East India publisher in trouble

[Keith]

I wouldn't call this news as it's just speculation until something official comes up but read this thread <a href="http://www.lighthouse-interactive.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=2036&sid=acf2c0dd740608127e3e581388a4ae8d" target="_blank">HERE</a>

I'll keep an eye on this as it would be a real shame if they fall would cause EIC to be delayed, hopefully there close enough to the end to pop it out if it's true.

 

[Stallion]

The publisher's original parent company has had financial troubles several times in it's past, so I'd bet on it being more than a rumour. DreamCatcher Interactive was the parent company, but they seem to have either changed their name or sold Lighthouse to somebody else.

Here's some corporate stuff off their site:

<i>Lighthouse Interactive, part of SilverBirch Inc.'s (SVB:TSXV) is a fast growing publisher of interactive entertainment with offices established in Toronto and Montreal, Canada, Haarlem, The Netherlands and London, England. The company is focused on bringing strong titles to the worldwide market in a wide array of genres including: RPG, Simulation, Adventure, Action and Strategy. Staffed with industry veterans, Lighthouse is the right choice for developers looking to bring their products to a worldwide audience.</i>

One of Canada's banks used to hold most of the company's shares, but apparently got rid of all of them a while back.

Edit: Thanks to PeerGuardian and an IP trace, I found out SilverBirch isn't a renamed DreamCatcher Interactive, but another company. Maybe it is just a rumour. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/dunno.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="dunno.gif" />

 

[Peter Willemoes]

The SIMHQ read:
<!--c1--><div class='codetop'>CODE</div><div class='codemain'><!--ec1-->January 12, 2009

SimHQ has learned the unfortunate news that Lighthouse Interactive has become insolvent. We have been told their parent Canadian company has become insolvent and also their UK distributor has gone bankrupt. At this time, the future of their two armor sims, "Steel Fury: Kharkov 1942" and "WWII Battle Tanks: T34 vs. Tiger" is in question.<!--c2--></div><!--ec2-->

Oh no, hope that ain´t true. The Finance crisis appearently strikes everywhere.

 

[Keith]

Well, if you click my link it looks like lighthouse deleted the thread... getting dodgy now

 

[Stallion]

That's more suspicious than it being false and them choosing to just leave it up. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/yes.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="yes.gif" />

 

[Peter Willemoes]

At the other hand, my (seldom striking) ability to think positive points to the fact, that any game this far in development is a valuable resource, like the people who are working on it. Maybe they´re afraid to scare investors off by letting the rumour go public, dont know if a rumour this unserious could affect the stocks?

 

[Cylon13]

<!--c1--><div class='codetop'>CODE</div><div class='codemain'><!--ec1-->January 12, 2009

SimHQ has learned the unfortunate news that Lighthouse Interactive has become insolvent. We have been told their parent Canadian company has become insolvent and also their UK distributor has gone bankrupt. At this time, the future of their two armor sims, "Steel Fury: Kharkov 1942" and "WWII Battle Tanks: T34 vs. Tiger" is in question.<!--c2--></div><!--ec2-->

Down the toilet... <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/mybad.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="mybad.gif" />

 

[Stallion]

I could see Paradox Interactive picking up EIC and those two tank sims if this all is true. Most of what they publish is either indie or re-releases of classic PC games from companies like Microsoft.

 

[Keith]

More info on the main site <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/onya.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="onya.gif" />

Looks like it's pretty serious though. I won't bother emailing Kim at Nitro, I doubt he can say to much atm.

 

[Stallion]

Thanks for the update, Keith <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/me.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="me.gif" />

They haven't deleted this mention of what's going on off the Steel Fury sub-forum: <a href="http://www.lighthouse-interactive.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=2018" target="_blank">http://www.lighthouse-interactive.com/foru...f=44&t=2018</a>

Maybe somebody will provide updates on there at some point. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/dunno.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="dunno.gif" />

 

[bumpkin]

This may be a bit naive on my part, but if everything does go down the loo at lighthouse, maybe the people doing EIC can take a page out of the Buccaneer Book. There was a article about their pulisher trying to help indie devs bring the wares to the market.

Just an Idea.
Greg.

 

[Peter Willemoes]

"..trying to help indie developers bring the wares to the market"

I dont quite understand what you mean? <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/huh.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":huh" border="0" alt="huh.gif" />

 

[bumpkin]

There was an article on the "Buccaneer, The Pursuit of Infamy" news page which talked about the partnership between Blitz Game Studios and Stickman studio for the purpose of helping Stickman getting their game released.

I do not know if this would even be an option. I just putting it forth as an idea. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />

The following link may work. The article is on page 5.
<a href="http://issuu.com/develop/docs/dev89_web" target="_blank">http://issuu.com/develop/docs/dev89_web</a>

Stickman's link is below. The article in question is under 15 November tab
<a href="http://www.stickmanstudios.co.uk/news.html" target="_blank">http://www.stickmanstudios.co.uk/news.html</a>

Hope this helps.
Greg.