Chris Spears CEO + Portalarium Website Redirects to SoTA?

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Lord Blackthorne, Nov 8, 2019.

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  1. Lord Blackthorne

    Lord Blackthorne Avatar

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    Good morning y'all,

    Hope everyone is well.

    I got an e-mail yesterday about Chris Spears becoming the new CEO of SoTA.

    I also see that the Portalarium website is no longer running, and went entering portalarium.com redirects to shroudoftheavatar.com.

    Finally, who/what is "Catnip" games?

    Why is SoTA under "Catnip"?

    Not at all to be negative - none of the above looks good to outsiders.

    Please, can we have some more explanation on what is happening here, and why we, those who have backed the finances of the game just seem to get a consistent stream of leadership change/game uncertainty?

    Thanks!

    -LB
     
  2. that_shawn_guy

    that_shawn_guy Bug Hunter

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  3. Lord Blackthorne

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    Quite frankly, reading that last e-mail about the "HUGE" changes coming sounds like we are laying the game to rest to die.

    Are we still marketing the game beyond e-mails which few folks check?

    Can we have an update on the financial status of the game? Are we hemorrhaging money? Are we doing alright? What are the plans for the future?

    Cheers,
    LB
     
  4. Aartemis

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    No offence, but if you were around and interested you would know. Coming here up and arms because of an email? Sorry, we don't all have to run inform you. LOTS of information to answer all of your questions if you simply look. (as the link above will show you)

    It seems you are simply trying to start an uproar.
     
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  5. Violet Ronso

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    Pretty simple, if you read Shawn"s link, and the one below, you will see that Shroud being sold to CatNip is a great descision, with a lot of incomming promoting and lots of good things ahead, so no, the game is not on it's death bed.

    https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/forum/index.php?threads/update-from-atos.159594/
     
  6. Oakenhammer

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    The Portalarium website hasn't been active in ages and didn't really have any content of value anyway. I don't remember the exact date, but I feel it was sometime around launch in Mar 2018 that the site started forwarding to the SotA site.

    Catnip Games is an LLC owned and operated by Chris Spears. The full announcement is https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/f...ip-games-acquires-shroud-of-the-avatar.159409 and there is lots of additional context provided by Chris and team. Essentially, it boils down to a cost saving measure as the prior corporate structure of Portalarium cost thousands per month to be compliant with the necessary reporting and legal requirements. Moving this to an LLC frees up all that funding to reinvest into the game--as demonstrated by the hiring of some new staff and planned marketing pushes.

    This transition actually occurred months before it was officially announced and we've seen no disruption to delivery of on-going enhancements to the game.

    Beyond the above, the game is in a stable state (financially and staffing wise) and the team is making efforts to maximize the ROI on the revenue stream. I spoke with Chris quite a bit at SotACon last month and it is very clear that he makes every penny count. There were some mistakes made in the past by some members of the team and by partners that had a negative impact on the game, but Chris is determined to right the ship and drive this game to greater success.
     
  7. Parson Barr

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    A causal player might not have noticed when the Catnip change happened. When it was announced there was a great deal of fanfare and discussion. It turns out the change happened a while ago but was only announced recently. If you read the link above you'll get all the deets and how this is good news for cash flow.
     
  8. Senash Kasigal

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    I got the mail multiple times.
    My question is: Will they ever learn not to promote things before they are done?

    • More focus on improving the quality of life for players
      • Heavier focus on reducing overall bug count
      • Removing or reworking systems that sacrifice fun in favor of immersion, or use arbitrary or dated design concepts
      • Increased performance work (Release 71 saw another 10% boost in overall frame rate and decreased hitching)
      • No more Real Money Transactions (RMT) in the official Shroud of the Avatar forums
      • Eliminating high-cost pledges from web store by the end of the year
      • Reducing prices on many store items and making them no-trade to discourage secondary market and speculators
     
  9. Parson Barr

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    As a marketing manager I can say for certain this will never happen. :)
     
  10. Aartemis

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    There is a whole lot of small details, but in a nutshell, here's the Skinny (DLMB):
    • Lord British Loves to make games. Lord British does not want to run the day to day "business" of a Company.
    • Dallas was CEO of Portalarium, He Retired. Company needed a new CEO.
    • Chris stepped up but the company model of Portalarium was lots of red tape and considering the size of the team, there were better options out there.
    • Chris's company Catnip Games was a perfect fit, didn't need a whole board of directors or crazy overhead which was frankly very costly.
    • Chris, via Catnip acquires Shroud of the Avatar assets, the Portalarium name, etc. Now things are easier and cheaper for him to run.
    • Richard and Starr still involved.
    • Chris and the team now continue the journey to Kill the bugs, Improve the performance, regain players and get MORE players, Empower the players to help create content and custom interfaces, Move towards Episode 2
    All caught up. :D
     
  11. Sulaene Moon

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    You could include this as well

    More focus on improving the quality of life for players
    • Heavier focus on reducing overall bug count
    • Removing or reworking systems that sacrifice fun in favor of immersion, or use arbitrary or dated design concepts
    • Increased performance work (Release 71 saw another 10% boost in overall frame rate and decreased hitching)
    • No more Real Money Transactions (RMT) in the official Shroud of the Avatar forums
    • Eliminating high-cost pledges from web store by the end of the year
    • Reducing prices on many store items and making them no-trade to discourage secondary market and speculators
     
  12. oplek

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    I really don't get the "invovled" part. If Garriot was standing in the corner of the room, in the shadows, staring, but still technically in the same room as those developing the game... yeah sure, I guess "involved". I guess that's "making games". They aren't involved in a meaningful sense. I'm still not clear on what LB's latest major contribution is. Might be able to answer that with the standup notes... wait, nope.

    "Still involved" seems to be some kind of chant, taken on faith, and not due to available evidence. The executive producer, responsible for organizing and managing a formerly 33-person team now does announcement updates. I guess that's "involved". Not in a sense that provides any optimistic outlook of the future.

    It's true that the visionary founder for the game hasn't logged into the forums since Oct 14, only breaking the AWOL streak to talk about larping briefly. But I guess there's still people who technically remember that he had something to do with the game. So hat's "involved" I guess.
     
  13. Sulaene Moon

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    I want to see another Chris blog post on here. To tell me what he's worked on this week since I haven't had the time to watch streams.
    Those die off again?
     
  14. Gageman

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    I did get to hang out with Richard at the 2018 Sotacon and he was pretty cool, but was more of a personality than a developer. He gave the tour at Port's offices and stuff, but I noticed, he didn't have a desk or anything like a work station. Honestly I don't really know how involved he has been in this project.
     
  15. Oracle Watcher

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  16. Oracle Watcher

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  17. Sulaene Moon

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  18. Dinsoo

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    Or Mattel
     
  19. Jason_M

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    :D

    The good people of the forum trickle all that info here eventually, albeit with their own peculiar spin. :p
     
  20. King Robert

    King Robert Avatar

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    Not a Chris fanboy. But his stewardship of the game seems better than before. He cares and tries hard. What more can we ask of him? Not much: the future is better with Chris. Onward and upward.
     
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