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General: US SEC Report from Gravity on Perpetual
Stradden
Managing EditorMember CommonPosts: 6,696
Over the Thanksgiving weekend, on November 21st, Gravity Co., Ltd., a Korean-based "developer and distributor of online games" disclosed the liquidation of Perpetual Entertainment Inc. It seems as though Gravity invested $9 million (USD) in the company which it does not expect to recover.
The company received notice in mid-October that on October 10th, that Perpetual LLC, a limited liability company, had been formed to liquidate the company's assets.
October 9th marked the company's announcement that their historical and mythology themed MMORPG, Gods & Heroes would be put on indefinite hold.
At present it appears as though this report, while new, is actually reflective of the original announcement regarding Gods & Heroes and does not directly speak to the development of Star Trek Online.
[Update] In Gamasutra's coverage of this story, they mention that they contacted Perpetual's third-party PR firm and that they are no longer representing the company. While this is true, it has caused confusion with some MMORPG readers. The PR firm in question was contracted to represent Gods & Heroes exclusively and never had any involvement with Star Trek Online. When Gods & Heroes ended, so to did that company's representation. It is not an indication one way or the other of the status of Star Trek Online.
You can read the original document here.
Cheers,
Jon Wood
Managing Editor
MMORPG.com
Comments
Very interesting find. Thank you for the link. I wonder what this means for the Star Trek Online game?
The official ST Online website makes no mention of any of this. GG Perpetual on keeping your community informed, this kind of attention to detail is no doubt what led to the brilliant success of your company.
We started the year with Sigil and now we end it with Perpetual. I don't think anyone's going to argue that this was a very bad year for MMORPGs.
Anyone still expecting anything of value from these jokers will deserve the letdown at the end. What a waste of forum space these guys turned out to be.
Update from Gamasutra link
"UPDATE: Perpetual's third-party PR contacts have indicated to Gamasutra that they are no longer representing the San Francisco firm, and can therefore offer no input into these claims."
This can't be good ...
The SOE curse killed them.
wow, so much for any news update from Gamasutra.com It is all complete spin from P.E. now.
I guess STO has officially fallen into the Darkfall Online list of credible developers.
Fear not fanbois, we are not trolls, let's take off your tin foil hat and learn what VAPORWARE is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaporware
"Vaporware is a term used to describe a software or hardware product that is announced by a developer well in advance of release, but which then fails to emerge after having well exceeded the period of development time that was initially claimed or would normally be expected for the development cycle of a similar product."
I think the big question is, where does this leave Bioware? They licensed Perpetual's engine for their up and coming 2010 MMO release. Are they going to keep on using an engine from a dead company, with no support from the original developers, or will they make a quick move and pick up ex-Perpetual workers?
Gordon Walton,
Co-Studio Director of BioWare Austin
P.E. had more money than most developers have had and failed. I would look for the Star Trek license to be made available for another developer to grab up shortly.
Added an update to our article. Wanted to share.
[Update] In Gamasutra's coverage of this story, they mention that they contacted Perpetual's third-party PR firm and that they are no longer representing the company. While this is true, it has caused confusion with some MMORPG readers. The PR firm in question was contracted to represent Gods & Heroes exclusively and never had any involvement with Star Trek Online. When Gods & Heroes ended, so to did that company's representation. It is not an indication one way or the other of the status of Star Trek Online.
Cheers,
Jon Wood
Managing Editor
MMORPG.com
Am I missing something?
San Francisco-based Perpetual Entertainment has announced that its online technology platform has been licensed by the MMO-focused BioWare Austin studio for its new massively multiplayer project.
...
"We evaluated numerous technology solutions to serve as the service backbone of our first MMO title and feel Perpetual's online platform is the best fit," said Gordon Walton, Co-Studio Director of BioWare Austin. "The Perpetual team has years of experience building infrastructure and tools for online games and we are thrilled to be working with them."
Source: http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=14714
Very interesting. Does this mean STO is canceled too? I wouldn't be surprised if SOE (or another rival) picks up the G&H and STO properties.
I would actually be interested to see what Gravity would do with STO. Honestly, I'm tired of all these American companies (SOE) screwing around their fanbase. I'd like to see a major shift in the MMO world, and see if someone else could pull it off.
Bioware has licensed both systems from Perpetual and Simutronics. The system from Perpetual (PEP) was to be for Account and Billing, not as part of the game system itself. However with the merger of EA, the PEP may have been dropped for a billing system handled by EA.
And that is why...
Conservatives' pessimism is conducive to their happiness in three ways. First, they are rarely surprised -- they are right more often than not about the course of events. Second, when they are wrong they are happy to be so. Third, because pessimistic conservatives put not their faith in princes -- government -- they accept that happiness is a function of fending for oneself. They believe that happiness is an activity -- it is inseparable from the pursuit of happiness.
