Is Leviathans dead?

[afilter]

Found this over at the FFG board

As you may well be aware, the current makers of Battletech and Shadowrun (IMR LLC under their imprint "Catalyst Game Labs") have bankruptcy proceedings against them. The primary shareholder appears to have embezzled about a million dollars from the company, and the company is falling apart. The license comes up in late May, and since IMR has apparently been underreporting their royalties to Topps, they are unlikely to get either license renewed. Licenses belonging to smaller and more agile companies such as Eclipse Phase and Cthulhutech have already been pulled. That's the bad news.


The good news is... the licenses come up in late May. How does Fantasy Flight Battletech sound to you? It sounds pretty awesome to me.

Not trying to cause trouble, but the above is pretty disturbing if true.  I figured I would come to the source. 

I have been looking forward to the release of Leviathans and would like to know if any of the above is true and if so how it will impact Leviathans?

TIA,
Aaron

[trboturtle]

I suggest you go to http://catalystgamelabs.com/ for the company's side of the story. Anything else I will leave to someone who is better informed (Unlike the person who posted theat over on the FFG board) All I will say that the few people who've been posting that are from the Shadowrun side of the table, where they are always seeing the darker side of things.

Craig

[afilter]

Thanks, unfortunately the link is kind of vague, but does suggest there are some current financial issues.

I guess I am looking for some information on the current state of Leviathans.  The link mentions Catalyst is working to pay down debts, but what does that mean to Leviathans?

I am just looking for a simple Leviathans is moving forward as planned with a tenative release date of "x" or Leviathans is currently delayed due to unforseen circumstance.

Thanks again,

Aaron

[Worktroll]

We're not dead - that's definite. As mentioned in the original release, there have been some problems which have consumed much of the management's time lately, which has a roll-on effect on many other things - including us.

Is this frustrating? Yes, for us too. I'm working with Randall to get something more definite out as soon as possible. In the meantime, in best Douglas Adams form, "we apologise for the inconvenience". There is a 15-20% chance that lemon-scented hand-towels may be involved

W.

[trboturtle]

We're not dead - that's definite. As mentioned in the original release, there have been some problems which have consumed much of the management's time lately, which has a roll-on effect on many other things - including us.

Is this frustrating? Yes, for us too. I'm working with Randall to get something more definite out as soon as possible. In the meantime, in best Douglas Adams form, "we apologise for the inconvenience". There is a 15-20% chance that lemon-scented hand-towels may be involved

W.

You realize there's a 15-20% chance that joke has outlived its usefulness......

Craig

[pianobar]

Is this supposed to mean that Leviathans fly simply by jumping and missing the ground?

To echo the other comments we are delayed, not dead. Feel more than free to continue playing games and growing interest in the setting.

[afilter]

We're not dead - that's definite. As mentioned in the original release, there have been some problems which have consumed much of the management's time lately, which has a roll-on effect on many other things - including us.

Is this frustrating? Yes, for us too. I'm working with Randall to get something more definite out as soon as possible. In the meantime, in best Douglas Adams form, "we apologise for the inconvenience". There is a 15-20% chance that lemon-scented hand-towels may be involved

W.

Thanks for the update....I was concerned when I came back here to check it out and saw there had been no new trafic from you in over a week.

Looking forward to seeing Leviathans on the LGS shelf.....we may just have to wait a bit longer.  It would be ashame to see all that creativity go to waste.   Hopefully all works out with other things as well.

[Worktroll]

Looking forward to seeing Leviathans on the LGS shelf.....we may just have to wait a bit longer.  It would be ashame to see all that creativity go to waste.   Hopefully all works out with other things as well.

THanks for the kind words ... and so far, so good.

W.

[Leaderoforcs]

*Bump*

Any news on, well, anything?  It seems quiet here.  Too quiet.

[pianobar]

*Bump*

Any news on, well, anything?  It seems quiet here.  Too quiet.

You do realize that if Herb was running this universe you'd be Electroid-nuked for that, right? 

[Leaderoforcs]

*Bump*

Any news on, well, anything?  It seems quiet here.  Too quiet.

You do realize that if Herb was running this universe you'd be Electroid-nuked for that, right? 

And would love every minute of it, because it would be something happening.

[Worktroll]

Basically, we have to get Randall away from the office management stuff ... comes with having the big-wig as your line dev

W.

[pianobar]

And would love every minute of it, because it would be something happening.

Well...Randall's last front page "game" news post was not quite 2 weeks ago, so there is still recent history of gave development on display. While it is hard to wait, and I don't have the ability to go into any non-published detail, please know that those behind the scenes are just as excited to get news and product out. The delay is not because the line is dead or dying, but because it's alive and well with the time being spent on production.

I was thinking of using an explanation of how it's better to wait for Randall's news because a blog about any of my number crunching sessions would be incredibly boring, but after seeing some of the other posts on here I think you folks would like it too much.

[trboturtle]

Randall is juggling a lot of balls right now, including some purely business items. AFAIK, things are going well. Hopefully, by summer.....

Craig

[afilter]

Randall is juggling a lot of balls right now, including some purely business items. AFAIK, things are going well. Hopefully, by summer.....

Craig

That would be excellent!