Auran still alive and developing

its still alive and kicking..

time to get out the .22

"Auran Demise Greatly Exaggerated"

What the hell can they sell to Chinese developers? Unreal Engine 3? Errmm... Did they do some "MMO" netcode? Their online was laggy as hell. I call BS on that one. I really don't think the Chinese are that desperate.

I'm curious about Auran's new game contract though. My prediction: Mobile platform. Probably a license.

And have those poor staff who were laid off been paid yet or is that still the right hand of Auran not claiming responsibility for it's left hand.

we havent been paid yet... the government gets to pick up that tab...

I'm with Anon #2.

Good luck guys. Hope everything comes stable for you guys.
Not sure what it is they are gonna pawn off to the Chinese developers though. Unreal Engine 3 is still owned by Epic, until SK does their deal and pulls a nasty.

they're going to pawn off all the hard work their employees did before they were fired, 2 weeks before christmas.

ah tony and graham, you slimy bastards. i'm really glad that you managed to fire 70 people and still keep all your riches from their hard work. i look forward to you both recieving your justice.

Ah, the anonymity of the web is wonderful. People who have no clue what they are talking about get to sound vaguely knowledgeable and important.

I have put almost 10 years and many millions of dollars into trying to achieve something no Australian game company has ever achieved (making a globally successful AAA online game). Ultimately we failed to deliver the quality required in todays market. Sadly we didn't have an extra $20M to pump int the game so that we could dealiver 2 years late instead of just one (like Warhammer and Conan are currently doing). The point is that we haven't given up yet.

Almost the entire team got jobs before Christmas, and I did all I could to try and keep the company alive. In fact this all would have happened years earlier if I didn't topping up the bank account with my own money. I am not sure what justice I am expected to get for trying to put Auran back on the map. It sounds like I am meant to keep paying staff for ever or until they are ready to leave of their own accord.

Btw, several leading Chinese publishers are extremely interested in using the FURY code base as the foundations of a fully fledged PvE and PvP MMO. I'm over there next week to talk terms. Those people that have played FURY and won a game or two realize it's actually a lot of fun.

Ok as an outsider I can't imagine how this must be for any parties.

I do however feel the need to reply to you Tony.

Fair enough you're trying to recover from this, so you should, it must have been pretty devastating for you to lose so much.
I personally hope you don't go totally bust as I do fondly remember a lot of the good that came from Auran and hope to see it rise again, if not with a little more humility and care.

However, I think it wrong of you to climb to high on that horse, the fact is your company did leave many families in a state of distress over Christmas, whether by fault or bad luck has little relevance, you ran the company so the buck stops with you.

Now of course people are going to be angry at Auran and therefore you, they have every right, they unexpectedly lost there jobs at Christmas.

The thing I think hurts most people is you had all the information and they trusted you, you could have been honest and let them decide if they wanted to stay on board a sinking ship yet instead (as proven by your own statement above) you propped up the flagging finances from your own wallet and let everyone think it was all ok while you slowly let there futures become unstable.

So again I hope you succeed, I truly hope you are forgiven for your part as I doubt it was malicious and I hope Auran rises to greatness again however you really have little right to pretend you did something honorable and self sacrificing, if you are honest with yourself you were looking out for you and not them, that fine it's business but I feel you should take this as a life lesson, nurse your wounded ego and be happy you still have a livelihood, let those who really suffered have there vent's while they try to put there life's back together...

It's the least you can do to just take it on the chin for those who gave there all for you and lost so much.

I just want to say that I think this was a wonderful and thoughtfully written response.

I do believe every Auran employee has a right to their feelings of anger and disgruntlement, because I doubt that if I were in the same situation I'd be able to be fair and forgiving. And in the end, whenever anything goes wrong with any project, it is the people at the top who ultimately have to take the rap. That's the way the system works. Normally when a project does well, it's the people at the top who also get the greatest rewards. You can't hog the glory but claim innocence when things go wrong.

Tony, it's not pleasant to bear the brunt of people's ire, especially when those people are going through a tumultuous period of change and are eager to place blame, but I'm definitely going to agree that playing the martyr really isn't within your right. Even if you really did put in all that effort, I'm afraid that it's the end result people remember. But happily it looks like you at least might be able to salvage something from it, and if nothing else, it's a valuable life experience. We always learn more from our failures than our successes, after all. :)

still hope for fury? my ass

get over it you idiot, its a horrible and unoriginal game

why even bother entering the mmo market when Wow vomits on everything?...

the chinese will release a free game with your fury code and you will recieve a couple bucks.

Adam Carpenter's (Creative Director) Skype message says that he is going to the US for good from Feb 8th. Maybe Tony has finally had the balls to fire him and thus Fury may have a chance?

Not surprising. Did anyone think he would get a job at another local studio after everything he's said and done after the collapse of Fury and Auran? The interview he did where he blamed the failures of Fury on everyones but his own pretty much sealed his fate here. Getting the lions share of the blame on Furys faults from most of Auran staff themselves didn't help either.

The gaming industry is full of tough competition, demand for funds can't always be met, and the demands always go higher as technology continues forward. Companies rise, companies fall, games either make it big or flop. Yes, Tony may be the finger everyone points to from this situation, and perhaps with just reasons. Fine, but its done and over, with it already being said the former employees have been re-employed, and being compensated, I see absolutely no reason for anyone having to make these rediculous remarks. Its now in the past, what can you possibly be getting out of these rants? Self-gratification for what? I would personally enjoy seeing this game live on, as for the person who said this game is unoriginal, I don't see how you could state that. There really is no game out there quite like this, with its unique charge system and such. Perhaps you should give the game another try with an open mind. Know that people will be better than you, and that it takes time to hone your skills. This is what it is, a competitive PVP. I compare it to games under the FPS genre, and i refrain from calling it an MMORPG, and if you join the game expecting that, you will be dissapointed.

Aside from that, I'm glad to hear the continuation of Fury as long as Aurun. I wish the best of luck.

the game sucks... it deserves to eat shit and die..
thats not to say that there arent some interesting ideas behind it...

....but it does really suck...

it kinda reminds me of the time when homer simpson got to design a new prototype family car..