Company News Strategy First going Interplay?

[Spazmo]

Tags: Jagged Alliance 3D; Strategy First

According to a <a href=http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/a-tale-in-the-desert/549598p1.html?fromint=1>GameSpy report</a>, Jagged Alliance 3/3D publisher Strategy First has filed for Chapter 11 protection.
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<blockquote>Strategy First was founded in 1988 in Montreal and grew to employ over 100 programmers, artists and marketing representatives in Montreal, Ottawa and London, England, by November 2002. Due to its financial difficulties, Strategy First has scaled back its operations and presently employs 16 people in Montreal, although in the event its restructuring is successful, it intends to employ approximately 40 people. Debts include over $30,000 USD in unpaid rent (probably for the office lease) and over $80,000 USD to the Canadian Government while employees are still owed around $48,000 USD. Aside from the approximate total of $4 million USD owed to various investors, Strategy First's biggest debt is the $1.7 million USD in royalties owed to game developers around the world.</blockquote>
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Unpaid developers, unpaid rent, the government on your ass, investors breathing down your neck... Yeah, sounds like the classic Interplay case. Well, don't sweat it, SF guys, I think UbiSoft and EA's Montreal offices are hiring.
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Thanks to <b>Lasakon</b> for the heads up.

 

[Anonymous]

Darn, and I actually liked them.

 

[taks]

wasn't strategy first the publisher for goldenland in the US? if so, damn.

taks

 

[Sol Invictus]

Another one bites the dust.

 

[Sol Invictus]

What this means for us:
No Jagged Alliance 3
No Disciples 3
No Goldenland

 

[Volourn]

More proof that BIO rocks! :twisted:

These guys weren't good enough to survive so the gaming world don't need 'em.

 

[FireWolf]

The backing from wizards of the coast, microsoft and lucasarts in the past few years can't have hurt.

 

[Spazmo]

Either Volourn is being sarcastic and unfunny or is making the brutally stupid statement that a game's sales are related to its quality.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

So what's that mean for GoldenLand?

 

[Volourn]

"The backing from wizards of the coast, microsoft and lucasarts in the past few years can't have hurt."

Of course all that help. Of course, other companies had backing as well and still crashed. Afterall, Interplay had D&D games and it sure as heck didn't help them as per example. Bottom line is as it currently stands BIO knows what theya re doing. They deserve their success as much as certain other companies deserve to fail.


"Either Volourn is being sarcastic and unfunny or is making the brutally stupid statement that a game's sales are related to its quality."

Whine all you want. Quality is all in the eye of the banshee. Obviously, this company didn't make enough games that customers want. That's their problem. they susck, theyc rash, they burn.

If it happens to BIO (and chances are it eventually will); i'll be their own fault.

Take the Pity Party elsewhere. No mercy for losers. Strategy has just joined the ranks of Interplay and Volourn.

Deal with it.

P.S. And, if people cry because 'm not crying over it; I point you in the direction of the old Interplay crashes threads where people weren't feeling sorry for them either. So meh.

 

[Sol Invictus]

Strategy First might have had a few good games on its hands like the acquisition of Jagged Alliance 2 from SirTech (after which they fired all the employees, how nice of them!) and Disciples 2, but the rest of their games have always been crap, with no exceptions.

 

[Briosafreak]

Well when the problems started i told you guys they wouldn`t be around for enough time to release JA3. Hope they sell the license soon.

 

[POOPERSCOOPER]

Bethesda will buy JA3 cause they're big fans.

 

[Stark]

Bethesda will buy JA3 cause they're big fans.

so, jaggedWind? MorroAlliance?

Online interviews will hint of real time combat and first person perspective, for better immersion!!!

 

[Sol Invictus]

Well it wasn't as if the russian company they hired to do Jagged Alliance 3 was going to be any good, either. Their last 2 games have been pretty bad - in an unpolished, lack-of-quality, total crap kind of way. Besides, they wanted to make some 'action-only' sequel to JA2 rather than a full fledged one.

 

[Stark]

no loss really. I already lost interest when they fired all the original staff.

 

[jiujitsu]

Bethesda will buy JA3 cause they're big fans.

so, jaggedWind? MorroAlliance?

Online interviews will hint of real time combat and first person perspective, for better immersion!!!

Hahaha.

I never played any of their games so I don't really care either.

 

[Brillo]

What this means for us:
No Disciples 3

That certainly sucks.

 

[Talorc]

Unlike the Fallout licence (which Interplay owned totally), Strategy First DOESNT own the Jagged Alliance franchise.

they just have a licence to "manage" the franchise -

Ottawa, Canada, June 4, 2002 (Updated Oct 15, 2003) - As part of its restructuring plan, Sir-tech Canada Limited has signed an agreement with Strategy First to manage all business matters connected with the Jagged Alliance series. The series consists of Jagged Alliance 1, Deadly Games, Jagged Alliance 2, and Jagged Alliance: Unfinished Business released in 1995, 1996, 1998, and 2000 respectively.

Check http://www.sir-tech.com for the full spiel.

HOPEFULLY the sir-tech people (Basically Ian Currie & Co) have some sort of "If you go broke, the contract is null and void" type clause in the agreement.

 

[Sol Invictus]

What this means for us:
No Disciples 3

That certainly sucks.

Well, considering it was that russian company which was making it I'm not sure how big a loss this is. I was hoping they'd tell Nival or a company with good games under its belt to do it, but alas...

 

[Anonymous]

Strategy First might have had a few good games on its hands like the acquisition of Jagged Alliance 2 from SirTech (after which they fired all the employees, how nice of them!) and Disciples 2, but the rest of their games have always been crap, with no exceptions.

I'm pretty sure SF is Paradox's publisher i.e. Europa Universalis and the dozens of games they've made with the EU2 engine.

 

[Sol Invictus]

Not anymore. Paradox told SF to fuck off for not paying them for their games.

 

[dunduks]

Besides, they wanted to make some 'action-only' sequel to JA2 rather than a full fledged one.

Might I inquire where did you get such information, last I checked one JA was a slam-dunk and other one full fledged JA3, besides wasn't original JA also 'action' game, there was not a lot of questing, just insanely fun fighting?

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Let's see. Strategy First has published Galactic Civilizations, Prince of Qin, Dragon Throne, Konung, several Jagged Alliance games so far, Kohan and it's side-quel, Sub Titans, Outforce, and a few other good games that didn't really sell all that well.

They also started dabbling with MMO games like Vendetta Online, which are costly as hell.

 

[Sol Invictus]

The problem with SF is that they tend to fuck up a lot of things even though some of the games they sell are pretty good. Remember the Prince of Qin demo? Or the insane copy protection they used in Dragon Throne? They also started using StarForce, too - which is a surefire way to get people not to buy their games. Codemasters recently released Soldiers but a lot of 'enlightened' gamers refused to buy it because of the expose on various gaming sites about their StarForce copy protection mechanism.

They don't seem too good at advertising their products, and when they do advertise them they come up with some really lame shit - like touting Prince of Qin as a 'diablo killer' instead of a game similar to Baldur's Gate.