247 replies to this topic

[Stah]

Guys, one man, whom I have conversation in Facebook with, found very interesting link.
Looks like CEO of IGP moves forward to new horizons in consulting business

New company Profile in Facebook

Edited by Stah, 13 September 2014 - 07:49 AM.

[wanderer]

There's the guy responsible for your troubles, gents- or at least the one you can depend on telling you who is if you send enough interesting messages his way.

[wanderer]

Note from Performance Ahead:

" I have sent a note to the folks at IGP to provide an update on the project. I will send it along as soon as I have word from them. I hope to have some information for you by EOD Monday."

<mild interest intensifies>

[Mal]

Levon K, on 09 September 2014 - 12:41 AM, said:

A complete disappointment. I think I'm into MWT for 200 bucks. What a waste of money. Thank god it's a trivial amount.

I'm getting tired of funding these development projects and getting nothing. It seems Star Citizen is the only worthwhile project anymore. And really, A Universe To Explore?? Oh brother, let's fire up new projects while the existing projects stagnate into nothingness.

One of these days they're gonna make vaporware illegal.

Technically, MWT isn't (wasn't?) vaporware.. people were playing it in closed beta.

DragonOTM, on 09 September 2014 - 01:30 PM, said:

How many games from Indie Companies and such, do you think would be online today, if everyone thought this way? Not all are out to rob people.

What I can't understand is how people think that these 2 companies aren't both affiliated. Open a new tab and have a look at the bottom of the page.
"All material on this site is copyright © 2012-2013 Infinite Game Publishing Inc. / Édition Jeux Infinis Inc., Piranha Games Inc. and/or their respective licensors. All rights reserved. MechWarrior and Battletech are registered trade-marks of Microsoft Corporation and is used under license. All other trade-marks are the property of their respective owners; ® or ™ as indicated."
Just throwing it out there.

IGP (prior to the announcement the other day) was in charge of publishing MWO. So, yeah, they were in business together, but no more so than any other publisher/developer relationship. I'm sure updating everything to remove IGP's information is underway, but, is (probably) a lower priority than other issues currently.

Zolaz, on 09 September 2014 - 01:50 PM, said:

Seeing what happened to MWT doesnt make me want to give any money to PGI for Transverse.

PGI had nothing to do with MWT, so, not sure why IGP silently killing MWT would impact your opinion of Transverse.

wanderer, on 13 September 2014 - 11:22 AM, said:

Note from Performance Ahead:

" I have sent a note to the folks at IGP to provide an update on the project. I will send it along as soon as I have word from them. I hope to have some information for you by EOD Monday."

<mild interest intensifies>

I got the same response from Kelly Z after trying to contact him directly.


For other MWT folks..at this point, a chargeback on the original purchase *might* be our only recourse. I've started putting together everything my bank needs, and assuming the "EOD Monday" timeframe turns out to be as empty as other recent deadlines for IGP to talk to MWT's players, I'll be sending everything in. If you go the chargeback route, make sure you've got documented attempts at communicating with IGP.. Visa/MasterCard require that.

[Dakota Mike]

Mal, on 13 September 2014 - 04:51 PM, said:

PGI had nothing to do with MWT, so, not sure why IGP silently killing MWT would impact your opinion of Transverse.

Well, that's not exactly true. I'm not sure of the specifics, but PGI actually sub-licensed the "Mechwarrior" brand to IGP in order for them to legally be able to have a developer come in and work on "Mechwarrior Tactics." Russ said that should Tactics make any money, PGI would actually see a royalty.

So as the primary license-holder, I think that PGI has an ethical responsibility to ensure that any company that they sub-license to isn't defrauding their customers. If fraud is taking place, then PGI needs to revoke IGP's Mechwarrior sub-license. Not that it would matter much if Tactics is dead and IGP is being shuttered. But still, it would be an appropriate gesture.

[Stah]

wanderer, on 13 September 2014 - 11:22 AM, said:

Note from Performance Ahead:

" I have sent a note to the folks at IGP to provide an update on the project. I will send it along as soon as I have word from them. I hope to have some information for you by EOD Monday."

