I doubt he come back to EU, if he didn´t 1.5 years ago.
Also I think that ComPet had a chance to be successfully, but MA failed big time to listen to their beta testers.
The only thing they had focused on and developed were new skinns and maybe arena, no uniqueness, no variance. And then the last hope with the strongboxes, which showed how clueless they are.
Once again they were talking pretty loud what all will be available in their product, but never delivered it.
The only positive thing I see now is that I can move on. Take the loss, don´t wait for the relaunch they mentioned in their annual report, sell the moon deeds and finish my adventure here.
...exploring options for potential development and/or publishing partnerships with established mobile game organizations.
... the question what would the future of Compet deeds be? A lot of questions are raised:
...
The announcement is that they are removing compet deeds from the game
That seems like an oversimplified assumption. The word "removing" doesn't appear anywhere in that announcement. All they say is that they are "suspending marketing and development". And they are giving people a chance to "trade compet deeds in for moon deeds" with no real explanation.
I mean how are they able to offer the exchange for moon deeds? Aren't moon deeds and asset of Arkadia Studios? How can MA just offer those to people on Arkadias behalf? Has Arakdia Studios make an announcement about this?
I don't know - I'm just putting it out there asking the questions others might not think to...
People wonder why they are always getting burned in this game and it's because they simply don't think to question things beyond face value. "Oh you're doing me a solid of letting me trade these worthless Compet deeds for the most promising asset in the game right now? Nothing to read into there - SOLD".
...
As such, the MindArk Board of Directors has decided to suspend any further development or marketing of ComPet, and is exploring options for potential development and/or publishing partnerships with established mobile game organizations.
...
My vote is to just let Compet die, make the statement definitive that it's over instead of the less solid terms like "suspending" and "exploring options" and focus 100% of your effort on Entropia.
If you're talking about possibly getting another company in on continuing development/marketing of Compet one has to ask the question what would the future of Compet deeds be? A lot of questions are raised:
1. If Compet development and marketing continues in the future with another company will the deeds still pay out? Will they continue to pay out now?
2. If people trade the deeds away will that adjust how the shares are calculated based on their being less in circulation?
3. Are the deeds that are traded destroyed? Who gets them when they are traded? Arkadia Studios? Does MA get them back? Will the traded deeds be used as an offering to other mobile companies coming on board as a perk?
4. If another company joins in on working on Compet and a new re-launch is planned will the traded deeds be up for sale again?
5. I can't imagine any mobile game company NOT wanting to re-skin and re-title if they are going to try a relaunch. If a re-launch is done but with a new skinning and new name with that effectively subvert the requirement to make payments to deed holders as it would no longer technically be branded as "Compet"?
6. Are there plans to remove the game from the app store?
I think compet deed holders need to be wary of this opportunity. It's not REQUIRED you trade your deeds and they don't really explain what happens if you don't trade your deeds. Maybe I'm just being paranoid but I can't help but feel there's something you're not telling us here...
I just think that some people might welcome any opportunity to jump ship on the deeds regardless of the details but what if trading them away is a worse move than initially figured? What if 6 months after this deal a mobile game company comes on board and takes charge of Compet... they reskin it, change the name, make some tweaks and relaunch it. What if it's a hit at that point? Will the deeds still payout? Will those that traded for moon deeds be kicking themselves for trading? It just feels like a bit more information or some sort of a road map is needed with this to make an educated decision as an investor.
My vote is to just let Compet die, make the statement definitive that it's over instead of the less solid terms like "suspending" and "exploring options" and focus 100% of your effort on Entropia.
Definitely +rep to MA for this!
Though the only part of the statement that worries me is:
This could be taken several ways. Primarily it points to you not wanting to leave the mobile space yet which could mean you wanting to start a new mobile project, handing marketing and development of Compet over to another company or continuing to develop the Virtual Tycoon app to allow people to play more of EU on mobile.
If you're talking about possibly getting another company in on continuing development/marketing of Compet one has to ask the question what would the future of Compet deeds be? A lot of questions are raised:
1. If Compet development and marketing continues in the future with another company will the deeds still pay out? Will they continue to pay out now?
2. If people trade the deeds away will that adjust how the shares are calculated based on their being less in circulation?
3. Are the deeds that are traded destroyed? Who gets them when they are traded? Arkadia Studios? Does MA get them back? Will the traded deeds be used as an offering to other mobile companies coming on board as a perk?
4. If another company joins in on working on Compet and a new re-launch is planned will the traded deeds be up for sale again?
5. I can't imagine any mobile game company NOT wanting to re-skin and re-title if they are going to try a relaunch. If a re-launch is done but with a new skinning and new name with that effectively subvert the requirement to make payments to deed holders as it would no longer technically be branded as "Compet"?
