TopWare insolvent?

[Morrandir]

User drakevinge posted a link to a newsbit on a website of a German law office[www.advoinfo.de] which says that TopWare has filed for insolvency in September. There even is a file number given, however I couldn't find anything for this file number on the official German website[www.insolvenzbekanntmachungen.de] where information about insolvency proceedings is normally published.

So while it's not verified that TopWare is insolvent, it might be a valid explanation for the lack of PR and news.

Edit: Well... ehm... it seems like I have should have checked the sources better. There are 2 companies: TopWare Interactive AG and TopWare Entertainement GmbH. The insolvence proceeding is for the latter. I don't know how these companies are related, so I'll stop speculating until we hear some official words...

[naomha]

Companies don't have to publish Insolvency claims or court rulings, etc. They will, however, have to post if they don't make it out of insolvency and go straight to bankruptcy proceedings. My guess is TopWare is going under and is taking Reality Pump with them. Seeing as Reality Pump is technically Topware owned and financed wholly.

Get your refund folks before it's too late!

[Morrandir]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย naomha:

Companies don't have to publish Insolvency claims or court rulings, etc.

I just asked a friend who knows about this kind of stuff: according to German law (which is relevant here as TopWare is a German company) an insolvency proceeding MUST be published on the official government website I linked above. The insolvency application (when the company files for insolvency) mustn't be published.

[TheShakiri]

GamersGate references www.topware.com as the website for TopWare Entertainment which is also the website for TopWare Interactive

[Morrandir]

Yeah, I think Entertainment is some kind of affiliated company. Whatever, TopWare seems to have financial problems.

[jaaay85]

Google translation of page

Abmahner Topware Entertainment has filed for bankruptcy!

The Topware Entertainment GmbH is known as a company that copyright infringement that are to be carried out in the area of ​​file sharing abmahnt, and also made claims through the courts.

In a supervised by our firm case we have today (22.09.2014) get the message by fax from the .rka-lawyers that your Contracting Authority is insolvent. The insolvency proceedings shall be conducted at the district court in Karlsruhe under number G1 IN 772/14. The temporary insolvency lawyer, Mr. Harald Kroth, railway 19-23, 77855 Achern ordered.

In the process we had speculated that the Topware Entertainment could be insolvent. This assumption has now been officially confirmed. On 19.9.2014 the represented Topware Eintertainment GmbH had tried to leave the hearing embarrassed on 09/23/2014. The real reason he had not communicated.

DECKER | ROMAN | Peckmann
Law Firm
Kassel

[jaaay85]

If true, the game will ship with NO development support, ie no patches. No Two Worlds III =(

[lonewolf2002]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย netnerd85:

If true, the game will ship with NO development support, ie no patches. No Two Worlds III =(

Thought Reality Pump were the devs with Topware publishing, so the devs can still patch etc.

[jaaay85]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย lonewolf2002:

Thought Reality Pump were the devs with Topware publishing, so the devs can still patch etc.

They are owned by Topware

UPDATE, a Q&A posted on Reality Pumps facebook 8 hours ago:

http://translate.google.com.au/translate?hl=en&sl=pl&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdaction.pl%2Fartykul-40278%2Ftydzien-z-ravens-cry-wywiad-z-tadeuszem-zuberem-zadaj-pytanie-reality-pump.html

[lonewolf2002]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย netnerd85:

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย lonewolf2002:

Thought Reality Pump were the devs with Topware publishing, so the devs can still patch etc.

They are owned by Topware

UPDATE, a Q&A posted on Reality Pumps facebook 8 hours ago:

http://translate.google.com.au/translate?hl=en&sl=pl&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdaction.pl%2Fartykul-40278%2Ftydzien-z-ravens-cry-wywiad-z-tadeuszem-zuberem-zadaj-pytanie-reality-pump.html

Not anymore:

"Originally founded an in-house developer for TopWare Interactive in Bielsko-Biała, Poland in 1995; their first successful title was Earth 2140.
In 2001 they formed a partnership with Zuxxez Entertainment AG and officially acquired the name Reality Pump - Game Development Studios.
As of February 2006 they announced the development of Two Worlds for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360."

