Stargate Worlds site returns, but funding still tight

by Krystalle Voecks Oct 14th 2009 at 8:30AM

Filed under: Sci-fi, MMO industry, Server downtime, Stargate Worlds, News items

Over the weekend the Stargate Worlds site had planned a bit of maintenance which took their site offline on the 9th. From what we know now, the plan was that they would be migrating servers since they've been experiencing problems with their hosting. Many expected the site to be back up within a day or so - a normal time-frame for a DNS change and many cases of forum maintenance. When the entire site hadn't come back up by the 12th - and their Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites remained eerily silent - we decided to reach out to them and see how things were going.

While we're glad to see that the Stargate Worlds web site is now back on line, the note that we received back from Timothy N. Jenson, President and CEO of Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment was a bit disheartening. While the team remains optimistic, it indicates that they are continuing to have funding issues despite the news that they'd picked up new investors in the tail-end of August. For those interested in reading the full statement we received, we've included it behind the break.

The stargateworlds.com site is owned by MGM and went down on Friday due to a change in DNS server providers. Cheyenne and MGM are working on getting the site back up and it is expected to be back up this week. [Ed. note: the site has already been restored.] As for the Stargate Worlds game and Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment, Inc., our company has struggled in the current economic climate to raise the funding needed to successfully develop and publish our MMORPG. While there continues to be a lot of desire, enthusiasm and excitement about the project from our employees, investors and fans, we will not be able to provide any updates on the development of Stargate Worlds until sufficient funding is available.

[Thanks, Dru!]

Tags: cheyenne-mountain-entertainment, cme, mgm, server-outages, sgw, stargate-worlds

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Epocrates said on 9:14AM 10-14-2009

Oh man...I love Stargate Worlds / stargate - the whole franchise is gold to me. I really am hoping they can pull it together and release something for us. Even if it's more like a Fallen earth where things are hastely put together and clunky. Fans will Get over it. The worst that could happen is you have a smaller base than we all want actually playing it, But at least the game would be out and you'll be making that much needed money to continue development. Surely someone sees that. If you aren't a Blizzard or just have deep pockets, You can't just "take your time, it's done when it's done" approach.

In my opinion.

murraykeele said on 9:58AM 10-14-2009

In regards to Fallen Earth,

Yes I will give you it does feel a little bit clunky which I hope they iron out in future patches, BUT 'hastely put together' I have to disagree with that, Fallen Earth is a very good game, and I recommend people to really give it a shot!

Sami said on 10:15AM 10-14-2009

Im the same I really hope that it doesn't get dropped and does get released. I adore the Stargate Franchise.

Epocrates said on 10:28AM 10-14-2009

Alright I'll give you that, it was unfair to say it was hastely put together. There is a TON of depth in Fallen Earth that to be honest pushed me away. I'd like to give it a try again - just not for 50 bux.

Still I'd prefer to see SGW out rather than in perpetual Development. I think Fallen Earth has done that part well.

Nint said on 1:27PM 10-14-2009

Rushing an unfinished game out with the hopes of patching it only leads to a disaster. If they don't have the technical or monetary backing to get this game done right, I hope development stops and it never gets released.

That way at least another company can buy up the scraps and release it right.

Releasing an unfinished trashy product will only hurt the Stargate franchise and we may never see another Stargate game.

Just like Star Trek Online, it got picked up by a more experienced developer and will actually release. Until Beta starts, I can't say how good it is, but from what I read from people at PAX, it's looking pretty decent.

That's what we should hope for with Stargate. Not an AoC or a WWII Online.

Riffs said on 9:34AM 10-14-2009

Very sadly I'm starting to think that the 5 second glimpse we saw on Stargate Universe of the game is all the public is going to ever see of Stargate Worlds.

Epocrates said on 9:42AM 10-14-2009

I had that thought too...but I quickly Repressed it - That's such a depressing thought. Let's stay positive :)

thain said on 10:40AM 10-14-2009

I think you might be right, even tho this seemed a perfect example of a franchise almost custom designed to fit an MMO perfectly.

Players, you have an entire army to create to explorer/defend the galaxy, having tons of people makes perfect sense.

Travel, again perfect sense to travel on foot 90% of the time, and magically appear in far off strange places.

About the only thing that doesn't really make sense would be a sort of in game economy, as technically you'd all be members of the army, but hey, we can gloss over that right?

EQ said on 9:58AM 10-14-2009

Honestly, small time game companies need to calm down and stop trying to be "the next wow" or "wow killers". SGW has an honest chance of being a good game. Devs here need to stop, see how much of the game is really complete, polish that and that alone, and prepare for release. That is, if the game is even halfway ready for release. If its not, then why are we constantly hearing about games that arent even close to release? Whats there to stop me (some lil IT Network Admin from nowhere) from saying "Hey everyone, I'd like to officially announce: I have started development (got a couple ideas down on a napkin) on a new Mech MMORPG. It will have space flight, your own personal armies, the ability to make real money, and you can win real life mechs when you reach end game"... is this ever going to happen? No, but neither is a game with no funding and even less development. and FFS please, someone, stop making MMOFPS.

