More Urgent Questions For Mongoose.

[JayRaider]

Forgive me if these questions are inappropriate but with all thats happening the answers will help keep a lid on some of the rumors.

1) Have Mongoose been contacted with a merger or takeover bid or planning negotiating such an outcome?
2) Will Mongoose as a company be going bankrupt soon?

[MongooseMatt]

Forgive me if these questions are inappropriate but with all thats happening the answers will help keep a lid on some of the rumors.

1) Have Mongoose been contacted with a merger or takeover bid or planning negotiating such an outcome?
2) Will Mongoose as a company be going bankrupt soon?

1. No. Mongoose has one shareholder, that is me, and I ain't sellin'

2. Not on your life!

[JayRaider]

Forgive me if these questions are inappropriate but with all thats happening the answers will help keep a lid on some of the rumors.

1) Have Mongoose been contacted with a merger or takeover bid or planning negotiating such an outcome?
2) Will Mongoose as a company be going bankrupt soon?

1. No. Mongoose has one shareholder, that is me, and I ain't sellin'

2. Not on your life!

[Neo]

1. No. Mongoose has one shareholder, that is me, and I ain't sellin'

you never know Matt, you might make yourself a good offer, im sure you can convince yourself lol

[Mage]

Never bargain with yourself, you always lose.

[Paladin]

Then why stir the panic and hysteria with a random announcement and layoffs

[MongooseMatt]

Then why stir the panic and hysteria with a random announcement and layoffs

Well, the announcement was anything but random (seriously, you can't imagine we just woke up one morning and decided what to do).

And unfortunately, redundancies are a reality of business in the modern world.

I'll put it another way. How many times have you heard about redundancies about companies on the news, only to find the company is still alive and well years after?

Those companies are still about _because_ of the actions they have taken, however odd they seemed at the time (see the recent Planet Mongoose post for more on this).

[Paladin]

Then why stir the panic and hysteria with a random announcement and layoffs

Well, the announcement was anything but random (seriously, you can't imagine we just woke up one morning and decided what to do).

Essentially guttng an entire game and doing a complete 180 on announcements and plans touted 4-6 weeks earlier about new products coming (e.g. the new Brain Bug and Skyhook) is a wee bit over a slow thought out decision. Simultaneously liquidating all masters and prototypes etc for a game that is allegedly coming back in a year doesn't make a lick of sense and clearly sends the exact opposite message of any true intentions of bringing the game back. If it's dead, great. Tell us the truth. If it's not being "cut off", then please explain how you expect it to survive with a free rules system alone. I'm willing to suck it up and wait till 2009, but only if there truly, truly, truly are hopes of the game returning. If it's not, I'd just as soon cut my loses.

Forgive me, but I feel completely betrayed by this whole process and cannot understand it all. I've done my best to be a cheerleader for Mongoose and no I feel as if I have been lied too with regard to SST and am having difficulty knowing what statements regarding the future of the company are truth.

Respectfully,

Jason "Paladin" Klotz

[Prophet]

It is getting continually harder to keep putting the good face forward when we the MI are getting asked questions we dont have answers to and didnt even know the topics had happened, ie being the last to know.

[MongooseMatt]

It is getting continually harder to keep putting the good face forward when we the MI are getting asked questions we dont have answers to and didnt even know the topics had happened, ie being the last to know.

There is a large post waiting for you in the MI forums which will fill in all the blanks.

[MongooseMatt]

Essentially guttng an entire game and doing a complete 180 on announcements and plans touted 4-6 weeks earlier about new products coming (e.g. the new Brain Bug and Skyhook) is a wee bit over a slow thought out decision. Simultaneously liquidating all masters and prototypes etc for a game that is allegedly coming back in a year doesn't make a lick of sense and clearly sends the exact opposite message of any true intentions of bringing the game back. If it's dead, great. Tell us the truth. If it's not being "cut off", then please explain how you expect it to survive with a free rules system alone. I'm willing to suck it up and wait till 2009, but only if there truly, truly, truly are hopes of the game returning. If it's not, I'd just as soon cut my loses.

We have already said that SST miniatures are highly unlikely to return. The free army lists we have talked about are a gesture to the fans of the game, and will be a suitable 'mod' for the other BF Evo games coming this year (starting with World at War).

[brook]

"Redundancies" ... something is redundant when there are two or more of them doing the same job. I may be wrong, but you only had one minature production facility and one print shop. Now you have none. I understand that it may not be feasible to keep them open, but what your doing is not reducing redundancies. It appears that you are executing a wholesale reorganization of not only your business model but your organization.

I wish you the best, and I hope that movies SST 3, Connan, and Judge Dredd are produced very soon.

[MongooseMatt]

"Redundancies" ... something is redundant when there are two or more of them doing the same job.

Not entirely. It is also redundant when the position no longer exists.

[brook]

If you mean your former employees are your redundancies and, I stand corrected.

[Paladin]

Essentially guttng an entire game and doing a complete 180 on announcements and plans touted 4-6 weeks earlier about new products coming (e.g. the new Brain Bug and Skyhook) is a wee bit over a slow thought out decision. Simultaneously liquidating all masters and prototypes etc for a game that is allegedly coming back in a year doesn't make a lick of sense and clearly sends the exact opposite message of any true intentions of bringing the game back. If it's dead, great. Tell us the truth. If it's not being "cut off", then please explain how you expect it to survive with a free rules system alone. I'm willing to suck it up and wait till 2009, but only if there truly, truly, truly are hopes of the game returning. If it's not, I'd just as soon cut my loses.

We have already said that SST miniatures are highly unlikely to return. The free army lists we have talked about are a gesture to the fans of the game, and will be a suitable 'mod' for the other BF Evo games coming this year (starting with World at War).

For this year, miniatures production is being mothballed (though we still plan to bring things back on line in 2009), and we will be focussing almost purely on publishing books - this is certainly where our strength lies.

Forgive me but that sounds a lot more like hope for the minis coming back than not "highly unlikely to return."


Would Mongoose consider relinquishing their rights to the license with Sony so that another company could buy it out and continue producing the game? Does the current contract have an expiration date that will not be renewed?

[MongooseMatt]

Forgive me but that sounds a lot more like hope for the minis coming back than not "highly unlikely to return."

My apologies, I was thinking of miniatures in general with that post. Whether SST is a part of that will come down in a large degree to Sony, but I have a suspicion it may not be completely in their hands.

Would Mongoose consider relinquishing their rights to the license with Sony so that another company could buy it out and continue producing the game?

We'll consider anything, within reason. There would be some legal wrangling, but anything is possible.

[weasel_fierce]

Will this also mean no more mini's rules, or just no mini's ?

[AKAramis]

Here's an idea:

Take painted minis, get two good side views, and release cardboard standups... as a PDF.

or 5 views and release "box-minis" as a pdf. (see the old Renegade Legion game series...)

[kodiak155]

Okey-dokey.....it's beena while since I checked the forums. What's up with the BFE: World at War? And did I read this correctly, but Mongoose is releasing NEW rules for BFE? AND finally.........was there some new info about mini's for BFE? Is Mongoose strictly publishing rules ONLY and no mini's? This is important because I'M STILL WAITING FOR MY SUPER COBRA!!!!

[Poi]

Mongoose are pulling out of the miniatures business, so you'll have to get your Super Cobra somewhere else.