Post by shellyjac on Sept 9, 2007 22:54:43 GMT -5
got this email over the weekend from a fellow gamedriven player......
not looking so good it seems.....
from catmane........
Today I received the following email from mick regarding GameDriven's fate:
Greg, it has become impossible to support the service, at least at this time.
There is no revenue and it costs over $400-1200 each month to run it. Game Drivenis in effect, broke. I had considered keeping only 1 site up (atlantis) but there were several bitter members who were not happy with that either, so the ownersdecided to officially go out of business. Without funding we cannot run the site.
We appreciate those who helped keep it running for as long as they did, and wish
we could have kept it up longer. But contrary to some people's comments, no
one who ran the business ever made a dime and in fact lost several hundred thousand dollars investing in its development. What small subscription revenue we had was eaten up in hosting fees.
It is possible that someday a single site with just the games (maybe not sharebubble) will reappear, at which time we will send invites to any subscribers we still have emails for on record. It is sad to me as well that the project never gained traction. If we do bring it back it would be strictly as a hobby site and access would be free.
I emailed back this response:
Thanks for letting me know the story, Mick! Again--and I don't know if this is feasible or not--if any of the members were willing to invest in GD would you be willing to consider selling or renting the site? I have absolutely no idea if this would work, but I have extensive contact with a lot of GD people through my "humor" list and I would certainly be willing to propose such an idea. If not, I certainly understand--but I still see your wonderful creation as a terrific asset and I'm sure many others value it just as highly! Anyway, just a thought--and I would be more than willing to present any plan or offer you might have if you would like me to.
This was Mick's response:
thanks greg, I think we will address it in October, under any circumstances I am
sure it will be just 1 colony though with a few more games on it....I will stay in touch
if such a thing becomes a possibility.
Please ask people to leave us alone if you talk to anyone - if we could do anything
about the site we would and all the threats and complaining really do nothing to help.
So, my dear friends, that's the situation. I tried, but it looks like GameDriven is history, at least for the rest of September and possibly permanently. For those of you who would like to keep in touch game-wise, I play on GoldToken and Pocket-monkey (I play on It'sYourTurn too but only get to make 15 moves a day and am pretty much tied up there). If you're a chess player, I also play on GameKnot and Net-chess.
Let's all try to keep in touch one way or another, and hope for the best!
My best to you all,
Greg (Catmane)
~~~~~~~~~
A site has been created for all us exiled GameDriven folks:
gamedrivenrefugees.myfreeforum.org
Hope to see you all there!
~~~~~~~~~
I received the following email from Mick this morning:
Greg, I am not sure if it is feasible, but all of Game Driven is up for sale for 250k.
This includes the games, graphics, and a US patent on self organizing social colonies.
We would also include 6 months of programming to change whatever is possible in
that time frame or transfer knowledge of the site to anyone willing to support/program
it. We are also willing to listen to proposals and try and work with folks. As part
of the 6 month service we could add things like automated rollover of points, more
user control over access etc...
After the 6 months it will cost roughly $120/server per month to run the site. I would
run sharebubble and 1 colony such as Atlantis for $200/mth.
If you or investors you know have alternate proposals, then let us know. You asked,
so I thought I would put it out there. The 250k is the bare bones investment of 3 years
in development by 3-4 people. It would take at least a couple years to write all the
code.
-Mick
Anybody have a spare $250,000 lying around??
not looking so good it seems.....
from catmane........
Today I received the following email from mick regarding GameDriven's fate:
Greg, it has become impossible to support the service, at least at this time.
There is no revenue and it costs over $400-1200 each month to run it. Game Drivenis in effect, broke. I had considered keeping only 1 site up (atlantis) but there were several bitter members who were not happy with that either, so the ownersdecided to officially go out of business. Without funding we cannot run the site.
We appreciate those who helped keep it running for as long as they did, and wish
we could have kept it up longer. But contrary to some people's comments, no
one who ran the business ever made a dime and in fact lost several hundred thousand dollars investing in its development. What small subscription revenue we had was eaten up in hosting fees.
It is possible that someday a single site with just the games (maybe not sharebubble) will reappear, at which time we will send invites to any subscribers we still have emails for on record. It is sad to me as well that the project never gained traction. If we do bring it back it would be strictly as a hobby site and access would be free.
I emailed back this response:
Thanks for letting me know the story, Mick! Again--and I don't know if this is feasible or not--if any of the members were willing to invest in GD would you be willing to consider selling or renting the site? I have absolutely no idea if this would work, but I have extensive contact with a lot of GD people through my "humor" list and I would certainly be willing to propose such an idea. If not, I certainly understand--but I still see your wonderful creation as a terrific asset and I'm sure many others value it just as highly! Anyway, just a thought--and I would be more than willing to present any plan or offer you might have if you would like me to.
This was Mick's response:
thanks greg, I think we will address it in October, under any circumstances I am
sure it will be just 1 colony though with a few more games on it....I will stay in touch
if such a thing becomes a possibility.
Please ask people to leave us alone if you talk to anyone - if we could do anything
about the site we would and all the threats and complaining really do nothing to help.
So, my dear friends, that's the situation. I tried, but it looks like GameDriven is history, at least for the rest of September and possibly permanently. For those of you who would like to keep in touch game-wise, I play on GoldToken and Pocket-monkey (I play on It'sYourTurn too but only get to make 15 moves a day and am pretty much tied up there). If you're a chess player, I also play on GameKnot and Net-chess.
Let's all try to keep in touch one way or another, and hope for the best!
My best to you all,
Greg (Catmane)
~~~~~~~~~
A site has been created for all us exiled GameDriven folks:
gamedrivenrefugees.myfreeforum.org
Hope to see you all there!
~~~~~~~~~
I received the following email from Mick this morning:
Greg, I am not sure if it is feasible, but all of Game Driven is up for sale for 250k.
This includes the games, graphics, and a US patent on self organizing social colonies.
We would also include 6 months of programming to change whatever is possible in
that time frame or transfer knowledge of the site to anyone willing to support/program
it. We are also willing to listen to proposals and try and work with folks. As part
of the 6 month service we could add things like automated rollover of points, more
user control over access etc...
After the 6 months it will cost roughly $120/server per month to run the site. I would
run sharebubble and 1 colony such as Atlantis for $200/mth.
If you or investors you know have alternate proposals, then let us know. You asked,
so I thought I would put it out there. The 250k is the bare bones investment of 3 years
in development by 3-4 people. It would take at least a couple years to write all the
code.
-Mick
Anybody have a spare $250,000 lying around??