Henrik played UO and was a PK'er and was stupid enough to not realize that PK was only a SMALL PART of UO (an important part albeit- but a small part) and he chose to focus on that one small part and ignore the rest.
TLDR- MO deserves to fail, anyone competent at that company will find work- The rest will never work in the industry again.
IMHO MO is far worse than DnL
MO is NOT a sandbox game anyhow
Good riddance.
My points:
Never did I say the company did not deserve to fail (it does). Just reminding people to temper their "gleefulness" by reminding them it sucks to lose your job. Just my opinion.
DnL was far the biggest scam. They stole technology, claimed it as their own (and got sued), had a bigger following thus scamming way more money for a broken POS game that was, at best, in alpha stage of development. Lets not forget the countless people that kept being billed even after they had cancelled their subscription... But again, just my opinion.
Agree, MO is not a sandbox. Far, far from it.
A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true...
When you willingly work for a company that is totally unethical, mock the behavior and reaction of customers that are getting mad about their treatment, then you don't deserve a fucking job. Sebastian has done this multiple times, and Mats thinks he's too smart for SV, despite the fact that NEITHER of them have any fucking job experience at all.
You could swap that comment for something like:
"If you honestly like sandbox MMOs, the best way to counter the "awful publicity" is to sell your kidney and donate the money to Henrick so that he can gamble it away on fail decisions that he likes to take (or at least sell one of your eyeball, you can still live on donning an eyepatch)"
Come on man, what is wrong with you?? You are doing No One a favour by hyping up crap, by now even someone like You must know that MO made by SV will never work, ever. Anyone burned by this game will be more than cautious in investing their time, emotions and, most importantly for any upcoming game, money on any new sandbox game that might just be worth it.
The sandbox genre has gotten a swift kick to the balls because of this game. Developers, investors and even players would think more than once on being part of any new indie sandbox MMO due to the bad air left behind by this turd.
All the "smart" players who play MO for being the only 1st person POV, fully lootable, hardcore, blah blah blah MMO have never thought about the fact that if they would have let MO die a long time ago, some Real developer would have picked up the concept and gone to make the sort of game that they would have loved to play, now its just going to take longer for the scars that SV-MO has left behind on the industry to heal and before someone else steps up and tries to make a gave that MO hoped to be like.
Its very similar to someone with penile cancer saying, "OH damn I hate it that I have cancer growing down there, but until someone someday develops a penis implant that makes my junk look bigger than the other guy, Im going to let this cancer grow."
Like a previous poster has mentioned, Im sure SV will still be taking subs and foolborn fanboys will still be paying subs even when the server goes permanently down. But I got to admit I thought the trainwreck, that is SV, would have rolled on till the end of 2012 at least. Does any "official" SV poster have any insider info on this matter? Anything to add to this thread, Rohn?
Very, very well said.
The main fault here is the fanboys paying for 3-4 accounts, hyping this game and allowing it to have went on for so long (on life support)
This has been the worst thing to happen to Sandbox games and fans forever. Next time a "UO" inspired game comes along many will remeber MO...
Edit/add- Regarding the fanboys: They will repeat the "official line" of "nothing to worry about, Companys often sell old equiptment, blah, blah"...Generally this would be true, but even SV in their ad (according to my translation) says the euiptment they are selling is "like new"...
Ask yourself why a company would be giving away "like new" computer and office equiptment for pennies on the dollar when they recently layed people off, are not making any money, stock is worthless and population is nearly dead... Granted, Henrik is stupid but even he cannot be THAT stupid to be upgrading "like new" equiiptment when the company is bleeding out.
No. This is a liquidation. I also think there is some shadyness going on here. By liquidating the equiptment before the "official end" the money will PROBABLY be used to pay Henrik for a bit longer and when SV really is liquidated there will be nothing to sell off and the "investors" will get NOTHING... As opposed to getting a tiny bit back once SV is officially liquidated. (if that makes sense)
Their stock has fallen to an all time low 0.13 SEK, so I wouldn't be surprised its in liquidation...
I 100% agree with this statement... in fact if you scroll waaaaay back to the discussions around release I stated the exact same thing. The vast majority of players who's introduction to "sandbox" games was MO... have been scarred for life.
The best way to get positive publicity for the sandbox genre is to actually expect developers to produce functional titles that deliver on all the much hyped promises. Pumping a bad game in the hopes that it gets better at some undetermined time in the future is just a plan to fail.
All time classic MY NEW FAVORITE POST! (Keep laying those bricks)
"I should point out that no other company has shipped out a beta on a disc before this." - Official Mortal Online Lead Community Moderator
Proudly wearing the Harbinger badge since Dec 23, 2017.
Coined the phrase "Role-Playing a Development Team" January 2018
"Oddly Slap is the main reason I stay in these forums." - Mystichaze April 9th 2018
I emailed them to try to purchase some official Mortal Online merchandise but I didn't even get a response. I think this is fake.
The only thing that made me think for a moment that it could be real is that it looks like you have to pay to list items on that site, and who would pay real money for a fake advertisement?
Anyways StarVault as a company is not going anywere. Henrik just announce new news on the territory control expansion. It looks like Mortal Online will be around for years to come.
Never trust a screenshot or a youtube video without a version stamp!
Oh its very real. Read page 1 of this thread as a star vault employee quotes someone saying essentially "big deal, companys sell furniture all the time, nothing to see here" , agrees , moves and locks the thread.
If this were not true this would have immediatly been debunked by SV with either a deletion or a response... Not an agreement and locked thread.
Because it doesnt look good... At all...
Yea..... that's the purpose of the TC announcements.
As for the ad: " It's not REAL :'( ", is that really the best you fanboys can come up with? LOL. Open your eyes and use your brain, dude.