Debt
Just so everyone knows… Cyan is not in debt with Ubisoft and saying such a thing doesn’t help out any situation. Any talk about such debt is ridiculous. I believe the topic of debt sprung forth when some former Cyan employees talked about the layoff of cyan employees as purely financial. Now, I don’t believe I am able to talk about the fiscal obligation Cyan might have with Ubisoft, but I wouldn’t think of it as tradition debt (aka I bought a truck and have a credit card so now I have debt). So please refrain from blaming Ubisoft or doing any Ubi bashing. They are still publishing Myst V End of Ages for us, and as I mentioned in my former blog post they were awesome at Pax. I feel very happy for the way Ubisoft is marketing Myst V: lots of Magazine ads and more things coming soon.
Thanks for all the support.
5 Comments:
I know that Ubisoft had a contract with Cyan until the end of 2005, and that they have done an awesome job with most of the things with Cyan. I think most people just want to have a place to put thier frustrations and vent about Cyan having to "virtually" close. Ubisoft really didn't have any obligation to help support Latus or any upcoming projects for Cyan, becuase they wouldn't be a part of it anyway.
I think that because of how Uru ended up, (which might I add is still one of my favorite games of all time), people just wanted to put and keep Ubisoft as the bad guys.
The fact that Cyan has not found any financial backers for any future projects does sadden us all, but I know where to vent my own frustrations. I do hope that something will happen to ensure that Cyan does not, in fact, close.
Which brings me to my next question:
I was thinking about creating a website called "SaveCyan.com", where there would be a donations page, as well as have a store selling various paraphanalia to help the effort, having whatever money it would take cover the costs, and then whatever money was leftover would go into a fund for Cyan, to maybe help back any future plans. I was wondering if this might be a good idea, and was also wondering if you could either get a message to Rand about it, or have Rand contact me personally with if he would be willing to let us do this for you all.
My e-mail address is phalkon13@comcast.net. I thank you for your time.
Jeremy Buza
My guess, made with zero information about Cyan/Ubi, is that it's like book publishing. The contract to publish a book calls for the writer to get royalties (a % of the book price), but also (sometimes) calls for an advance against royalties. The writer lives on the advance while writing the book, but then must repay the advance with, the writer hopes, the royalty revenue from sales. If the book sale royalties grow beyond the advance, the writer actually makes money.
In book publishing, the contract makes it clear that the advance is in the nature of a loan, so if book sale royalties are insufficient to cover the advance, the writer is obligated to repay the publisher. But it has been customary (altho less so in recent times) for the publisher simply to write off unpaid advances as long as the writer shows a good faith effort to write a good book and turn it in on time (or within a few years or so!). Of course, if that happens and the writer seeks another advance for a new book, the publisher usually adjusts the advance downward (not to repay the previous one, but simply to reflect lower expected sales), or declines to give the writer any advance.
Don't know if PC games work the same way, but I suspect it's close.
Hi (Ryan?), I hope I'm not totally at the wrong blog, but we met at PAX, I got one of your business cards and shook your hand (in case that helps narrow it down a bit :) ).
Anyhow, I've been trying to get a hold of you via your @cyan email and the phone number on your card. I write for eToychest.org, and we'd love to get you for an interview. On the off chance that you're reading this, you can reach me at jayce@etoychest.org
Thanks, and I'm really sorry to hear about what happened at Cyan. Great that Myst V is still coming out though :)
Thank you for clearing that up. When there's an information vacuum all sorts of stuff gets sucked in. We're all listening *so hard* to try and hear a pin drop in Spokane that it's hardly surprising we pick up random noise and extrapolate it into voices.
RAWA said on The Lyst yesterday that there was a possibility of something coming up--a meeting of some sort. I think most of us are just hoping now that something bears some fruit.
People will want to blame someone, but there are no bad guys in this (hey, just like a Cyan game!). There's always a need for a voice of reason. Thanks again for being it.
There aren't many small companies that can look back and say that they almost single-handedly changed the history of computer gaming. That is no small legacy, and people will discover and rediscover Myst, Riven and the rest for years to come.
Good work.
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