Seems like the efforts below are too little, too late.  Gary should have approached the investors 6 months ago, not 60 days before loosing the license.  As the August 1st deadline fast approaches, will the investors raise enough money?  Will MGM get the StarGate License back without having to pony up $35M ?    Exciting as the click ticks down to do or die for CME & Stargate Worlds!     

stargateworldsinvestors.blogspot.com/

June 26th Meeting with Gary Whiting
Gary Whiting came to Boise June 26th to meet with investors and bring us the "Good and Greater" news - which was that investors of CME/FireSky/Garvick can save the company which is a month away from failure and needs an additional $8 million to salvage the $55 million that's already been raised by investors. Not a few investors in attendance acknowledged that this was the first time Gary or anyone at CME has provided an update on their investment in 3 years.
For those investors in attendance, or even those who heard about the meeting, what is your reaction?

July 9th Letter to "Select" Investors
A letter went out yesterday to some investors providing some additional details on the financial situation facing CME/FireSky/Garvick i.e. Stargate Worlds. I do not believe this was from Gary or anyone at CME, but by a few of the Idaho reps/investors. I'll let them provide details if they'd like. Suffice it to say, the company needs money, several millions, by the end of the month. The letter talks about how Gary will not have access to any of these funds directly, but says nothing about how the company will be managed hereafter. Is this good money going after bad? What are your thoughts?

July 10 Gary Whiting - Pet Projects, Companies, and MMOGULs
Does Gary Whiting own MMOGULs? He certainly thinks he does. It makes money, he travels, he says it was his idea. Here's a question to the legal minded out there, but if the idea came directly because of his involvement with Stargate Worlds and CME, that it was based on discussions and information that came from the company, is it the intellectual property of CME? And what if CME/Garvick capital was used to fund the company or his time working it on? What would all this mean to investors of CME/Garvick?

-UPDATE- => This is an issue that will be addressed over time. Given that the timeframe needed to raise sufficient capital to retain Stargate licensing through MGM is short, it is highly unlikely investors would be successful in finalizing this argument and getting a judgement, let alone liquidating anything of value in time for the Aug 1 deadline. So anyone is welcome to post comments, just realize that it's a topic for another day.
 

July 11 Difficult, but Possible
I just had a conversation with Chris Lombardo. I have not met him or spoken with him before, but he was forthcoming with information about CME/Stargate and what some investors are doing to set things right. There are investors who are heavily vested already that are capable of turning this situation around. Issues/Concerns are of course company management [Gary and crew] and a lack of options other than raising investment capital. Chris shared his sentiments that the company has probably maxed it's line of credit already, what's been leveraged has, it'd be a long, tough effort wretching whatever assets/pet projects Gary has and can't be done by the end of the month, and MGM has already been lenient by reducing royalty fees and also giving extensions (Aug 1 represents the third time MGM has pushed the date back already). The issue of management will be addressed in a serious way. Securing the necessary funds this month will ensure investors are empowered. What needs to happen now is for investors to band together and communicate with one another so that on the fence individuals understand who else is standing in the ring with them. If you get a call from any one of the Idaho reps about the letter that went out and the need to raise more money, ASK TO SPEAK WITH THE OTHER INVESTORS WHO HAVE PROMISED MONEY. They are probably looking to see who else is going to be in the fight with them. If any one of the 1200 investors out there has got anything they want to say, let's hear it.

Wow that is big news. I hope the investors get rid of Gary. Would be a shame to see stargates good name get dragged down more and more. Looks like the next few days will be very interesting for CME and stargate worlds. I'm hoping for the best but expecting the worst.

I went back and read the comments to the posts and found this to be of interest:

goodfella said...
We are all upset with the situation we are in. This is no longer about Gary Whiting. It is about saving our investment. There are alot of good people who put in they hard in money and i will do whatever I can to help them save their investment. I beleive onty the investor can save this company (our company). We as investor need to be responsible for our best interest. The escrow account is a safe place to raise money so no one from Cheyenne Mountain can have access to. Once the money is raised we can make sure it will be used for the release of the two smaller verision game. Stargate Battle and Dead Lands. This is the best way I can think of to save our investment and Starges Worlds. We can continue to attack Gary (understandable) or we can be part of the solution.
 

So the investors have also shelved Stargate Worlds and they only want to fund the smaller project Stargate Battles!   No Stargate MMO ! 

So why are they still pretending to post screen shots of Stargate Worlds I ask? 