<mild interest intensifies>

Is there any further response so far?

[AzureDragoon]

Nothing yet, I just checked IGPs, Blue Lizard Games, and MW Tactics Facebook pages, and there has been no updates from any of them.

[Mal]

My response from Kelly today was "nothing yet, I'll try again tomorrow"... Which, I'm assuming will turn into "nothing yet, I'll try again tomorrow" every day until I either give up, or he just stops responding.

[wanderer]

At this point, you're gonna want to call your banks and get a fraud chargeback done: The sooner, the better. The silence is damning.

[Aleksandr Sergeyevich Kerensky]

Helmstif, on 04 September 2014 - 06:18 AM, said:

Um, anybody playing Hearthstone? Or Magic? All of them takes at least half an hour to play a turn, right? (or that's what it seems, since I don't play them)

What I'm trying to say is Kan-Colle is designed from head to toe for Japanese market - super short battles to cope with extremely fast-pace life, cutesy anime-bullsh*t and the Japanese obsession with their bygone era of maritime domination? Which part of it do you think can be replicated by MWT?

Although I do wish there was a &quot;Blitz&quot; mode for MWT, with a 30-min overall timer and a 30-second timer per turn.

(I don't hate anime. I might be more updated on anime than anybody else in MWO forum, I just can't get over using anime stuff to depict 50,000 tons steel vessels of death.)

http://youtu.be/Q50v5Q_O6Xg

Infact, you wouldn't have mechwarrior or battle tech if anime wasn't around. Anime robots fueled the inspiration to create the foundation of this game. There's a reason so many of the original iconic mechs were not brought into this game, and that's because a different company literally owns the intillectual property pertaining to said mechs.

You should remember, that like darth vader, anime is the father of your 50,000 tons of steel vessels of death.

[Mal]

wanderer, on 16 September 2014 - 03:15 PM, said:

At this point, you're gonna want to call your banks and get a fraud chargeback done: The sooner, the better. The silence is damning.

^This.

More to come shortly, but.. it's not Kelly's fault (and, no, I haven't heard anything back from him yet today).. found some other interesting stuff out.. I want to get it organized into a better formulated post before I post.

[slide]

Sounds Interesting Mal!

Edited by slide, 25 September 2014 - 05:34 AM.

[Gwtheyrn]

Mal, on 16 September 2014 - 05:44 PM, said:

^This.

More to come shortly, but.. it's not Kelly's fault (and, no, I haven't heard anything back from him yet today).. found some other interesting stuff out.. I want to get it organized into a better formulated post before I post.

I'm curious to see what you've learned, but I contend that it absolutely is Kelly's fault. He was in charge of the company and they KNEW that they couldn't deliver the product, yet continued to charge for it. If not for he and his merry band of thieves, we wouldn't even be having this conversation.

Nice to know that he's in San Francisco now. That's only a couple hours flight away.

[Mal]

So, obviously, what I'm posting now is my own opinion, based on my research... This has nothing to do with my being a moderator here (in fact, I'm reluctant to post it, because I don't want this to blow up on PGI, or the other mods).. but, I'm also a MWT Founder, and know that the information needs to get out there.

Let's leave PGI out of this, and of course, remember to stay respectful so I don't have to moderate myself




Okay, did some digging today while at work...because, who wants to work
while they're at work.. right?


The key is to follow the money.

Start here:
http://www.clickonli...-montreal/4663/

Quote

7G plans to hire as many as 180 new employees in the next couple
of years as the new companies expand, and it will be aided in its bit by
an $8 million investment in the company by The Fonds de Solidarité FTQ.

So, these FTQ guys, are the initial investors that got IGP going (and,
presumably the various previously referenced Government funding).
Between the two sources of funding, IGP seeded production on the three
games that were in their publishing 'stable' at one point (Sins of a
Dark Age, MWT, and MWO)

Without rehashing history... things happen. MWT slips (no developer as
of December 2013). MWO moves to launch. The SoDA guys get out of their
publishing deal with IGP, and get another publisher (or self publish on
Steam, not 100% sure which).


