Krome Looking to Open New Studio for ex-Ratbags Confirmed

A lot of the guys now have jobs elsewhere. The problem with setting up in Adelaide is that its hard to recruit making it a bad long term business decision. People want to live in one of the major cities like Melbourne, Sydney or Brizzy. You've also got the added strain of two offices in different locations. Very expensive.

Brave decision I think.

Yes it was a feeding frenzy but only if people were willing to shift from Adelaide... which may not be so simple for people with a partner, house or land and no reason to uproot other than work.

Doesn't it indicate rather that these studios value talent? The studios that will succeed imho ar ethe one's that invest in people and realise that the talent of their team is the most important asset they have.

Congrats to Krome in taking the local industry for serious with such a bold move.

As for the studios headhunting in Adelaide, that's excactly what i'd do if I were in their place, and if I'd just been made retrenched (and believe me, I've been in that position in the industry before) I'd welcome the interest from a number of prominent studios.

Geez, with some of you guys it sounds like a case of being damned either way.

If anyones going to be able to cop the cost and high risk it will be Krome.

Its definately a bold move - but it could work really nicely if they tread carefully.

This is also the same reason why there are more cars than just Porches. You don't need to be a rocket scientist but you do need to look at how things work in the real world.

If you do the math with 150 people on staff and the potential sales revenues from games then you can see they are in trouble. If it wasnt' for the bailout from the government this company would be in a very bad situation. They are also moving into business areas they know nothing about. They are taking even greater financial risks spreading themselves more thinly at a time they should be taking stock of the reality of their situation and the industry at large.

There is more to the marketplace than top end price points, but if you could get them you would.

"If you do the math", on what are you basing your statistics since you are obviously privvy to a different set of figures than those at Krome

Since you are obviously all-seeing and all powerful, can you also tell me who will win this year's Melbourne Cup? Or will that be you as well?
"And its a photofinish Galloping C*cksucker!"

To dismiss such talk as merely the work of some twisted weirdo is a bit hasty, after all, how many people saw what was coming in the way of Ratbag and Perception?

And the signs were there to read.

If that is coming from Krome then there surely must be a lot more to it then.

Is it just me, or is everyone else getting sick and tired of studios advertising for talent when they shouldn't be and know they shouldn't? Especially as it seems that every one of them that does is just about to go under and doesn't have the cash to spend on hiring.

It would be great if the local studios got some local support instead of the doomsayers just waititng for them to fail. And even if they do, guess what? That's not just the games industry that happens everywhere. Most businesses fail in the first year - any local studio that's gone longer than that is doing well.

A lot of people here just seem to be waiting like vultures for companies to fail, just so they can say "I knew it would happen". That's just sad for this industry and all the people who manage to make some sort of living by making games. Just sad.

Support is one thing when the studio is really trying to do something and do it right, support for those that are only hurting this industry in the long run is just shooting yourself in the foot.

As for those that "said it would happen," perhaps you should have had the brains to listen to them instead of painting them as something this industry can do without. Ignoring and attacking those that are trying to steer the industry in the right direction so as to avoid studio closures, especially when such talk is usually unpopular to the current "perception" within the industry, just shows your own short-sighted stupidity - and you deserve to be one of those that end up without a job.

People like that are what this industry needs most of all, those willing to put themselves on the line to try at least to make a difference, usually at extreme personal cost - arsehole!

So Pandemic IS shutting down then? As is Team Bondi? You seam to have all the answers.

I'm sure that Team Bondi and Pandemic both are doing just fine - both studios have the know how to succeed. Wouldn't surprise me if Team Bondi have done pretty well due to Perception.

It's now totally obvious that your making up observations of companies based on assumptions. You might want to cast that all seeing eyes of yours a little deeper or at least wipe the shit off them.

I'll make this prediction for you however, and I am the first one to say that this one may very well not come true. And it is this: by the end of 2006, another relatively high-profile studio will either lay-off a lot of its employees, or, just plain old shut their doors. I'll even say that it will occur in Victoria with a close second being Queensland - or is that too vague for you?

That said, IR Gurus have been trying over the last few months (since November) to try and give the illusion of that they can pay on time. They got a few deals in the works that could help them significantly with any future cash flow issues.

As stated earlier though, IR Gurus are constantly recruiting staff even though their track record of even paying there existing staff isn't the greatest.