Man, what a screwed up company. I feel sad for most of the employees. I really hope another company gets the Star Trek IP license and also leaves Stinnet out of the whole deal. They need new blood for STO.
Also of note is that three out of the four managers of perpetual entertainment all worked for EA at one time or another. Joe Keene, Chris McKibbin, and Richard Zinser all worked for EA. The only one that didn't was Darron Stinnet. This leads me to believe that EA is truly a crappy company. Shit rolls downhill I guess. Now I am wondering if there were any criminal activities involved like embezzlement, etc. These guys probably have zero interest in making an MMO, but are just interested in padding their wallets along with a lot of executives and CEO's nowadays.
And the news flow continues
http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/50065
It appears that P.E. has sold out to another company.
Fear not fanbois, we are not trolls, let's take off your tin foil hat and learn what VAPORWARE is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaporware
"Vaporware is a term used to describe a software or hardware product that is announced by a developer well in advance of release, but which then fails to emerge after having well exceeded the period of development time that was initially claimed or would normally be expected for the development cycle of a similar product."
Thanks for that, Shannia.And here is the death knell for ST:O :
"Perpetual has been acquired by new ownership, reportedly a media company looking to use Star Trek Online to make its first major inroads into the video game market. Along with the acquisition comes a partial retargeting of Star Trek Online to what our source describes as a "more casual" experience, one which may potentially eschew subscription fees in favor of the practice of charging real money for optional in-game items, a practice popularized by various Korean MMOs."
Well there are 2 threads on this topic now...So I guess I'll put in my 2 cents here as well...(cut and pasted from the other thread because I'm too lazy to type it over LOL!)
It seems the new direction of STO is going to be a free 2 play game with item shop. How sad. They should just shoot the game and put it out of its misery. Star Trek should never be banished to the f2p realm. It will really tarnish the Star Trek brand name imo. I am surprised that whoever holds the copyrights to the Star Trek brand is going to allow this.
Amazing CGI toons: http://www.damapro.com/ & http://www.renderosity.com/
Holy hell, this is turning into a clown show.
Geez, F2P and buying items? What a frickin joke! Sad day for STO fans. And to the Korean company who is producing STO now: "Get lost losers!"
Disregard...
Fear not fanbois, we are not trolls, let's take off your tin foil hat and learn what VAPORWARE is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaporware
"Vaporware is a term used to describe a software or hardware product that is announced by a developer well in advance of release, but which then fails to emerge after having well exceeded the period of development time that was initially claimed or would normally be expected for the development cycle of a similar product."
I'm starting to believe the P2 thing might actually be real. The company is set up ~a week before PE cancels GnH in the same city (literally blocks away) as PE under "P2 Entertainment". It just seems too coincidental to not be related.
http://kepler.ss.ca.gov/corpdata/ShowAllList?QueryCorpNumber=C3049245
Wow.... Star Trek a Korean Grinder.... I never thought I'd see the day... Well technically, I haven't yet. But if the holders of the IP don't get their heads out of their asses soon we might have a problem.
Just give the IP to CCP already! Sheesh!
"There is as yet insufficient data for a meaningful answer."
Where does it say that Perpetual has been taken over by a korean company?
And here is the death knell for ST:O :
"Perpetual has been acquired by new ownership, reportedly a media company looking to use Star Trek Online to make its first major inroads into the video game market. Along with the acquisition comes a partial retargeting of Star Trek Online to what our source describes as a "more casual" experience, one which may potentially eschew subscription fees in favor of the practice of charging real money for optional in-game items, a practice popularized by various Korean MMOs."
Hmm. I always figured something bad was gonna happen to the game / PE. Given past history of Trek games. I never in all my wildest thoughts, imagined it coming to this. A flop yes if PE didn't handle the game right. But this is just .......... .. .. ..
This just brings the Trek gaming curse to a whole new level that I doubt anyone expected.
Oh well, I guess the smokes not fully settled yet.
/patiently awaits for more information.
If you read it properly it states that Perpetual Entertainment filed for bankruptcy then they went and formed a new company named Perpetual, LLC. The company Perpetual, LLC then bought some of the assests from Perpetual Entertainment which includes the rights to STO.
Perpetual entertainment lost a Korean investor to the tune of $9 mil, saddled with massive debts they couldn't pay they went banckrupt. This allowed them to unsaddle the debt, create a new company and buy back STO without the burden of debt. At the moment they probably are looking for a fresh injection of cash and until then they're keeping the expectations for STO low.
That's what I got from the article anyway.
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience"
CS Lewis
Repair Warp Conduits for Credits.
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I had low expectations for STO, this news has managed to lower them even further.
Very sad to see the ST license languish with a bunch of maroons.
I'll never play a F2P game that requires the purchase of in game items with cash.