[jaaay85]

On the right of their wikipedia page you will see: "Subsidiary of TopWare Interactive"

And if you read this Q&A here from April: http://translate.google.com.au/translate?hl=en&sl=pl&u=http://www.gry-online.pl/S018.asp%3FID%3D1021&prev=search
You will read they were clearly forced to make Raven's Cry by Topware (their owner), independent studios aren't forced to do anything.

[Captain Kacknoob]

I am german myself so I can read this stuff.
TopWare Interactive itself is not filing for bankrupcty, it is TopWare Entertainment.
TW Entertainment is responsible for finding out who pirated games published by TopWare and for sending these people fines to pay (very common in germany).
It is more like a law office and it is not very suprising that they went bankrupt.
I mean, there aren't any games people could pirate (their last game is from 2010)
and if there were any, no one would actually do it cause all their games ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ suck.

But nevertheless, I think the fact that a subsidiary of TopWare Interactive is filing for bankruptcy is enough reason to be very cautious with this game.
I personally think it was abandoned for the last 3 years and is now resurrected to grab some quick cash and pay off some debts.
I mean, just look at it in the gameplay trailers and compare it to Black Flag.
Poor animations, poor combat, poor voice over, poor everthing and bugs.
The only decent games from TopWare were Two Worlds 1 and 2.
It's a budget title with an AAA price tag not worth even 20$.

And remember, most german games, devs and publishers are ♥♥♥♥.
Except Crytek, Daedalic and Deep Silver.

[jaaay85]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย Yoda:

I personally think it was abandoned for the last 3 years and is now resurrected to grab some quick cash and pay off some debts.
I mean, just look at it in the gameplay trailers and compare it to Black Flag.
Poor animations, poor combat, poor voice over, poor everthing and bugs.

The game was in development with another studio. They couldn't complete the game so TopWare had Reality Pump take over and they basically started again. The time frame of development for them has been extremely rushed, not really their fault but TopWare's.

Reality Pump are a Polish game development company. Most polish game developers are top class IMO.

[Captain Kacknoob]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย netnerd85:

The game was in development with another studio. They couldn't complete the game so TopWare had Reality Pump take over and they basically started again. The time frame of development for them has been extremely rushed, not really their fault but TopWare's.

Reality Pump are a Polish game development company. Most polish game developers are top class IMO.

Your first statement does not change the fact that this game is an overpriced budet title.
The game is technically even worse than Two Worlds 2 and definitely worse than Black Flag which came out over a year ago and is now way cheaper than Raven's Cry.
To release that kind of game in 2015 for 45 € or $ is just straight out ridiculous.

Well, there are some polish studios that are good.
For example 11 bit studios with This War of Mine, Flying Wild Hogs with Shadow Warrior and Hard Reset and of course CD Projekt, but most of them aren't that good.
Reality Pump, as I mentioned, only did Knight Shift in 2003 and the Two Worlds games.
All three of them aren't really that good.
Just look at the steam reviews for both the Two Worlds games.
They have mixed reviews (60%-65%).

I can only recommend Black Flag, especially now since it only costs 14.99 € or $ during the steam deals.
I just recently bought this game cause Ubisoft games suck during their release so I waited for it to go gold.
It's the best pirate game out there.

[jaaay85]

Assassin's Creed Blackflag is a great game, I recommend buying it also, I have it on Uplay along with many, many Ubisoft games. That doesn't change the fact that Raven's Cry is a different game with a different style and take on the pirate theme. If you're the type of person that only cares about graphics then, well, not much to say there...

You can have both games and enjoy them.

Personally I think Two Worlds II is a great game and much better than Skyrim despite what ratings and random meta scores say, that's just me! You're allowed to think differently to other people you know ;)

[lonewolf2002]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย netnerd85:

On the right of their wikipedia page you will see: "Subsidiary of TopWare Interactive"

And if you read this Q&A here from April: http://translate.google.com.au/translate?hl=en&sl=pl&u=http://www.gry-online.pl/S018.asp%3FID%3D1021&prev=search
You will read they were clearly forced to make Raven's Cry by Topware (their owner), independent studios aren't forced to do anything.

Ah I must put my seeing glasses on before reading stuff, :D