MrGutts said on 10:02AM 10-14-2009

Let's hope that MGM recovers from bankruptcy and GIVES them some damn money to finish the game up. MGM you cheap asses give the devs some damn money.

Jack said on 11:10AM 10-14-2009

I am sure they are struggled in the current economic climate... they did not make any game yet and one make one Massive one! I think they need stop giving huge IPs to a unknown company like this that never even bring a single player game out.... Go with the big 3 that show that can handle large games: Blizzard, Bioworks, the Fallout 3 guys.

TariqOne said on 12:20PM 10-14-2009

Stargate Worlds had a lot of interesting ideas and seemed really very well fleshed out and for a brief moment there, before all the weirdness with the ponzi scheme and everything, I was confident it was going to release quickly. Just things like the ability to choose non-combat careers and level up via puzzles and other challenges struck me as really broadminded and something to support. I didn't even know a lot or care about the IP itself. The underlying concepts were sound and creative and that was enough for me.

Sorry to say but this one's dead, Jim. CME did a heck of a job, from my vantage point, but they couldn't carry it home. I've stopped following it.

LancerX92 said on 1:30PM 10-14-2009

Sorry to say this one sounds like its dead.

About five years ago had the same thing happen to a studio I worked for. Our 5 year funding turned into 3 years. So for a year and a half the higher ups scrambled to find investers. Well after 4 and a half years the studio closed and Disney ended up buying all the IPs. And that was when the investing market was healthier.

Good luck to them but speaking from experiance not holding my breath.

Green Armadillo said on 3:12PM 10-14-2009

If nothing else, I respect them for being honest. Many studios aren't as forthcoming about this sort of thing. Too bad it's looking like the honesty is the only thing we'll be able to salute them for.

Ryan said on 7:26PM 10-14-2009

You know what I don't get? Why not just open up development to the players -- there are two low-hanging possibilities I see. Option #1 is the best approach, but even option #2 could work well.

Option #1: They need to raise money? Well, there are millions of SG fans and millions of MMO fans, many of whom are dying for more options in the sci fi genre. Why not just start to push fans to buy shares in the company? Lots of people would throw small amounts of money at a game they really wanted to play, knowing it may not ever otherwise be developed, especially knowing that if the game did come out, not only would they get to play it, but they'd actually have shares in its success. Even small dollars by individual fans could pay off in the long run -- $50 or $100 now could be worth a quarter of a year's subscription down the road, every year... and if the game does really well, it could even be worth real cash, quickly.

Option #2: Make the development of the game somewhat open source. I bet there are many people capable of fixing various bugs, zone development, etc. that just love the franchise and would give a couple hours a week. While it sounds scary, it's worked very well in countless other vehicles. Maybe filter people out and offer anyone talented enough to work on it some kind of incentive -- free months for subscriptions, etc.

Perhaps these seem like radical ideas, but they could work out. It takes an immense amount of work to create a full-fledged MMO, but that doesn't mean they have to be funded the same ways that others have been in the past, or in ways the rest of the gaming industry funds and develops their games. It's simply too big a risk for a game of the scope of an MMO for the minimal profits they often bring -- even when things do more or less work out. Given the creative, immersive and massive aspects of these games, it may be smart for some developers to start looking at creative, immersive and massive ways of developing and paying for them.

Phillip said on 2:31PM 10-17-2009

I like both of those ideas.

I don't know how many truly talented people would work for free on a game, but you're right that it has worked on numerous other projects. And I do like the idea of offering incentives for contributors, whether it be in-game items/money/status or subscription time.

I also like the idea of offering fans stock in the game, though it might be more realistic to allow fans to cash-in their stock for (again) in-game items/money/status or some subscription time. Either way, the idea of allowing fans to buy stock in a game summons memories of "UHF". ...that's a good thing. :-)

Ryan said on 2:37PM 10-17-2009

Hey Phillip, thanks for the comment. On the 'open source' aspect, I think you open it up a little at a time, because there are certainly some very, very easy fixes in games that can be made -- and then some more difficult, professional ones. For the stock, I think you're right -- but it could be left as an option to players. It would probably cost the company less, and be a bigger boon to players as well, to 'cash in' their 'dividends' for in game items, money, status and/or subscription time. If they wanted real money, they'd probably be best off selling their shares. But I do think these are two creative ideas which could help a number of beleaguered MMO companies, as well as Indy developers looking to get games to the market, or make them a little bit better when they do actually make it there.

Rob said on 12:38PM 10-20-2009

I only know a bit how high tech companies are founded. That said there are some issues with going public. For one, the initial investors would lose money. They are looking for return on investment, and if you dilute the stock shared out then that ROI number goes down. For another, there are legal issues with going public, which i have only the fuzziest notion about. Lastly, if we look at this as a charity, it would probably not raise alot of funds. They need millions of dollars to continue investing. Do they want to open it up to public financing and only get $100,000? Then what? Everything is wasted, and people who invested 100k just threw away their money. I can appreciate the counter arguements too, but maybe the best thing is to put the project on the shelf for a few years and wait for profitability to be restored. (Although I dont know that MGM would actually return to solvency).