[Ryzom.org] State of the Game (& help needed!)

[Xavier Antoviaque]

Hi,

It has been more than a year since our last update here. A lot happened,
and I will try to sum it up for those who aren't regular visitors of the
Ryzom.org forums. But first, I need to attract your attention on a very
important part of this email:

== We need your help! ==

It is very important that you contact all Ryzom players you know or have
known, to ask them to subscribe to this mailing list. With Gameforge
shutting down the servers (and maybe the offical forums), that's the
only way to keep a way to reach the whole Ryzom community when needed.
Subscription is here:

http://ml.ryzom.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/news-en

Most players don't regularly check forums to know if something is
happening, and without the game servers, it will be progressively be
harder to spread news as people go away.

We all have several ways to reach Ryzom players we know or have known:
emails, forums (official & guilds), PMs, MSN/ICQ, IRL... The more
people on this mailing-list, the more likely we are to revive Ryzom one
day.

Thanks!

========================

I] Timeline

Here is what happened over the last year:

- January 2007  : Gameforge takes over Ryzom, creating Gameforge France.
- August  2007  : Gameforge France stops paying its creditors, starting
the shutdown procedure. The employees haven't been paid since June.
- October 2007  : Gameforge France enters the liquidation procedure
(public announcement). Unlike the first liquidation, the judge
immediately shuts down the company and fires all the employees.
- Nov-Dec 2007  : Issues in the procedure (see below) arise and add
further delay to an already lengthy process.
- January 2007  : Gameforge Germany announces it will soon shutdown the
game servers.
- February 2007 : The game servers are shutdown.


II] Details

a) Before the liquidation announcement

During summer 2007, we heard about the upcoming second liquidation.
Gameforge France employees weren't paid for some time, as Gameforge
Germany had ceased to transfer money to Gameforge France. The
liquidation procedure could have started sooner, but Gameforge Germany
made mistakes which took time to fix (the filling hadn't been handed
over to the court the proper way). In the meantime, the employees were
having a hard time at the studio, as they had to keep coming to the
office for several months, without being paid, and knowing the company
would be closed.

We then contacted Gameforge Germany, and started talks with Klaas
Kersting, the CEO. He was afraid of the bad press the shutdown would
bring, and on our side we wanted a smooth and quick transition. In the
interest of the game and to keep a good relationship with Gameforge, we
agreed to not disclose the upcoming liquidation publicly.

b) After the liquidation annoucement

Immediately after the public announcement, Gameforge Germany stopped
answering our calls...

With a lot of relief, but with many months of salary missing, the
employees were finally fired on October. Gameforge Germany, which
was hosting the game servers, kept them online. Solving server issues
relied on the voluntary work of former employees and players, but at
least the game wasn't shutdown.

At the same time, we turned to the newly appointed liquidator,
informing him of our will to make an offer, with the help of Me Géraud
Bommenel, a friendly corporate lawyer.

c) Recent developments

The liquidation procedure usually takes time, but here it quickly
appeared to be stalled. We then heard there was an issue with the first
liquidation. Apparently, Gameforge Germany hasn't paid the first
liquidator: they only provided a 10% advance payment in December 2006
when they bought Ryzom.

This led to a dispute ("demande de revendication du fonds de commerce")
between the two liquidators (the one from December 2006 and the current
one) over who currently owns the company's assets and has the right to
make the liquidation.

How much time it takes to resolve such a dispute can change a lot from a
case to another. There is first a non-judiciary demand to the
liquidator, then when it is refused (which is the case here), a
procedure with the "juge-commissaire" (3-6 months minimum), then a
possible appeal to the court where the decision can be reversed (1 year
minimum). So it's quite hard to predict when this will be over and when
the liquidation will be resumed. 

And, lately, Gameforge Germany finally announced they would shutdown
the game servers. And they did it.


III] What's next?

Since Gameforge isn't answering to us (go to http://tinyurl.com/2jblbr
if you want to try contacting them, they speak English), and since the
liquidators have to resolve the dispute before being able to proceed,
there is not much to do right now. Resolving the liquidation dispute
will take time, possibly a lot of time, and people will move on. 

Since the second liquidation, we have kept a low profile, and we will
probably have to keep it this way until the liquidation procedure
resumes, to avoid attracting the attention of other potential buyers
like we did with Gameforge.

But at some point, the liquidation procedure will be resumed. We'll
keep following the case and, one day, we'll try to revive Ryzom. 

Don't forget. With your help, the dream may still come true.


* Comments: http://www.ryzom.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=6324

-- 
Xavier.