Most business managers know that wages are your #1 priority, if you find out you can't pay your employee's you go down to the bank and you get a overdraft. Sure you have to put your own house up as collatoral to get the money to cover 60 people, but you as director have risks that come with the job, and one of them is that sometimes you have to sacrifice potentially your own belongings. Besides the risk is minimal, the company knows it's cheaper for them to avoid the overdraft interest rates by just expecting employees to wait and sacrifice their financial position rather than that of the companies. I believe that most people are lenient and will allow a company once or twice the company to be late with pays, but not when it becomes a frequent event.

I think IR Gurus have potential, but I think they need to get out of the mentality that they should expect everything from the employee. In the past especially with a few of the recently released projects, they expected massive amount of commitment from employees without giving the same back. Lack of conditions and proper equipment. I know from my experiences that if you work for a company that expects a lot from you, but gives a lot back that you are highly motivated.

Main downside which I don't know if they will escape is they have a factory worker mentality really, they have unrealistic time frames and expect 150"(percent) results to get the product done in that time frame. A lot of game companies take this approach though, and it can work, and is a well known factor when joining a games company. Mind you a lot of games companies overseas and even some internally are starting to realise that proper planning and smarter business tend to be more economical in the end.

You could also add that historically, IR Gurus forced pay cuts upon their staff when things were looking grim. You would also have to say that they repaid these monies, though it was dependant on the next project being signed and there was considerable risk for the staff involved of not recouping those monies.

You are right that most people are lenient. As an employee, you have the responsibility to yourself to work for the best company you can and get the best deal and the minimum about of stress. It sounds like you really like what you are doing but find the balance of what is expected of you compared to what you find an unacceptable situation.

It all comes down to the level of risk you are willing to take and to ride the wave and see if it turns out good. It's an issue of leverage that they meet your demands - if they don't value you enough or actually cannot acquiesce then its probably better that you go and get another job somewhere, where it might be better. As long as you are good at what you do, professional and don't burn any bridges then you can more than likely go back if it turns out good later on and there is demand for your skill.

You mention a lack of planning and management as well. You are probably posting to a forum like this - in the hope that someone there in the management reads it and goes - 'Hey we should pay our staff on time!', and then they hopefully do.

It's at that point where you have to question two things about the management, and more so the individuals who are part of that management: their ability to run a good business, and their integrity.

Management is taking charge of the situation. I am not against management in any way - there are hundreds of examples of good, competent mangers in the video game industry. Just like their are good programmers and artists and bad programmers and artists.

If the integrity is there, then you have less to worry about and hopefully things will straighten out, projects will be approved and you will be paid on time, or at least with the best intentions. Though they could be inept and get it wrong. Everyone usually thinks they are doing things right until they observe or are told otherwise - and if you are a manager and no one is grading your performance then it is academic. The word 'oblivious' comes to mind.

If there is no integrity then you have a real problem. The only way you can succeed there is lock in your interests contractually though leverage. Nothing else really works in those cases.

The million dollar question is: Does all the management have integrity? Do they all have the ability?

It's like hiring, in reverse.

Anyway on to other business. I just wanted to expand my prediction somewhat as I felt it was a bit too gypsy fortune-telling in that it is highly probable that at least one studio will suffer such a fate, so I will change it to the following:

I am 95"(percent) certain that at least one relatively high-profile studio will either lay-off a large number of its staff or just plain old shutdown the studio altogether. I say "either" lay-off or shutdown in that studios in the past instead of doing the latter have done the former, and just not bothered to tell anyone so as to "appear" in a state of health. For instance mid last year a studio in Victoria were in a serious cash-flow crisis, desperately looking for funding. I was not told which studio it was nor found out what happened, but the outlook was pretty grim for them, yet, I to date have heard nothing reported in the media or through other public channels as to whether employees were "let-go" or the studio shutdown - most likely it was the former and they have maintained the illusion of healthy business ever since, as a skeletal team or simply the founders can exist this way for a few years in-between publishing deals.

FYI: the 5"(percent) is due to the off chance that you have learnt from the examples of Ratbag and Perception, and by some divine miracle - that one is for the Christians - you have actually woken up and seen the effect next-gen could have on the local industry and have all started to panic and rush through measures to weather the coming storm that has actually started to hit - even though many of you are still oblivious to it,.

Well, back to my predictions as I have more to make ;). I am 60"(percent) certain that 2-3 studios will either lay-off a large number of its staff or simply close their doors. I am 40"(percent) certain that 5-6 studios will either lay-off a large number of its staff or simply close their doors.

