He can claim anything he wants, we have no idea how long he has employed anybody.
He could have have spent 11 months coming up with the feature list and based on what has been shown had 1 guy working on an UE4 assets video for a few weeks.
So you need bank statements AND proof of employment AND you need to physically be playing the game yourself in their studios to believe. lol You have made up your mind. What is the point in discussing anything?
No.. If he says the company has $30M funded in the bank I will believe him. I don't need bank statements. But I have looked very hard and I cannot find such a statement. It seems like great lengths are being gone to in order to allow for ambiguity.
I mean, if you want to get technical he stated two different things:
In your quote form the FAQ above he says he can fund the core game with what he has PLUS THE KICKSTARTER.
In the quote from Massively he says the Kickstarter funds are for additional scope.. "The Kickstarter and any other crowdfunding we might engage in is intended to add to that budget, for additional scope on certain systems we intend to reveal throughout development."
I don't think either matter much if he really has $30M in funding in the bank. It's just me, but I would feel a lot better if he came out and said "We have the $30M funded already and in our coffers". Not a pledge, not a maybe from a friend... but 100% funded and locked in.
All time classic MY NEW FAVORITE POST! (Keep laying those bricks)
"I should point out that no other company has shipped out a beta on a disc before this." - Official Mortal Online Lead Community Moderator
Proudly wearing the Harbinger badge since Dec 23, 2017.
Coined the phrase "Role-Playing a Development Team" January 2018
"Oddly Slap is the main reason I stay in these forums." - Mystichaze April 9th 2018
No.. If he says the company has $30M funded in the bank I will believe him. I don't need bank statements. But I have looked very hard and I cannot find such a statement. It seems like great lengths are being gone to in order to allow for ambiguity.
I mean, if you want to get technical he stated two different things:
In your quote form the FAQ above he says he can fund the core game with what he has PLUS THE KICKSTARTER.
In the quote from Massively he says the Kickstarter funds are for additional scope.. "The Kickstarter and any other crowdfunding we might engage in is intended to add to that budget, for additional scope on certain systems we intend to reveal throughout development."
I don't think either matter much if he really has $30M in funding in the bank. It's just me, but I would feel a lot better if he came out and said "We have the $30M funded already and in our coffers". Not a pledge, not a maybe from a friend... but 100% funded and locked in.
Well then go ahead and try and ask them during a Q&A or on Reddit. They do live Q&A 3 times a week and they are usually pretty open about things. If not I am sure they will discuss it again by the time Kickstarter ends.
I don't think either matter much if he really has $30M in funding in the bank. It's just me, but I would feel a lot better if he came out and said "We have the $30M funded already and in our coffers". Not a pledge, not a maybe from a friend... but 100% funded and locked in.
It would be a good move actually, even if just to clearly show they are not breaking the "The funding goal is the amount of money that a creator needs to complete their project." rule, which kinda requires that they have locked in 30mill (his number) minus the initial pledge.
Cons: There is no chance that an MMORPG with that scope get's developed for $700k (their initial goal) or $2mil (the current funding on Kickstarter). It's simply not possible. They say they have more money invested, no one can verify that so all we know are the Kickstarter numbers.
They never said that. They said the budget is $30 million. That's a known number already.
They said to deliver the core game they need a $30M budget. They have NOT said they have $30M in secured funding as far as I can tell. That is why I keep asking. If you know of a link that shows they have SECURED $30M in funding let me know. that would certainly put my mind at easy and I'll likely keep my Kickstarter Pledge.
He said he is funding the game and they already have the budget for a core viable game. The core viable game will cost $30 million. Meaning he is putting 30 million of his own money into the game. Kickstarter will ADD to that $30 million budget. He has talked about it several times that they already have the money for the game they have promised.
That is completely irrelevant because no one can proof that he actually has $30 million or that they have put $30 million into the company to produce the game.
This is the same as trusting a Nigerian scammer saying they have $30 million in an account and need you to transfer it to a US account but you need to give them $50 to transfer you the $30 million.
It's the oldest trick in the book. Until we see officially confirmed financial statements that they indeed have that money it's safe to assume all they have is the Kickstarter money.
There is this little thing called fraud that you have to be aware of when soliciting funds. An anonymous Nigerian scammer has no such limitation.
disclaimer: I'm not financial supporter of AoC nor do I intend to be.
A Kickstarter also has no such limitation. You have to try to deliver. That is all you need to do. It is very hard, almost impossible to prove that you set out from the start to pay yourself a nice yearly salary from Kickstarter funds and never intended to complete the game. It takes a couple of months for an amateur to produce a great looking demo with Unity or UE4 store bought assets for a total cost of below $1000.
The proof is in the hundreds of Kickstarter software projects that failed with no repercussions at all.
I couldn't discount the possibility of frauds being committed through Kickstarter. But equating that to Nigerian scams is just a little bit disingenuous.
I don't think anyone in their right mind would put $30M of their own money in making an mmorpg. On the other hand a lot of people would put an initial investment, use that investment to build something you can show other investors and get them to invest money in your company.
By going to kickstarter he has showed his ambition while getting players attracted to his project, getting a lot of free press which certainly will make it easier to get others to invest money.
Only thing I know for sure is that no matter how much hype a project like this gets its never going to be simple building a game like this one.
Iselin: And the next person who says "but it's a business, they need to make money" can just go fuck yourself.
Comments
I mean, if you want to get technical he stated two different things:
In your quote form the FAQ above he says he can fund the core game with what he has PLUS THE KICKSTARTER.
In the quote from Massively he says the Kickstarter funds are for additional scope..
"The Kickstarter and any other crowdfunding we might engage in is intended to add to that budget, for additional scope on certain systems we intend to reveal throughout development."
I don't think either matter much if he really has $30M in funding in the bank. It's just me, but I would feel a lot better if he came out and said "We have the $30M funded already and in our coffers". Not a pledge, not a maybe from a friend... but 100% funded and locked in.
All time classic MY NEW FAVORITE POST! (Keep laying those bricks)
"I should point out that no other company has shipped out a beta on a disc before this." - Official Mortal Online Lead Community Moderator
Proudly wearing the Harbinger badge since Dec 23, 2017.
Coined the phrase "Role-Playing a Development Team" January 2018
"Oddly Slap is the main reason I stay in these forums." - Mystichaze April 9th 2018
It would be a good move actually, even if just to clearly show they are not breaking the "The funding goal is the amount of money that a creator needs to complete their project." rule, which kinda requires that they have locked in 30mill (his number) minus the initial pledge.
Don't you think?
"Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee
By going to kickstarter he has showed his ambition while getting players attracted to his project, getting a lot of free press which certainly will make it easier to get others to invest money.
Only thing I know for sure is that no matter how much hype a project like this gets its never going to be simple building a game like this one.
That is the exact opposite of KS's original vision. The whole point to help creators who can't get or want to be free from investor influence.
http://kickstart.org/