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Horizons: Artifact Files Chapter 11
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Artifact Entertainment has filed for voluntary reorganization under Chapter 11 to restructure their debt. They have indicated that Horizons: Empire of Istaria will experience no interruption in service and business will resume as usual.
Here is the press release:
July 19, 2004, Mesa, Ariz. - Artifact Entertainment, developers of the award-winning massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) Horizons: Empire of Istaria, announced today that to restructure its debt and strengthen its competitive position, the Company has filed a voluntary petition for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. This action was primarily due to an inability to reach a mutually satisfactory agreement with a key vendor.
The company is also in active discussions with other gaming industry players, with due diligence underway by a seriously interested company that may make an offer to acquire the assets of the company, and retain key staff to maintain operations of its Horizons game. Horizons has a worldwide following and is played by tens-of-thousands of fans in nearly 40 countries spanning territories in Asia, Europe and North America. Players are able to download Horizons for a free seven-day trial and subsequently subscribe to the game for a one-, three-, six or 12-month commitment period.
Artifact Entertainment President and Creative Director, David Bowman, said, "Artifact Entertainment is a wonderfully creative company. We have an excellent game subscriber base through our Horizons property. We have been taking prudent steps to improve cash flow during the past seven months. Unfortunately, we have not yet been able to reach a satisfactory agreement with a key vendor. We strongly reiterate that Horizons fans and their game play will not be affected by the Chapter 11 filing."
- MMORPG.COM Staff -
- MMORPG.COM Staff -
The dead know only one thing: it is better to be alive.
Comments
R.I.P Hz
http://bands.army.mil/music/bugle/calls/taps.mp3
-=-=-=-=-
"We're a game that's focused on grouping and on solo play, you know, more group oriented, more solo play..."
John Blakely Senior lead for EQ2. Link
Bartle: A: 93% E: 55% S:3% K: 50% The Test. Learn what it means here.
-=-=-=-=-
Achievers realise that killers as a concept are necessary in order to make achievement meaningful and worthwhile (there being no way to "lose" the game if any fool can "win" just by plodding slowly unchallenged). -bartle
Bartle: A: 93% E: 55% S:3% K: 50% The Test. Learn what it means here.
Die, Horizons, Die!!
LOL!! Seriously though, I thought this game would make it into next year. I'll gladly admit that I was wrong.
Xander
Xander
Xander
This was so close to being a really fun game... they should have released 6month to a year later, releasing as early as they did caused a lot of fans to quit because the game wasn't finished.
I was one of them, named mobs not dropping loot? No dungeons? No complete items to loot anywhere? At level 60 being able to kill the toughest MOB in game solo? These things killed Horizons for me, their crafting is awsome but I was never into that. I think most problems I mentioned have been looked at and fixed but it was too little to late to keep me giving them my money.
Horizons wasn't released too early, it was released too late. Much, much too late. I remember, during the end of my UO days, circa 1999, hearing guildmates talk about how excted they were about Horizons. If the game had been released in 2001, it would've gotten the attention (and the subscribers) it needed to grow. In 2004, none of the game's innovations were... well... innovative anymore. There's a lot to be said for waiting until a game is "done" before releasing it. But if you wait too long, no one will care when the thing finally goes gold.
Crafting is fun, but to last you need, loot and adventure. Unfortunately Horizons added nothing new to these parts of the game. I tries it in beta and was underwhelmed.
I am always sad to see a MMORPG in trouble, but when your biggest attraction is: You can be a Dragon !!! Not much chance to survive.
With a chapter 11, people who weren't sure of continuing, will quit, people won't dare suscribe for more than a month at a time, and new users will be inexistant. Rest in peace.
I saw this coming long ago while working for Atari, which most likely is the key vendor. I was a GM on horizons during early development up to launch and most bugs .. over 1200 of them.. were ignored to launched the game.. for dire financial reasons I believe.. so this comes as no surprise to me.
frankly I am suprised that Artifact and Atari both are still around. I expected chapter 11 / 13 from
both before now. Atari's games are poorly designed, marketed and tested in my opinon. Especially the marketing / Testing portion. Design is complicated since Artifact, Secret Level, WOTC and others have say in what goes in or is taken out of a game. It's like a marriage of convenience.
I believe that Atari and Artifact are still having thier "dispute" over the way Horizons turned out, and niether side wants to cave in to the others demands for the way it should be, or which direction the MMORPG is heading.. Who knows..
I don't believe Driver3 will keep Atari alive, but it's D&D products may keep it aloat for a while, look at the way Magic the Gathering was handled.. Good title, no marketing at all, no support for those that purchased it, extra content was promised almost 7 months ago, and it's fan base has just about given up and walked off.. Atari just wasted a TON of money on this, or maybe just to satisfy some obligation to Wizards of the Coast.. hmm not sure.. but they totally dropped the ball on this title among many others.
All you have to do is go to IGN, Gamespot, PCGamer or any other reviewer and check the reviews for almost ANY Atari title.. Most likely you'll see really bad ratings.. Atari doesn't pay off the reviewers like other companies do (guessing here) so that hurts them too. I worked for a gaming magazine, as a network admin and reviewers 'editors' regularly recieved 'gifts' or hardware that the game publisher they want their game reviewed on, and it's not expected to be sent back, stuff like that.. It's a corrupt playing field worth "Billions" of US dollars. All hanging on the reviews of Soda/Pizza induced kids doing game reviews. You wouldn't believe how reviews are done, but that's another story...
Later when Atari goes under, and Horizons shuts down, i'll be like .. I knew it.. It won't be that long if Atari keeps pushing out Garbage, wasting cash on poor ideas, ect... they need to hire more creativite people and stop doing Movie tie ins.. Horizons has NO chance of survival against the likes of
Everquest II or World of Warcraft. When released.. it will only get worse for Artifact, the best they can hope for is just to stay afloat and break even if possible.
Aaron Ricks
MCSE+I, A+, PQAC
-=-=-=-=-
"We're a game that's focused on grouping and on solo play, you know, more group oriented, more solo play..."
John Blakely Senior lead for EQ2. Link
Bartle: A: 93% E: 55% S:3% K: 50% The Test. Learn what it means here.
-=-=-=-=-
Achievers realise that killers as a concept are necessary in order to make achievement meaningful and worthwhile (there being no way to "lose" the game if any fool can "win" just by plodding slowly unchallenged). -bartle
Bartle: A: 93% E: 55% S:3% K: 50% The Test. Learn what it means here.
DIVE ! DIVE ! DIVE !
The original game concept for HZ was unique. Angels, demons etc...
Then they fired the original game creator and stole it from him. Now the game is a peice of junk and I bet he is cracking up. I know I would be.
Case in point: Temple of Elemental Evil. Myself and many fans were sorely disappointed and felt so utterly cheated at the crap that was released. While I do not know the actual specifics, many of the fans were blaming Atari as pushing the product out the door. Troika actually had to cut out a portion of the content to satisfy the rating that Atari wanted. And the lack of certain information, features and testing was astounding. My experience with the game would have been great if it wasn't so dilluted by the bugs and lack of important features that I finally tossed the game aside in disgust. I never even bothered with the patch version as my disappointment with the quality was too strong.
I can't believe I trusted Atari enough to try Horizons but I did. I quit after my initial month. I don't think I'll trust any future Atari products.