These "predictions" are Australia wide by-the-way, so it can occur in any state and any city - just to be reassuring :). I'll also add that a string of smaller lay-offs over the year will count as one large lay-off - so no way of weaseling your way out of it ;).

Now if the first (95"(percent)) prediction is proven to be false, I will stop posting and writing comments to this site, Sumea. Not only that, but I will also resign and never work in the local industry again. If I get it right, well big deal, that is one is easy to guess at. Now if the second (60"(percent)) prediction comes true, I will increase the number of posts I make to this site threefold, and I will make my presence far more felt to those that wish I would just go away. Now if the (40"(percent)) prediction comes true, everyone of you idiots on here who seem to be under the delusion that there is nothing at all wrong with the industry, that Perception and Ratbag were extreme cases and had nothing to do with the arrival and effects of next-gen or the general short-sighted and short-term deficiencies of the local industry, can kiss my hairy-beanbag in the full-swing of summer after I haven't bathed for a week.

Ought to be nice and smelly from the humid sweaty heat ;D.

I feel that I will win in this because you guys never learn from someone else's mistakes nor do you bother to learn from your own. Instead what usually ends up happening is that you reinforce the same beliefs that lead you to undertake the various actions and make the decisions that lead to the unfortunate mess to begin with, rather than changing your behaviour so as to avoid committing the same mistakes again.

-100 points

I don't recall too many reports of this other than a studio or two laying people off, and a startup or two that were probably not even what you could call a studio yet, do you?

And you are right, it has nothing to do with it being better or worse than any other, but that still does not mean that there is nothing wrong with it. Comparing it to another industry if it has no relevance to our industry, will not be of any help in justifying its current state - at least in my eyes.

Comparing it to another industry going through a similar change will. Regardless, even this does not justify the state the industry is in and its failings that lead to this state.

Me saying with 95"(percent) certainty that this is the case is pretty bold statement to make. It means that this is most likely going to happen - whereas in the past there have been no strong industry pressures for it to occur. Me saying that I am 40"(percent) certain that 5-6 studios will go through this, is equally as bold, as this is slightly less than a 50/50 set of odds of it occurring.

Your short-sighted generalisation is really missing the point and also dismissing what I have said in order to trivialise it, especially as if I am wrong, it has major repercussions for me ;)

I'll also point out that I am fairly confident that in the past here has been at least one year not to go through any lay-offs or studio closures. And in the past my odds would have been something like 40"(percent) certainty of this occurring, so me raising it to 95"(percent) is being very confident that it will occurring again, especially after Ratbag and Perception being so recent.

As for which studios, off the top of my head try: Atari, Torus, Tantalus, Infinite Interactive, Auran.

Others that aren't so hard to stretch and I would not be surprised at are: Krome, Blue Tongue, Creative Assembly.

Perhaps someone who has the time and who doesn't feel like they are repeating themselves and bashing their heads against a brick-wall will write up there take and I won't have to. Perhaps commentators: 9, 19, 21, 39, 40, 42 and 43 can shed some light.

As for your earlier comment about warning them. Well when I read sh*t like what occurred at Perception and how the PS2 Lead was treated by the management and the whole team for only trying to save the project and steer it in the right direction. I kind of feel what is the point of doing so, that it is all for the best and that these studios probably deserve it anyway.

Reading that post made me very... very... angry. No one like that, with the courage to at least try to make a difference, and with the real experience and seniority that makes his words believable, deserves such treatment. So now I no longer feel any pity for Perception, and I feel very little in regards to the studio that will close their doors this year.

For the record: I don't like being right about these things, and where as this prediction is merely a generalisation of what I have experienced and heard to date - therefore I don't really know who will be next or which studios will be affect, I just know it will happen and is pretty much inevitable by this point. The matter of Perception was not a generalisation, I heard Ben Lenzo speak at a conference, I spoke to the guy on a few occasions, and based on that first-hand experience, as well as the experiences I had directly with another project, I new with certainty that that game would not make it to market. They were clearly out of their depth, Ben with his comments at the conference and when I chatted to him showed he just did not have and depth of comprehension when it came to game development and more importantly in game design - game design is very hard, it is not easy at all though it may initially appear to be, yet apparently he was the lead designer when he had no real experience. The company did not have a track-record of attempting any title of that complexity, just some arcade boat game I think - the last time I had heard anything from them was quite a while, and I thought that they had disappeared quietly off of the face of the planet.

