Fat Babies rumor of Infogrames

[tniem]

Fatbabies.com says this about Infogrames:

6/6/02 Infogrames For Sale?

It is obvious that with $300m+ in debt Infogrames has seen its better days.

Check their current stock price here.

Who will buy them out? THQ or Activision or Electronic Arts? Or even Acclaim?

Infogrames has few brands despite having paid hundreds of millions to buy companies, so you can rule out the king of brands, Electronic Arts. With no sports line-up, EA won’t touch ‘em.

Will Bruno be ousted? We can only hope! That’s the only way his Ego will be tamed.

Most importantly, we’ve heard that Infogrames is currently not paying milestones. Their developers, large and small, are waiting for milestone payments. Infogrames’ fiscal year ends June 30 and the company is holding all payments to give the impression of a better cash position at the close of the accounting period.

Creative accounting at work again! Hello, Enron Jr.

Any way, obviously I thought this was important to the community. Infogrames still owns the rights to civ sequels and Moo. So where it goes is important.

Secondly, if they are not paying milestone payments (a big if since it is a rumor) than Firaxis which has broken a million in sales with Civ III is probably one of those developers directly affected. Does this have an impact on future games? Does this change anything?

[MarkG]

well firaxis is also doing games with EA(last on simgolf) so they will have much less problems if something goes wrong with infogrames

[tniem]

Originally posted by MarkG
well firaxis is also doing games with EA(last on simgolf) so they will have much less problems if something goes wrong with infogrames

I understand that Mark for future games, but I would assume that Firaxis gets some sort of royalties for Civ III and will for PtW when that is released as well. If Infogrames is holding back funds then that is money that is not going to Firaxis that produced these games. I understand that funding for new games could easily come from their work with EA, but it has to hurt Firaxis not to be getting the profits they make off of Civ III.

[Locutus]

Hmm, it would be an interesting development if Activision bought Infogrames

[Panag]

Originally posted by Locutus
Hmm, it would be an interesting development if Activision bought Infogrames

hi ,

, they need to trown a lot of people out then , ...

and one thing they have to do is stay with there feet on the ground , ....

and not use the different prices like they do now , on volume yes , that is logical , but not a different price for two people , in the same street and same volume of software and buying history , ....

have a nice day

[Immortal Wombat]

Originally posted by Locutus
Hmm, it would be an interesting development if Activision bought Infogrames

The latest publisher of Civ being bought out by a company that has given up on CivGaming?

[Sirotnikov]

Maybe we could see Call To Play The World

[- Groucho -]

In software-speak "milestones" doesn't usually refer to royalty payments. It usually refers to the periodic payments developers receive from the publisher as they hit various milestones in the development cycle (eg. alpha code, beta code, gold code). Payments post-gold are usually in the form of bonuses. Royalties are only payable if the developer retained the copyright in the software. Which isn't that common.

If the rumour is true, Infogrames is essentially holding back on paying its suppliers till the next quarter. That doesn't necessarily mean anything funny is going on. Usually there is a grace period on paying your accounts payable. Many very succesful companies don't pay any bills till the last minute. Wal-mart is a great example. I've been told that they force their suppliers into accepting 90-120 day payment terms, essentially causing the suppliers to finance Wal-mart's inventory. Good trick if you have the power to pull it off.

[Alexander's Horse]

Civ III was such a crock - I hope they go down.

[Locutus]

Originally posted by Immortal Wombat

The latest publisher of Civ being bought out by a company hat has given up on CivGaming?

I said it would be an interesting development, I didn't say it would be a good one But still, it's not like Infogrames has been all that great for the genre (sueing fans, rip-off LE edition, etc)...

[Ari Rahikkala]

But which misspelling is more disturbing, "fatbabes" or "infrogames"?

[zulu9812]

what is it with the spelling of Infogrames? Does 'grames' even mean anything? Or was it supposed to be 'Infogames' and they couldn't be bothered changing it?

[Panag]

Originally posted by Alexander's Horse
Civ III was such a crock - I hope they go down.

hi ,

you cant blame Firaxis for that , blame infogrames , ....
and yes , they should act , it seems that when it was put out that they where rushing the game , and then the patches , the stock took a plunge , ....

maybe they learned there lesson now , ...

we can always hope , ...

and lets hope that when it comes to PTW , Firaxis uses someone else , ....

have a nice day

[Locutus]

Originally posted by zulu9812
what is it with the spelling of Infogrames? Does 'grames' even mean anything? Or was it supposed to be 'Infogames' and they couldn't be bothered changing it?

I think it's suppose to be some sort of joke...

[zulu9812]

i figured that - quirky humour...