Does someone know the release date of this game? Open beta ?
Q4, 2010 at the earliest. If it comes out at all. LOL
Whoa, heavy thread necromancy :-P
In any case, my opinion at the moment is that it will come out no later than Q1 2010--not that I have a high expectation of that occurring, but because I think if they miss that as a target, they have no chance to release at all.
If we presume they have 100 employees (either now, or needed to finish development, run beta, and prepare the release), then at an average of $80K salary (which is roughly the average for game development in 2008), using a rule of thumb factor of 2 for the fully-loaded cost of an employee in the US, that's $160K/year. So, for 100 employees, that's $16 million/year, or $4 million/quarter. I hear that CME may be using a lot of interns, so maybe they can shave that to $2-3 million/quarter.
This doesn't even count the costs of running the beta, producing the release, and marketing, not to mention any debts they have incurred and have been unable to pay. But just in employee costs alone, to make the game by end of Q1 2010, that's anywhere from $6-12 million. If they were to extend that to Q4, that's another $6-12 million. I just don't see them being able to access that second round of capital, and even the first would require some really white knight... (It's purely a guess, but I would not be surprised if they are $5 million in debt, and add onto either scenario about $5 million extra to run a real beta, and box the game).
Hmm, given this, I wonder if we'd see SGW going to a "download"-only model for release? (if they make it, of course)
The only way I see them being able to stretch it out to Q4 would be to go into "hibernation" until they can get the funding/sell themselves--meaning that they stop development altogether and cut expenses to near zero. But even this presumes that they can keep themselves out of bankruptcy in the meantime (and placate the current investors).
Does someone know the release date of this game? Open beta ?
Q4, 2010 at the earliest. If it comes out at all. LOL
Whoa, heavy thread necromancy :-P
In any case, my opinion at the moment is that it will come out no later than Q1 2010--not that I have a high expectation of that occurring, but because I think if they miss that as a target, they have no chance to release at all.
Did you hear me laughing? I wasn't really listing an actual date I thought it would release, more that I agree with you that it probably never will. According to the rumers, they are already out of money, so saying that they couldn't afford to continue development until Q4 is a mute point. I agree that if they can't make a Q1 deadline the game will probably never come out, but I disagree with that date simply because of the state the game is currently in. It's nowhere finished, and even with all of the funding in the world the couldn't finish by then. At least not the game they've advertised.
Comments
Stargate Worlds
ok thank you !
I've heard they are shooting for November 08.
closed beta will probably start sometime in the summer ending in the fall. then open beta will happen up to the point before release
Now that they have a publisher, things will be moving along quickly. I just hope they make their Q4 target
Q4, 2010 at the earliest. If it comes out at all. LOL
Q4, 2010 at the earliest. If it comes out at all. LOL
Whoa, heavy thread necromancy :-P
In any case, my opinion at the moment is that it will come out no later than Q1 2010--not that I have a high expectation of that occurring, but because I think if they miss that as a target, they have no chance to release at all.
If we presume they have 100 employees (either now, or needed to finish development, run beta, and prepare the release), then at an average of $80K salary (which is roughly the average for game development in 2008), using a rule of thumb factor of 2 for the fully-loaded cost of an employee in the US, that's $160K/year. So, for 100 employees, that's $16 million/year, or $4 million/quarter. I hear that CME may be using a lot of interns, so maybe they can shave that to $2-3 million/quarter.
This doesn't even count the costs of running the beta, producing the release, and marketing, not to mention any debts they have incurred and have been unable to pay. But just in employee costs alone, to make the game by end of Q1 2010, that's anywhere from $6-12 million. If they were to extend that to Q4, that's another $6-12 million. I just don't see them being able to access that second round of capital, and even the first would require some really white knight... (It's purely a guess, but I would not be surprised if they are $5 million in debt, and add onto either scenario about $5 million extra to run a real beta, and box the game).
Hmm, given this, I wonder if we'd see SGW going to a "download"-only model for release? (if they make it, of course)
The only way I see them being able to stretch it out to Q4 would be to go into "hibernation" until they can get the funding/sell themselves--meaning that they stop development altogether and cut expenses to near zero. But even this presumes that they can keep themselves out of bankruptcy in the meantime (and placate the current investors).
Q4, 2010 at the earliest. If it comes out at all. LOL
Whoa, heavy thread necromancy :-P
In any case, my opinion at the moment is that it will come out no later than Q1 2010--not that I have a high expectation of that occurring, but because I think if they miss that as a target, they have no chance to release at all.
Did you hear me laughing? I wasn't really listing an actual date I thought it would release, more that I agree with you that it probably never will. According to the rumers, they are already out of money, so saying that they couldn't afford to continue development until Q4 is a mute point. I agree that if they can't make a Q1 deadline the game will probably never come out, but I disagree with that date simply because of the state the game is currently in. It's nowhere finished, and even with all of the funding in the world the couldn't finish by then. At least not the game they've advertised.
It's a shame though. I wanted to play this game.