And more importantly, they had somehow convinced investors to give them money so that they could buy the Stargate license. Though a bold and great business move in game development, unfortunately unless you know what you are doing, you are only going to fail. For instance, though publishers are a pain in the arse, they for the most part are trying to make a successful title - as these make money. If you own a license, have raised funds to develop part of the game yourself, you may have a degree of arrogance when it comes to the publisher making suggestions about the game, especially if you have been burnt by publishers in the past rejecting your game proposals or forcing you to make unnecessary changes, even if they were really needed - based on what Ben told me, this arrogance was in place, not only to the publisher, which explains why the team heard little from them about the game as Ben had retarded that relationship from the start, but also to anyone else like the PS2 lead who had more experience than all of them probably put together.

FYI: company / studio culture flows from the top-down folks.

Ben the CEO was to blame for the studios short-comings, though, MGM is to blame for not doing their due-diligence, and awarding the use of the license to them - I hope someone at MGM was fired for that. Ben was pretty much the link (being the CEO) to JoWood and MGM, he decided who and who not to hire for the team, he set the studio's internal environment that would have either promoted communication and collaboration or stifled it - those he hired for leads would have been what he considered within such a "vision" and yes-men who would not rock-the-boat or threaten his position on the project, so he could keep on going as lead designer / producer, neither which he had the experience for.

The similar experience I had was with a studio where though they largely did not know what the hell they were doing from lack of experience, they had a lot of talent - not to mention some great technology. However, they did not own a license and were not in a similar position to Perception going into the publishing deal - though it surprised me just how much they managed to get away with. In this case, the publisher quite plainly stated that either an improvement be made or the project be dropped - therefore they were then forced to see the light of reason and were then willing to listen to I and others so as to save the project from the bin. Perception I new would not, they would keep at it until it was just too late to have the same turnaround occur - as is what happened.

Now all that long-winded stuff said, if I were to have said that to Ben Lenzo almost two years ago, what do you think he would have said to me exactly when I explained what would happen and why, and more importantly, how he could avoid it by simply delegating more and bringing on the right people with experience to act as leads - with him not meddling in design, which was the main reason why the project I worked on in the past was in bad shape, the CEO playing at being a game designer as well as producer when he had no experience for the roles whatsoever.

Do you think he would have listened to me?

Of course not, he wouldn't have and nor will any of the others that are doomed to fail even when they could succeed. Furthermore, if I had said all that two years ago on Sumea, I would have been ignored, ridiculed and attacked much as I am now. Knowing what I did about Perception was not pleasing as I could do nothing about it but sit back and watch it all unfold - there is a reason why my forum posts end with: "Ignorance is truly bliss!"

You know what? If I had a steady job making games for 2 years and lost it for whatever reason (beyond my own fault) Yes I'd be bitter for not having a job but honestly I'd be thinking "cool well at least I got paid to make games for a bit." Sure if you're only in it for the money then you've just "wasted" 2 years of your life but you a bigger idiot for not going in an industry that pays you a lot more. That's just a financial truth. Games don't pay as well as some other industries. Then gain I've yet to hear about game developers jumping out of windows.

Give Ben a little credit for at leat going out and trying instead of waiting for someone to walk up to him with a bag of money. Sure they didn't succeed - for whatever reason, they tried. And I have to ask why the staff hung around for 2 months without pay - surely that's just stupid - or did think that their product was worth fighting for?

As for the senior programmer not being listened to - well maybe they were wrong and didn't have all the facts - maybe they were just as arrogant as the management. That's not such a big stretch. THough I do grant it sounds like there was a big communication issue between them.

I'm not trying to put Cynical Fan down but threre's usually more than one side to any story and a lot of what is being presented here sounds a lot like rumor and heresay rather than solid fact. Cynical Fan - Do you have any real suggestions or are you just waiting for the walls to fall? Better yet are you going to start up your own company to show those mugs how to do it right? Go on. How hard could it be?

I believe that the local industry will recover and more quickly than perhaps some will realise - if is merely a natural cycle of change, the old die, the new grow. This is a great opportunity for startups based on knowledgeable and experienced individuals in game development to start studios with fresh ideas and approaches to game development, and hopefully bring to the local industry that so far has been lacking - if you startup without any experience, even if you do have experience in business, you will only fail I might add.

