Stargate Worlds Forum » General Discussion » Star Gate Worlds Is Dead!!!! /moved

Look at Vanguard, it ran out of cash so another company brought it even though there wasnt a market for it, all it had was old die-hard fans of the games original creator.

Look at WoW, its franchise already had millions of fans, it wouldnt have mattered if it was a crap game it wouldve still done great, and its still doing great as its owners have always marketed it all over the place unlike other MMOG's. Theres more kids than adults playing Warcraft, kids at their schools would talk about it so other kids would get it, and so on. An adult talking about it at work would get laughed at.

Same deal for Stargate Worlds. Stargate already has millions of fans. When Stargate Universe gets released, during the commercial breaks there will more than likely be advertisements for SGW, then both kids and adults will take a look. If the game goes bust before its released, i bet some other company will quickly buy it as they know it has strong potential because 1) of the stargate name, 2) its a MMOG, theyll think "look at Warcraft when they released WoW, we can do the same with Stargate".

You all ask the same question I have asked from the beginning, WTF is going on with MGM....

I have it straight from the top that a new agreement has been negotiated with MGM, lowering the MGM royalty form 20% to 12%. I have not seen the contract, for that matter, I was never provided a copy of the original licensing contract, BUT the way the contract is supposed to read, the license to publish the game is between MGM and FireSky.  Firesky has an exclusive agreement with CME to produce the game.   The Firesky contract is in default because the time line for development has past and has been extended several times..

ONE KEY aspect of the contract, once the game is finished. MGM comes with their contractual financial committment  to launch the game and CME/Firesky has to come with $5-$8 million in matching funds.. 

In March, I was told by top management and several programmers , the game needed  $8-$10M to get to a point it could be launched, then the $5-8Million to cover the contract with MGM..

NOT INCLUDING all of the money Whiting and Gagon have taken  from investors into Garvick Properties, diverted for their own use and never given to CME,   and not counting all the money, in the millions, Whiting has borrowed and conned people out of, CME and affiliates probably owe at least $5Million in payables , payroll,  and payroll taxes. That plus another $1million or so it would take to PREPAY the talent to come back to work, plus the $10Million to get the game to launch, plus the $5-8Million to launch the game,    

WELL.......As you can see, they need AT LEAST  $20-22Million to  try and get the job done IF current investors sit still and dont file lawsuits... There are 5 active civil lawsuits I know of and MANY MANY more coming....

Tough road to go, especially since criminal proceedings are just around the corner..

The only way ANYONE could ever touch this tainted asset is through Bankruptcy...................

Originally posted by SemperFiVet

BUT the way the contract is supposed to read, the license to publish to game is between MGM and FireSky.  Firesky has an exclusive agreement with CME to produce the game.   The Firesky contract is in default because the time line for development has past ands been extended several times..

One thing that doesn't make sense is that Firesky was only formed in 2007, correct? But wasn't the license originally granted in 2005? Perhaps the original license was transferred?

I think the contract was renegotiated and Firesky was brought in whilst CME took a back seat. Maybe Whiting had plans to create a portfolio for his publisher Firesky? Whatever the deal is there'll be milestones that need to be met otherwise MGM get the option to just pull out, which is what has already happened hence the renegotiation.

Really it's all a moot point since Whiting is going to throw in the towel soon anyway, MMOGULs is crumbling and he can't keep his head above water due to the rising tide of debts and unpaid bills. SGW has gone from the goose that laid the golden egg to a quest for fools gold, it's now a massive burden to team Whiting and they've formed their escape plan.

MGM are just being dumb and greedy right now, allowing this low life to drag their name and their franchise through the muck in the hope they'll be making a mint out of it soon. I thought that MGM would be pulling out this summer and I still think they may either by choice or due to circumstances, however it seems more likely to be by circumstance now. I just hope that after this fiasco is over that team Whiting have a long time to mull over what happened whilst sitting on a cold hard bench discussing it with their cell mates!

www.sgwweekly.com/ a time line of CME

Now I have tried to put as much of this together as I can and some of the stuff is only just coming out in other posts.

A few things I will say

If CME has been doing stuff directly that MGM could just pull the IP from them, in 2008 virtually everything moved to Firesky's Control.  A lot of the controversial stuff are either under his name or under companies he has created not directly under CME, also internal problems of a company are internal and even if things have happened MGM cannot just step in because of hearsay even if its true or not.

GW was brought in after 3 people started working on the game (concept) and they had been in talk on and off with MGM since around 2002.  In 2005 GW is brought in to raise money for CME and a month later MGM agree's to give the IP.  It amazes me how GW and co have been able to amass a huge % in a company in which he wasnt a investor, but brought in to find investors.  If the talk about him bringing in investors to line his own companies, and then hiom using that money to invest it personally into CME (isnt that illegal), I believe this is the main reason why we are now in a situation we are in, the guy at the top isnt interested in making a game (like the original 3 people) but just to milk it and use it as a way of getting people to invest in his own projects.