I dont see where they are saying its shelved. THey say, they are going to release the 2 smaller games.

YOu can read into that, but you can also gleam from this that they want to make the money back, so they can fund further developement of the MMO. THough not very likely. It would cost millions to start over since any dev team they had is long gone. I'm sure they dont want to do that.

Originally posted by Kyriesunset

I went back and read the comments to the posts and found this to be of interest:

goodfella said...
We are all upset with the situation we are in. This is no longer about Gary Whiting. It is about saving our investment. There are alot of good people who put in they hard in money and i will do whatever I can to help them save their investment. I beleive onty the investor can save this company (our company). We as investor need to be responsible for our best interest. The escrow account is a safe place to raise money so no one from Cheyenne Mountain can have access to. Once the money is raised we can make sure it will be used for the release of the two smaller verision game. Stargate Battle and Dead Lands. This is the best way I can think of to save our investment and Starges Worlds. We can continue to attack Gary (understandable) or we can be part of the solution.
 

So the investors have also shelved Stargate Worlds and they only want to fund the smaller project Stargate Battles!   No Stargate MMO ! 

So why are they still pretending to post screen shots of Stargate Worlds I ask? 

Don't worrry. I'm sure Khestrel has it all solved and can show everything is A-OK.

*chortle*

*snicker*

BWA-HA-HAHA!!

I'm sorry, I couldn't even keep a straight face while typing.

Somebody really should inform him his position is no longer required.

Originally posted by Kyriesunset

I went back and read the comments to the posts and found this to be of interest:

goodfella said...
We are all upset with the situation we are in. This is no longer about Gary Whiting. It is about saving our investment. There are alot of good people who put in they hard in money and i will do whatever I can to help them save their investment. I beleive onty the investor can save this company (our company). We as investor need to be responsible for our best interest. The escrow account is a safe place to raise money so no one from Cheyenne Mountain can have access to. Once the money is raised we can make sure it will be used for the release of the two smaller verision game. Stargate Battle and Dead Lands. This is the best way I can think of to save our investment and Starges Worlds. We can continue to attack Gary (understandable) or we can be part of the solution.
 

So the investors have also shelved Stargate Worlds and they only want to fund the smaller project Stargate Battles!   No Stargate MMO ! 

So why are they still pretending to post screen shots of Stargate Worlds I ask? 

where did this idea that CME where making a game called stargate Battles come from? I'm just curious.

I'm still curious how the investors intend to take control away from Whiting. If he has 51% control, they can't vote him out, so either they need to get a court to oust him (not possible in a few weeks... maybe a year?), or pay him off to give up control.

A very interesting and informative thread, the trouble with Stargate Battles and Deadlands is that even with funding secured it'll be too much of a mountain to climb (no pun intended). CME talent has been devestated, anyone left will jump ship at the first opportunity after all the missed paychecks and the rest are interns or upper managment and a select few sychophants that got a paycheck when others went without. Then you need to convince MGM that you are going to do this properly, which after all the missed milestones and so forth is not going to be easy.

But let's get back to the investors, imagine you're an investor. Your money has been urinated away funding other projects and a pyramid scheme, CME has been mismanaged. Whiting created Firesky from your cash so he didn't need to answer to a publishing company, which is decidedly dodgy in my opinion since he's going into publishing and MMORPGS with zilch prior experience. Team Whiting took my cash 3 years ago, I've never heard from them since and when I do they comeback cap in hand asking for more!

If you need to ask if this is throwing good money after bad then you need your head testing in my opinion. $40 million bucks and 5 years later and we have 4 months and counting owed wages, unpaid taxes and lawsuits from service providers. MGM seem almost certain to pull the license this time and SGW isn't going to be released.

The only records that would be broken by this game if it launched (Stargate Battles) is the most expensive FPS ever released?

55 million dollars and no game to show for it? Man, this Gary guy really sucks.

To be honest I think the investors should cut their losses then, giving out more money will probably not help either and giving even more money to a fellow like this doesn't sound like a good idea to me.

CMG should try to sell what they have cheaply to SOE to at least get some money back. Too bad because a Star gate game could have been fun.

Ok. Can some please prove to me that CME are making a game called stargate battles.

Originally posted by supremeaaron

Ok. Can some please prove to me that CME are making a game called stargate battles.

The only thing I've found for Stargate Battles is a fan made game/mod by that name here: http://forum.gateworld.net/showthread.php?t=40972

I see thank you. But I don't see how a fan made game has anything to do with CME.