I wish any startup that is trying to do things right, all the best in 2006, as I think it is a great opportunity for them as well as other more established studios that are making headway in adopting better development practises / attitudes - good luck to you guys ;).

As for the staff hanging around without pay because they thought it was worth fighting for, sure. Even if the game was average it probably would still have sold well and made a small profit, perhaps more than that. So yeah, they hung around as having a licensed title like Stargate on their resume when perhaps many of them had nothing at all, would be something to proud of.

If I were in their situation I would hang around as well and give it my best try as well, shows a prospective employer that I have commitment and drive, but not if I had at least one to my name - just not worth putting up with all that, especially as the project was clearly about to become a crashed wreckage.

I'll give Ben some credit, it is the first time I have heard anyone securing a license to develop a title with - that is a developer doing so - and taking control of the development process - but as I said, to do so without experience will take you on a long trip to nowhere, unless you are willing to delegate.

I won't forgive him for what he did with that opportunity and what he did to others that were willing and trying to help him though.

As for suggestions, I've given plenty in the past, and don't feel like repeating myself again. I also don't see any point in helping those that only help perpetuate false development practises in the local industry. I would prefer to see them close their doors quite frankly, clearing the way for new studios to make unimpeded headway - don't ask for my reasoning on this, if you are curious, try reading the the AGDC 2005 and 2004 comment threads.

Anyway, that is enough from me I think, I have said all I want to say, and saying any more would be a waste of time. Though I will say this, I have been working on a manifesto of sorts for the local industry, it should say far more about how I feel about the current situation, why it has occurred, and what I believe needs to be done to overcome it.

Perhaps I'll find the time to finish it, and make it public when I feel the time is right ;).

Those of us who can't move from Adelaide are very appreciative of the offer from Krome, and if it goes down the gurgler because of this bullshitty, uneducated rumours hurting share prices and the like, I'll do a "Jay and Silent Bob" and spend my time on the dole tracking you down to punch you in your pimply nerd faces!

Krome setting up in Adelaide was appreciated by people who could not shift and I hope it works well for them.

Rampant speculation filters out into the general community. This website is not an island and the stockmarket thrives on rumours and hearsay. Do the ex Ratbag guys, Krome the company and it's people a favour and try to avoid errant speculation. It's fair to discuss and speculate about the problems that beset Perception AFTER their demise but do try to avoid speculation about Krome for the reasons post 55 outlined.

When I said that it's about time the industry in Australia became more professional I also meant it's time that all of it's members acted more professionally - employers and employees alike.

One more comment - do you think registration or at least listing IP's should be implemented here? People know me by my handle and that I'm not endeavouring to hide behind a veil of anonymity with my comments. I think particularly when posting flames and errant speculation that this should be required - it might compel people to act a little more responsibly with their posts and ensure they have either the facts or their insider knowledge to support their assertions.

Please act responsibly. An old saying from WWII springs to mind: 'loose lips sink ships'.

Here at Funcom, since publically listing we've been told that under no circumstances can we discuss work or speculate about the state of the team, project, or company outside of the office. This means that we're not to talk casually about matters rleating to the compnay on the bus or wherever.

Recently we had a case here where it was reported that two funcom emplyoers had allegedly been overheard expressing negative remarks about the company and a project on a train. What started on a personal blog subsequently found it's way into one financial paper here. Fortunately, there were no negative remifications but the case demonstrates that even the financial industry does feed off such rumours and allegations.

The poster of any remark here DOES have a responsibility to exercise their right with discretion particularly at a sensitve time such as this for Krome when they're moving to expand.

So I stand by my earlier comment.

If you don't have any facts then say so. If you have facts then be prepared to stand by your remarks and register. Simple.

Then you immediately resort to an anecdote which doesn't even have anything to do with the case in point (Cynical's and the other anonymous postings are not from identified and verified insiders as is the case with your Funcom employeers example).

And on top of that all it proves is that in this one instance rumours circulated easily, but the market didn't move a result... which is exactly what one would expect to happen.

Oh and CynicalFan why don't you just go jam your own fist up your arse

What I don't get is that I haven't said all that much about Ratbag or Krome making the move to establish a technology focused team down in Adelaide probably using the 1.5m that they secured from Ausindustry to develop a next-gen engine with.

So why such hostility to me my short-sighted friend? I suppose it is easier to focus on me rather than all the "anonymous" posters, huh?

