Will Daybreak games shut down in 2 months?

Story has been picked up by Ars Technica now.....

Daybreak Games claimed this Russian oligarch as owner—then the sanctions hit [Updated]

 

Pretty sure eq2 has been in maintenance mode already for some time now.

Since people like Kander and Mclemore continue to survive these lay-offs, I can't help but assume they have the eq2 team staffed pretty much they way they want it - which for me = no thank you.

I know there are a lot of great people like ttobey and Kaitheel left. There are also people surviving these lay-offs who are killing the brand.

Perplexing.

 

What I mean is that while those two incidents might be coincidental timing, every thing is not all smiles and rainbows - which is the picture they're trying to paint.

The most generous interpretation, as it relates to EQ2 would probably be - We already gutted your team, so you only had a few more to lose, it will be small poor quality with a lack of meaningful content releases, that have exponentially more bugs and broken features introduced than are fixed... business as usual.

 

How many laid off had hands in EQ2? I think Fireflyte being gone is confirmed - is he the only one? Were there more?

I don't buy the layoffs were about H1Z1's pS4 launch, or other teams would have been left alone. Plus, you don't lay off 70-100 people without some planning involved. Just like I don't buy that it got past lawyers and everyone else for three years of, "Oops! Wrong owner on all this silly legal paperwork!"

 

I read somewhere that the developer in charge of Player Studio was also laid off. I don't know who that is though.

 

Special Krono Deals are Coming Your Way!

Plus, from now until March 22, 2018, you'll also be able to purchase packs of 5, 10, or 25 Krono for 30% off!

I feel for the people who were suckered into buying kronos with RL cash, and might end up never being able to use them if the place shuts down. Now, if they purchased said kronos to sell for in game cash, they'll probably start dumping them for cheap on broker for one last hurrah to get enough plat to buy materials for the mount, shinies for the meta collection quest, and masters/grandmasters/ancients for spells/combat arts.

There is also the story of some guy in EQ1 that had his account banned in 2017 because he had 800 kronos and DBG can't claim krono sales as revenue until they are actually used. There's something else about DBG having to pay taxes on unspent StationCash, but I dunno what's all behind that story.

I have enough krono to last me until it's time for a new expansion in November. If things fold between now and then, no biggie. I bought those kronos cheap with in game plat long ago. I bought into the year sub for $75 when that "deal" was going on, so I could prolong my stash of kronos. $6.25/month was a pretty good deal that I couldn't pass up, plus it helped keep the game going.

 

Wow, what a shitty move. It takes time to plan layoffs like these. I imagine they got serious about them around April 5th.

Now they have an anonymous source trying to put out the CN fire. Why would they be upset about someone towing the line? Maybe they are afraid making such claims could bite them in the ass if they are knowingly lying.

And none of this explains away why a Renova IP address was trying to edit articles to wipe away association. Even if on paper they aren't associated this doesn't stop them from giving Epstein sizable amounts of cash to invest in "unspecific" ventures for returns. Could mark all of it as a loss but oh hey have an amount of money close to the amount of profit promised for a completely unrelated reason.

This entire shell game can't be unraveled until tax records that are usually private are busted open. None of us gawkers or fans are going to be able to do that so I'll stick with my long standing position of people in and around Daybreak being full of crap.

 

I am inclined to agree there is a reasonable likeihood someone/some people are playing games with shell corps.

Just the kind of challenging work that government accountants and investigators find stimulating.

Two possible issues here:

The manipulation of shell corps/ownership has probably been entirely legal, especially considering that SOE would have had their lawyers involved (soe has a 10% ownership).

Where it gets murkier is with funding facilities. If DBG was utilizing CN to draw working or investment capital (i.e loans), especially considering allegations of money laundering at Renova, that could create head ache inducing problems for DBG executives and owners.

Additionally, it's very possible domestic and European banks are going to be reluctant to lend DBG money at the present time. If lines of credit haven't been constrained yet, they are certainly being watched very closely.

Of course, this means alternative (i.e. expensive) financing facilities may have been arranged, which may legal and provided cover from the previous two scenarios.

The point is, what this is all shaping up to (I believe) is an expensive head ache and an investment decision to begin working on an exit strategy.

Investment companies, especially bottom feeders, have zero emotional investment in these decisions. It's all about opportunity costs.

We'll just have to see what happens.

 

One of the comments on the massively posts (http://massivelyop.com/2018/04/26/daybreak-has-now-been-hit-with-layoffs/) rings like a nerdy Bourne Ultimatum rewrite. Considering he has linked his identity to his post, well, I won't say he is correct, but it's an interesting read, and I won't be that surprised if he ends up being correct.

He directly contradicts the source telling people Daybreak is owned by Jason Epstein, going so far as stating plainly, "The “trusted” source in update 5 is lying to you." I think the choice of words is a bit strong, because it's possible the source could be working off of what information they have and is therefore the truth as they know it. Either way.

Later in the longer post, he refers to four people he claims to know the truth - Jason Epstein, Russell Shanks (C.O.O. of Daybreak, I believe), John Smedley (who supposedly made a comment on a facebook post about how he thought they were owned by CN? - no idea if legit or not, to be fair), and a Mystery #4.

"The 4th person is an Easter egg that’s going to be revealed as this fiasco unfolds. It’s good; just wait." From the same user in the lengthy post.

Take all of this with a grain of salt, but if this guy is legit and what he is saying holds any water, well...

Online Entertainment, indeed.

 

To make it more entertaining, the guy who made that post is Derek Smart, who has something of a... history online. I'm not putting that out there to dispute what he's saying, btw, because he's definitely been correct in the past.

Edit: Fun fact, I recognized his writing style from the last quote in your post but had to go to MOP just to double-check he was the one who said that. XD

 

Just make sure Coca-Cola vending machines aren't involved.

 

His tweets in relation to this fiasco make very interesting reading also.

 

Same as what I found.

Tried to Stay Switzerland as much as I could the last few days, trying to stick to facts alone...

...but I know I absolutely removed my credit card info from Daybreak's servers today. I was already un-subbed and riding the year long prepay until July.

Smart also referenced another article with some Gawker/Hulk Hogan/drama references.

I wouldn't be too shocked if #4 is Peter Thiel.

 

Did Kronos become a thing before or after the CN takeover?

 

Before

 

The big Krono sale for extra benefits with discounts on buying them in bulk?

Why that ended just a couple weeks before the sanctions were announced.

Krono Sale: Ended March 22, 2018 (Special Krono Deals are Coming Your Way!)
Sanctions Announced: April 6, 2018 (https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm0338)

 

OK, I'll leave my tin foil hat in its box for now on that one.