IGP has various staff turn over (and, let's be fair.. most IGP
employees have no blame in any of this)

IGP now has two games, only one of which is producing any income for
them (whatever IGP's cut of MWO's revenue is.. I don't know, and I don't
care).


FTQ is an investor, and unlike the thousands of us throwing money at
kickstarter for games, they want a financial return on their
investment... which IGP at some point this year, apparently became
unable to provide.

Basically, it looks like FTQ (who, by the way, can be located here:
http://www.fondsftq.com ), pulled their support from IGP.. and it's been
all down hill from there. It sounds like Kelly Zmac is another victim
of the loss of funding (as in, it doesn't sound like he voluntarily left IGP).


With IGP apparently having closed up shop quietly (though, there is
always the possibility they'll sell the MWT license to another
publisher/developer), we're up the proverbial creek.

The odds of FTQ responding to us, let alone returning any money to the
Founders..are pretty much non-existant. I think our only recourse is to
file chargebacks with our respective banks. Like I mentioned earlier,
make sure you've got some documented attempts to communicate with IGP to
go with your claim. MC/Visa both require that.

Edited by Mal, 16 September 2014 - 08:00 PM.

[Mal]

Gwtheyrn, on 16 September 2014 - 07:14 PM, said:

I'm curious to see what you've learned, but I contend that it absolutely is Kelly's fault. He was in charge of the company and they KNEW that they couldn't deliver the product, yet continued to charge for it. If not for he and his merry band of thieves, we wouldn't even be having this conversation.

Nice to know that he's in San Francisco now. That's only a couple hours flight away.

I'd say he's at least partially to blame for the events leading up to this..but, he (in essence) lost his job after FTQ pulled out too.

[MN 2fisted]

In case any MWT folks are going cold turkey and miss the turn based game, here is an option.



Some of us "lost MWT" players are at ISW & Mekwars.

[Sandpit]

MN 2fisted, on 17 September 2014 - 07:44 AM, said:

In case any MWT folks are going cold turkey and miss the turn based game, here is an option.



Some of us "lost MWT" players are at ISW & Mekwars.

3025 server is the best

[Kyrie]

The charge-back option is not an option for many of us who bought in when the game was first announced... There is normally a 6 month maximum time, and its been well over a year in my case.

Still, lesson learned.

Incidentally, Sins of a Dark Age did the same thing as PGI -- they bought out IGP's involvement. Other than MWTactics, IGP has absolutely nothing in the pipeline.

In the Town Hall meeting it was clarified that the following the contractual relationship with regards to MWT:

-Primary Owner of the IP is Microsoft.
-Microsoft gave complete MW license to PGI.
-PGI gave IGP the rights to the turn based MWT.

At some point, PGI might have a responsibility to oversee what exactly is being done with the license they awarded to IGP. How far that responsibility extends I do not know, but at the very least an ethical responsibility to address those of who basically lost our Founders money -- at the very least a statement as to what is happening.

Edited by Kyrie, 17 September 2014 - 08:06 AM.

[RadioKies]

I'm not a MWT founder, but:


http://www.kitguru.n...aliens-lawsuit/

[Mal]

Kyrie, on 17 September 2014 - 08:02 AM, said:

The charge-back option is not an option for many of us who bought in when the game was first announced... There is normally a 6 month maximum time, and its been well over a year in my case.

Try anyway. My bank has a 60 day limit, but when I emailed them about it, and gave them a generic overview of the situation, they told me to submit an official dispute, and they'd see what could be done.

I'm not holding my breath, but, it'll be a pleasant surprise if my bank does process the chargeback. I'd assume it'll make buying anything through Playspan...difficult in the future.. but, I don't have any plans to do so.

I did hear back from Kelly today, but he still hasn't heard back from IGP. I'd asked him for phone numbers, or contact information for anyone still there..and he replied he'll see if they'll give us an email address to contact.

I'd also suggest, that everyone politely, contact FTQ via Twitter (@FondsFTQ), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/FondsFTQ), or via their Contact us section of their website.

If they did truly pull the funding from IGP (and I have every reason to believe they did), they may have additional information about the situation, or, maybe they'll at least make a statement and confirm their current relationship.