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[personal profile] thewayne
Apparently many truckloads of money were lost when they tried to get into video games with Nokia's nGage, which fell miserably flat.

Here's Kevin Siembada's appeal for people to buy $50 prints and become a Friend Of Palladium, and here's the Slashdot thread.

I'm not a huge fan of Palladium's games, they're just D&D warmed over, and I've heard that Kevin can be a major PITA if someone publishes a review of one of his products that is in the least bit negative. I did like the massive background systems that he had in place and I wrote more than one program to generate said backgrounds just because I thought they were cool.

I doubt people realize how frail game companies are, even the biggies like SPI and Avalon Hill eventually died. I imagine Wiz Kids and WotC have enough size, momentum, and professional business management behind them to survive for a long time, but that's speculation on my part and ya never know.

Date: 2006-04-21 05:41 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] apostate-96.livejournal.com
That's a real pity. I've never played any of the Palladium games, but I've seen them stocked regularly over the years at our local gaming stores. That tells me they're good enough for a decent-sized group of people to like 'em and want to play more when they can. I don't know the details of how things got so fucked up for them, but I do hope things'll straighten out soon. I'll have to see if I've got the spare $$ to chip in right now or not. Even though I'm not a fan of their stuff per se, I know how disappointing it can be to suddenly see something you've loved tank and sink.

I've also gotta give him some credit in writing his open appeal. He does come off as a bit of an arrogant prick, and I can see how that'd play out in his responses to bad reviews. However, he also had the cojones to ask for the help it sounds like they need....essentially swallowing his pride for the good of the company.

Date: 2006-04-21 07:26 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] cardigirl.livejournal.com
Me? *happy*dance* *happy*dance*

I might say more but not on an open post.

Yet to game companies' frailty: I sadly agree. Even WotC is Hasbro-meat, and TSR (before *it* was swallowed) was run with reasonably decent business acumen, or so I understood. WizKid's head was FASA's head; it died. Gaming is a niche and it's a hobby. Doesn't make for solidity.

Date: 2006-04-21 08:06 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] magic-rat.livejournal.com
Siembieda's rep within the business was more than enough for me to avoid his games completely. Being a PITA is one thing; threatening a lawsuit for copyright infringement is something else altogether.

And that's all I have to say about that.

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