Originally posted by supremeaaron

I see thank you. But I don't see how a fan made game has anything to do with CME.

I don't either. it's all I could find though.

Originally posted by supremeaaron

where did this idea that CME where making a game called stargate Battles come from? I'm just curious.

This would be a guess, but most likely an accurate one:

Whiting & Jensen: We need money and fast! I got a divorce and a racing team to support now.

Producer: But we don’t have enough people left to finish SGW, even if we had money.

Whiting & Jensen: Well think of something, quick! Before MGM swipes our license back!

Producer: Um… well… um… we could take unreal and throw the Stargate, maps and art stuff at it, and maybe something ilke an FPS might poop out… and maybe we could get that done in 6 months if nobody else in the company leaves.

Whiting & Jensen: But cant people all ready get that from free mods? Can we sucker the forum fools to give us money for a FPS? And if we use the Stargate Worlds planets and stuff, what happens to Stargate Worlds? Can we just throw them back in there when we are done? Maybe players wont notice the same stuff packaged as a different game?

Producer: Do you want some fast money or not?

Whiting & Jensen: Brilliant! Want a promotion? Promise some other fools some promotions too.  Lets go sell this to the investors!

Producer: Yeah, and a free lunch too? Okay? Done deal!
 

I reached reached out to the Blog writer and it's the real deal. 

While I can’t give details on all information we shared, I can guarantee that he's a shareholder and the events he wrote about are true.

The sounds of the Kawoosh are hardly audible and the Chevrons are very dim.  It is a sad day.

That "KAWWWOOOOOSSSSHHHH" sound that you hear is Khestral blowing rainbow coloured smoke up FanOri backsides with screenshots from last year and made up facts about a vapourware product whilst checking his MMOGULs downline!

---

Originally posted by Agricola1

That "KAWWWOOOOOSSSSHHHH" sound that you hear is Khestral blowing rainbow coloured smoke up FanOri backsides with screenshots from last year and made up facts about a vapourware product whilst checking his MMOGULs downline!

---

Believe what you want, because hey, it's just pixels on your screen right? :D

BC, nice try but that KAWWWWOOOSSSHH just wasn't good enough to convince me that those 2008 screenies (and that's what was typed on them) are 2009 screenies. Also you're telling me it took Khestral 3 weeks to post them also? I mean what was he doing? Standing aroung the drinks machine buying his "Anaqudade" whilst chatting with the baliffs? Standing at the coffee machine discussing recruiting interns into his downline? Or pretending he's not getting paid?

Just pixels on my screen? "Like a bug on a windshield"!

I wish the investors luck....but frankly I think they'd have better chances pooling all their money and buying 8 Million lottery tickets.

    - With Whiting in charge, there is no way to assure the money is going to be used in a sound and responsible manner. They would need to get him to surrender enough shares so that they could have a solid majority stakeholder position and then appoint their own management.

   - There is too much outstanding litigation and debt. Any additional money going into this project would likely only be eaten up by that rather then going toward producing something that could produce revenue.

 - Even if they could overcome the above hurdles, the image of the project and the company are (IMO) irredeemably tarnished by past associations. At the point even if they could produce a game...I wouldn't trust the company with my credit card info to pay for it. I'm not going to be the only consumer that feels this way.

 - The project is likely in such a poor state, from the disruption in development and the change in personnel and mis-management of the code.... that it would take an ENORMOUS amount of work to bring it to a point that it could be released.

- Anyone that thinks they can recoup their losses on some half-arsed FPS that the company could scrape together in a few months on a shoe-string budget is dreaming.

The only realistic thing that could happen at this point would be to have MGM yank the license....and then CME try to liquidate the remaining assets... and find a reputable developer that was willing to take on the project. That would be a LONG shot.

Likely they won't be able to to find anyone willing to purchase whatever assets CME has left.... if they did, they probably wouldn't get more then enough to satisfy back taxes and back wages, and that would be if they were LUCKY.

This is a tragedy.....but it should be a cautionary tale to anyone thinking about making an MMO or investing in one about really making sure you REALLY do your Due Diligence to know WHO you are dealing with before you turn over your money or your company to them.

Originally posted by Mershu   It is a sad day.

Is it a sad day? or a hopeful chance for an actual game company to get the license?

Edit: It seems recent events have caused Ledaye to start a new red herring/damage control thead on the official forums.