FYI: Sorry, I don't do kink requests, pervert! :P

As for commenter #70, I don't care if you care as I couldn't care less about who you might be either. My comments are not to seek some sort of notoriety, I'm just delivering a message, if you want to shoot the messenger in the vain hope it won't be delivered, you're mistaken - someone else will just do that instead.

The next-gen transition and its effects on the local industry are inevitable, just ask my good friend exratbagger.

So why such hostility to me my short-sighted friend? I suppose it is easier to focus on me rather than all the "anonymous" posters, huh?"
--------------

So let me get this right. You haven't said much about some rubbish you made up about 2 companies, but in the same breath made up some more rubbish about the same 2 companies, and you're wondering why someone would have hostility towards the rubbish you've been saying?

I dunno man, I'd be bewildered too. Rock on.

Too bad a lot of developers these days just don't buy that b*llshit excuse anymore. Instead you pick individuals that may have said things you didn't like about them, that perhaps had a little too much truth for your fragile egos to handle, maybe said things that may very well happen that you just didn't want to face yet, because you knew what it would mean for you. It might make you lot feel better to vent your pent up frustrations at me and others, but you are still a bunch of f*ckups that will never learn from your own mistakes - trust me, time well tell me to be right ;).

Have a nice 2006 with the next-gen wave f*ckups, it is looking to be a real good one ;D.

I don't have time for this sh*t, this constant defence. I've got better things to do with my time at the moment than deal with a few ignorant idiots that probably don't even work in the industry, and Mdobele, I too am a little sick of it as well, especially the way my patience these days has been worn a little thin by the constant wall of ignorance. It disgusts me to think that when I first started posting on this site I was clam and hardly used any "colourful" nor reactive language, but these days it seems I just can't help myself with the constant twits jumping-to-conclusions about what I have said so as to merely attack me for their own petty needs and ill-thought out needs.

FYI: do you guys have any idea why Sumea has so much sponsorship these days at all? Think real hard and you might start to get an idea as to why.

Perhaps if you REALLY want people to start thinking about what you're saying, and looking at their own situation, you shouldn't adopt such a sanctimonious tone. You know - value other peoples opinion as much as you value your own (even if you disagree) as well as considering that just because somebody disagrees with you (or asks a question) doesn't make them an idiot, twit or whatever you want to call them - perhaps their own experiences lead them to a different conclusion, or they're just asking for clarification.

Lastly, in my opinion, saying that everybody is just making personal attacks on yourself is the kettle calling the pot black. Every response YOU make is a personal attack on somebody who disagreed with you or asks a question. If you're saying you're sick of it, then perhaps you should lead by example?

If anybody on these boards wants to help this industry, then perhaps people should try to not alienate everybody who has a different point of view. By all means speculate, be the voice of doom if that's where you honestly think things are going, but just do it in a constructive manner, instead of all this 12 year old un-professional crap.

Ah I don't think so, perhaps some where because I had been attacked previously, but most of my attacks were clearly in retaliation at someone else's personal attacks of me. It doesn't take much to see that.

As for the rest of your post, I just don't give a damn any more to bother replying to it :)

But, I don't apologise for everything I said, as not all my remarks were not without provocation.

Btw in response to the main thread, is this actually going ahead? Last I heard there were some 40 odd going to other brissy companies.. some 20 odd going to Krome (or are they staying here.. in the studio?).. and I know some have gone to Melb.. so is this still going ahead?

Just quoting this again so that we can all remember the deal CynicalFan made:

-----------------------------------
CynicalFan said on 27/1/2006

I am 95"(percent) certain that at least one relatively high-profile studio will either lay-off a large number of its staff or just plain old shutdown the studio altogether. I say "either" lay-off or shutdown in that studios in the past instead of doing the latter have done the former, and just not bothered to tell anyone so as to "appear" in a state of health. For instance mid last year a studio in Victoria were in a serious cash-flow crisis, desperately looking for funding. I was not told which studio it was nor found out what happened, but the outlook was pretty grim for them, yet, I to date have heard nothing reported in the media or through other public channels as to whether employees were "let-go" or the studio shutdown - most likely it was the former and they have maintained the illusion of healthy business ever since, as a skeletal team or simply the founders can exist this way for a few years in-between publishing deals
...
Now if the first (95"(percent)) prediction is proven to be false, I will stop posting and writing comments to this site, Sumea. Not only that, but I will also resign and never work in the local industry again
-------------------------------------

Two months to go, want to change that bet yet?