6. Are there plans to remove the game from the app store?
I think compet deed holders need to be wary of this opportunity. It's not REQUIRED you trade your deeds and they don't really explain what happens if you don't trade your deeds. Maybe I'm just being paranoid but I can't help but feel there's something you're not telling us here...
I just think that some people might welcome any opportunity to jump ship on the deeds regardless of the details but what if trading them away is a worse move than initially figured? What if 6 months after this deal a mobile game company comes on board and takes charge of Compet... they reskin it, change the name, make some tweaks and relaunch it. What if it's a hit at that point? Will the deeds still payout? Will those that traded for moon deeds be kicking themselves for trading? It just feels like a bit more information or some sort of a road map is needed with this to make an educated decision as an investor.
My vote is to just let Compet die, make the statement definitive that it's over instead of the less solid terms like "suspending" and "exploring options" and focus 100% of your effort on Entropia.
Waiting for Rick’s comment
Haha i only just read this as just got in from work? Someone should pop round to make sure Rick is ok. The only supporter of Compets has really had dreams shattered now.
As such, the MindArk Board of Directors has decided to suspend any further development or marketing of ComPet, and is exploring options for potential development and/or publishing partnerships with established mobile game organizations.
Waiting for Rick’s comment
Waiting for Rick’s comment
With all due respect - I know you are not happy with the news and that is understandable. But the biggest lesson learned from all this is that they tried to enter a market in which they did not have the means to compete.I would say to Mindark though, please don't give up on an App, build a mini EU for pets that can run on mobile.
Yes, I feel really bad about him right now. Mostly due to his last post a week or so ago on the Compet forum about how Compets wasn't dead and all that MA had to be doing to make it right. I just didn't feel it was worth a reply. But it is very good that MA is at least open about this and will learn from this big error.
OMG, I don't know what to think at the moment I'm in shock. I need to calculate what that means for the thousands of deeds I own. What it does mean if MA and Ark can sell the deeds they're struggling to move and not lose face with getting those deeds to a position they're tradable...then it's win-win all round.
Firstly I feel extremely sad for Compet and all those involved, I was only in there a few mins ago doing some raids. Given the right content it could have been a wonderful game. The 'collaboration' with EU just wasn't there thinking about how it might interact with EU, nor was the appetite for content other than PVP. Although if I'm honest, I don't think MA ever wanted to link it to EU.
I backed it initially before even MA knew what they were going to do with these deeds they sold in 2014. That's the reality of it, and prayed that the expertise of the company would make it work. Even though Compet wasn't what I wanted, I hoped and dreamed the content I wanted would come eventually....even if it took years.
I would say to Mindark though, please don't give up on an App, build a mini EU for pets that can run on mobile. The beautiful thing about that is your training players to understand the concept of EU at the same time, so it's much easier to transfer customers to your main game. That said, I'd want to see it working before I bought into it again.
I'm sorry I gave the development team a hard time in some posts, the situation become quite desperate.
I guess this means, I've become an Ark Moon fan overnight. Now to work out what the financial impact will be.
To be fair MA sold Compet to their EU customers, so it was going to be resolved in some way at some point.
I just feel a little sad right now that something I've stuck with for 4 years has died. Maybe the mods will delete the compet sections then in the forum, and put the whole sorry mess behind us.
RIP Compet,...…... think I need a beer and a calculator.
Rick
edit: Message for MA.....can I have couple of my pets transferred to EU please. Kiwi and Rob dino. Stick it in my inventory, and I'll take any loss on the chin.
officially that decision of MA makes you Ark moon owner
I know a few players with thousands of deeds, so need a chat with them. I still haven't done my calcs, I don't even want to right now....hahaha
well you should be happy. you are at least getting about 20 times its actual value (and that would be valued really high)
My interpretation is that they are looking to either sell compet or partner with a better established mobile game company rather than just throwing it in the bin.
Picture it like a mine which is no longer profitable to exctract resources from, you can A sell it to someone who has the tools to make it profitable, B partner with someone who has the tools, or C explore none of the possibilities and let it sit there doing nothing for you
I dont see what's cause for worrying about that statement
I agree that sounds like the intention, but no "established mobile game company" will touch this rotting corpse with a bargepole, so that is the end of it, and any time and effort MA spend on trying to pretend otherwise will be wasted.
edit 2: do a deal with Ni-x to make those changes for a percent of the revenue. if you don't want too pay anything. Or tell us how much it would cost to make those changes.
Rick, we spoken 12h prior about this situation can happen.
We talked about this, but sad to say this is the main issue. Since MA did outsource the project MA wasn't willing to give up EU's inter-workings and is why we got the version of Compets that we did.