lazorexplosion posted:

Oh god I can't fap hard enough for all this.

XK posted:

Yes, that would be one way to make payouts to people.

thatguy posted:

Tokamak posted:

'Banks don't lend to failing businesses' is perhaps the dumbest argument I've ever read. It takes you two seconds to think of a million counter examples. That it is taken at face value and upvoted is further evidence of extreme white knighting within the community.

spacetoaster posted:

So I'm reading through all those documents and I notice that in 2014 all the shares for foundry 42 were owned by Erin Roberts and two other people (who had a smaller amount of shares).

Then there's a document transferring ownership of those shares to cloud imperium games.

I'm assuming that cloud imperium games paid a lot of money for those shares.

Is that how they could be sucking money out of the "game" and getting it legally into their pockets?

Space Crabs posted:

Chris Roberts better build a nice nest egg because I don't think anyone will be able to legally exploit the mentally disabled to this extent ever again. He basically struck gold and monetized autism, and an entire industry and regulation is going to be coming in his wake.

This is also obviously the peak of his career and the last time he will have any credibility, so if I were him i'd be stacking cash and assets however i could. Tens of millions to afford his lavish lifestyle for another 20-30 years without having to work.

Tokamak posted:

'Banks don't lend to failing businesses' is perhaps the dumbest argument I've ever read. It takes you two seconds to think of a million counter examples. That it is taken at face value and upvoted is further evidence of extreme white knighting within the community.

Foo Diddley posted:

Well since you didn't provide any of these millions of counter examples, exhaustively documented, sourced, and confirmed, then I'm just going to assume you're lying like usual, and therefore Star Citizen is actually in great shape

starkebn posted:

I think the MoMA account will be mothballed while they scale back staff for the ELE

Foo Diddley posted:

Well since you didn't provide any of these millions of counter examples, exhaustively documented, sourced, and confirmed, then I'm just going to assume you're lying like usual, and therefore Star Citizen is actually in great shape

Space Crabs posted:

Chris Roberts better build a nice nest egg because I don't think anyone will be able to legally exploit the mentally disabled to this extent ever again. He basically struck gold and monetized autism, and an entire industry and regulation is going to be coming in his wake.

This is also obviously the peak of his career and the last time he will have any credibility, so if I were him i'd be stacking cash and assets however i could. Tens of millions to afford his lavish lifestyle for another 20-30 years without having to work.

Tokamak posted:

'Banks don't lend to failing businesses' is perhaps the dumbest argument I've ever read. It takes you two seconds to think of a million counter examples. That it is taken at face value and upvoted is further evidence of extreme white knighting within the community.

spacetoaster posted:

And we have NO idea what they set their salaries at.

And there are no limits to that, or bonuses, are there?

Not to mention the fact that the "company" could also be paying for their cars/health insurance/etc/etc.

spacetoaster posted:

Hey guys, remember this ahahahahahahaha

Sarsapariller posted:

Or this?

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-04-22-chris-roberts-how-incredible-community-transforms-development

XK posted:

There are entities that make loans to boarderline businesses for the specific intent of them defaulting so their stuff can get sold off. Mitt Romney's Bain Capitol basically functioned like this. They'd come into a struggling business, like a steel mill, lend them money to keep functioning, then legalese them into a forced bankruptcy and reap profits from selling everything off.

I don't think the bank involved in this has a hard on like that for forcing bankruptcies, but if they are confident they can make a profit off whatever collateral CIG does have, and they can be sure it is secure, they'd lend money to CIG no matter their financial situation.

You could be a hard core crackhead alcoholic degenerate gambler, you've blown every dollar you've ever had, but you're going to get straight this time. You just need $60,000 to get your life together. If your grandma left you a $100,000 painting in her will, and it's secured in a deposit box the bank has control over, they'll give you that loan with the painting as collateral.

spacetoaster posted:

HA HA. "More than a year away." in 2013

A loving Idiot posted:

Roberts continued, "My gut sense is that 5 to 10 percent of your audience is going to back you early, and I think that number is variable based on the quality. When you do something really good, it's a lower percentage; if you do something that isn't so good maybe it's 20 percent or 30 percent. I'm assuming if I deliver the game I think I'm going to deliver, if it holds up to the level of Wing Commander or Freelancer or Privateer, I think 10x would be a pretty conservative number. I think that would be right in there with what I did in the '90s. What crowdfunding has proven is that those people are still out there."

The success of other games in the market also gives Roberts hope. "World of Tanks is a good example," Roberts said. "I know it's not the hardest-core sim, but I would never have guessed they'd have 45 million people downloading it. In the old days if there was a tank sim it would have sold fifty or sixty thousand units."

Amazing Zimmo posted:

But what do they have as viable assets? The IP is new and untested, the game assets are just broken fragments of data, the employees are more a liability than an asset. They only have the overpriced furniture which will have a hard time being sold for even half of the original sale price.

Latin Pheonix posted:

The thing is no matter which way it lands, it's bad for F42/CIG.

If the loan is for a large amount it means that their finances are in a seriously bad state and they desperately need a large cash injection to keep going.

If the loan is for a relatively small amount it means that their books are so bad that even for a relatively minor sum Coutts asked them for everything they own as collateral.

skaboomizzy posted:

I refuse to buy into the panic about this fake news until I read what the respected industry insiders at pixelemonade.com have to say.

Amazing Zimmo posted:

But what do they have as viable assets? The IP is new and untested, the game assets are just broken fragments of data, the employees are more a liability than an asset. They only have the overpriced furniture which will have a hard time being sold for even half of the original sale price.

Amazing Zimmo posted:

But what do they have as viable assets? The IP is new and untested, the game assets are just broken fragments of data, the employees are more a liability than an asset. They only have the overpriced furniture which will have a hard time being sold for even half of the original sale price.

Chin posted:

If Chris was the type to plan ahead and build himself a nest egg why was he selling used cars after years of heading a film production company?

Again, patsy.

Tokamak posted:

The IP has some value, but whether they can sell it for that value is a different matter. Look at 38 Studios for example. The IP was thought to be valued at around $20 million, but at auction they didn't get a high enough offer so it was never sold. I wouldn't be surprised if the bank looked at the money coming in and valued the IP at something like $30 million. The bank went to the trouble of taking ownership of the IP and licensing it back. It is pretty clear that the IP is a large component of the collateral. I can't imagine banks are very good at valuing video game IP. Occasionally banks will gently caress up and offer an arrangement which comes back to bite them in the rear end. This might be one of those cases.

RattiRatto posted:

This is whole thing is just art. Thanks Crobberts to make this beauty of Trainwreck.
I regret getting a refund for 45$ as this is the most fun experience I had in my whole gaming life.

Amazing Zimmo posted:

If CIG defaults on the loan there is a greater chance that the IP will be more poison than perfume, the backers will have a hard time trusting some random publisher who picked up the rights from the liquidation which means that the future revenue stream is already non-existent. So in short, I agree that banks can make mistakes. Oh and PGabz's findings on Coutts & Co's being the bank of choice for money laundering is something to think about as well.

hot balls man no homo posted:

Why would anyone want this IP anyhow? It's essentially lifting parts of other more profitable IPs wholesale. Nobody will pay millions for this IP when they can just steal from Star Wars or Star Trek or the 5th Element themselves.

supplementary cat tax