In other news, Hi Ninan!“The Real State of the Game” Insider Reveals Horizons the Disaster.
After reading AE’s recent public announcement of the “state of the game” I thought it was appropriate to release this information which I have been submitted from a very creditable source. The situation, Artifact Entertainment finds itself in!
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* First Month Subscriptions, approximately 34,000 copies, minus the many that have left after the first month.
These sales numbers are a disaster for a mmorpg, when related to current investors’ liability and salaries. It seems Bowman is happy to deny investors returns, so as long as he can gain a salary from the subscription base and prolonging the game’s existence.
* Horizons project has had near to $9,000,000 to bring it to the market. $1,000.000 of that was only recently sort to salvage the project and bring the game to the shop shelf, indicating the game is on a “make or break” precipice and heavily reliant on subscriptions to survive, if it can.
* James Jones has been fired by AE’s board after Bowman demanded it do so. Bowman placed the blame of the game onto Jones when confronting AE’s board.
James Jones is said to be now trying to start a new project and business after creating a “Customer Disaster Product”, alongside Bowman.
* David Bowman is currently taken James Jones title of “Co-President/COO” along with Bowman’s existing roles.
It’s amazing Government trade practises type departments have not been informed about AE declaring this publicly. AE’s web page has not been updated.
* AE sacked roughly 30% of its staff near the public announcement of the “state of the game” and after gaining power from the board since James Jones sacking.
* AE has approximately 50 staff, 6 of which are on the development aspect, the rest is clerical/game support.
Expect a lot more to be sacked as the funds dry up, especially in customer support.
* AE has forced staff to take a 20% pay decrease, further helping staff to decide to leave/drop support.
You would expect Bowman to work for free, if he believes in his project enough and whilst it’s sinking.
* Bowman is said to consider the game his own franking and has placed a lot of tension on the development crew that tasks and work are his own workings, not theirs, other words he takes the credit in most situations.
* The insider has informed, Bowman designed the game on the fly and the game has no real documented structure design to work from.
A major reason why the conceptual aspects of the game are not compatible with database and network demand.
* Staff are said to believe Bowman is bipolar, others words, mind flipping/schizophrenic and very difficult to work with.
* The insider source of the information has stated the game would be lucky to survive another 3 months before being forced into receiver-ship/closed doors.
It would be very risky to pay up for multi-month subscription deals if you are a player.
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I wont inform of the source of the information, but the person knows the state of the company by working there. Very creditable. This is not a flame, it is more or less factual and to give validity to the real background of the game. "
For those wondering how Horizons is doing... heh
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noel
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For those wondering how Horizons is doing... heh
Last edited by noel on January 24, 2004, 12:19 am, edited 1 time in total.
Oh, my God; I care so little, I almost passed out.