Anyways have a read of the timeline, I hope you find it interesting, I have said there maybe mistakes if so, please post a comment and I will fix it, you dont need to bitch about it being wrong, just comment on the at sgwweekly and I will fix it, all the dates and information I found from news posts, I have tried to not use CME and FIRESKY's websites as I feel these are biased to certain individuals, so I will not use those as information sources if it can be helped.

Your timeline doesn't mention the missed paychecks last year and the people this year that are waiting after 4 months of now pay. Also you fail to mention that Brad Wright wasn't bemoaning the delay but stated if it was going to be released they'd have done it by now, he was bemoaning the failure and Shanks was agreeing.

You still seem to be oblivious to the fact that Whiting owns CME and Firesky just like he own MMOGULs, you seem to attempt some type of seperation whenever mentuioning those three organisations. As if CME has nothing to do with Firesky other than a publishing contract, why would you believe such a thing? Whiting owns them all including the shady pyramid scheme that's selling Stargate Worlds which is now no more than vapourware.

Whiting amassed a huge percentage in CME/Firesky because he owns them. To explain better here's a timline,

1: Some guys are programming an MMORPG based on SG1, they have no funding or license or anything.

2: Whiting sees the opportunity and speaks to them and MGM. MGM agrees to give him (Whiting) the license and the three guys agree to work with Whiting.

3: Whiting creates CME through one of his other companies, Cheyenne Mountain Games I believe.

4: Whiting raises money by selling capital shares in CME to investors.

5: Whiting creates Firesky inorder to self publish therefore not needing to meet milestones in development from a seperate publisher.

So you see Whiting always had the largest percentage of CME, he just created and sold capital shares to raise funds.

Also I believe they're using the Bigworld engine and not Unreal 3. Also you've failed to mention they've missed the second phase of closed Beta though I've never heard of a closed Beta being done in this way opening and closing. You've also omitted the fact that massive layoffs have ocurred and anything about MMOGULs, what about Dan Ellgrens having to leave due to no paycheck and now having no lead developer or other positions now unfuilled? All this is fact and just as if not more important than getting a screen shot once every three months which you don't fail to mention, why has it all been omitted?

I think your post proves my point here.....You either dont read, or you just live in la la world.

Also I believe they're using the Bigworld engine and not Unreal 3.

1-Bigworld = server side

2 -unreal 3 engine = cient side

I think you really show your lack of knowledge here in understanding the finer points of the tech that's being used here.  As to the first part of your thread, completely ignored due to my request of information coming from NEWS SOURCES, and to be commented at sgwweekly, so I can add the info to the time line.  You seem to make statements about news sources as if they are my personal opinion, sorry but these are just that, a copy paste from a news source, I tried to make the time line as factual as possible by using news sources, but you have again twisted it into something else.,  If you want to help on the time line, you know were to post, if not that's your problem.

I suppose you're correct in that I don't understand the finer points of the technology involved in making an MMORPG. I only said I believed it was the bigworld engine not that it's a fact, and I suppose I'm still 50% correct? As for ignoring the rest of my post, well that's just your perogitive. You seem to have a habit of omitting the facts you don't wish to believe, so really I see no reason to post on your time line.

I apologise if my ignorance caused you any distress,

Agricola

I really think we are all of the same opinion, CME is broke, Whitng and Gagon are running a scam and are just plain crooks.

Establishing time lines with this bunch is hard enough, the real challenge is to figure out how many investors gave Whiting money, how many people loaned him money and have options on CME stock and how many employess took stock in exchange for payroll. It is virtually impossible to figure out, hell Whiting doesnt even have a clue..

I had several people inside his circle tell how  Whiting would sit in a meeting and tell people of his ephithany some 10 years ago while watching  StarGate/StarTrek on TV. This idiot  sits and tells people how the StarGate idea all came to him in his mind and the rest is history. Mix in his warped beliefs and his polygamist lifestyle, or just talk to him, and you will concur with me,  

Whiting is a crook and is a certified lunatic.. 

Time will tell just how many people invested with this piece of crap, but one thing for sure, he will have his day in court..

Regarding the structure, both of you are partially right, but the controlling entity is Empire Enterprises.. Whiting and 3 others, including the only other person that sits on the CME Board, Keith Deering, own 100% of Empire Enterprises. Whiting owns between 55-60% of Empire.. Empire owns 305,000,000 shares of CME, which represents 51% of the authorized shares.

CME owns WorldGames and some 15-20 other LP's and LLC's that Whiting has created as pass throughs and PONZI's.. It would takes years to unravel this mess, BUT in bankruptcy court all bets are off..