It is finally official. Interzone Games / Interzone Futebol is
(almost) dead. After having heard the various horror stories for years, it is finally all out in the open. (Sumea also re-covered the story)
And with Staring Man/Spinfast loosing their lead programmer things don't look too great for the Interzone legacy right now. Still the ex-Interzoners are hardly alone, computer games have had it tough in Australia recently, Melbourne-based Transmission Games fired most of their employees, and closed its doors, Krome and Fuzzyeyes also had bad times. Seems reminiscent of the Ratbag games fiasco.
It is a shame it had to be such a public end. I still think it has helped nurture a WA-based games industry and given a lot of people some valuable experience. (Although actually RELEASING the game would have been a much more rewarding experience).
Hopefully it won't hurt future attempts - it seems WA independent game developers are doing well with a few good recent releases such as square-off, surf prodigy, and former-interzoners releasing Space Crash, pools of blood, etc..
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4 comments:
The drama that is unfolding at IZ is a lot more serious than any of those other cases you've mentioned.
It is alleged that the company has been operating illegally, with no regard for Australian corporate or tax laws for quite some time...
http://news.deviantart.com/article/108901/?offset=25#comments
Well, I have no idea if whether the other companies owed taxes or not when they folded. It is very common for a company in trouble to stop paying taxes. The other allegations are a bit more interesting.
I'm certainly not saying its a good situation, but its not unheard of. And the company had signs of trouble for a very very long time now. In fact, according to a recent Tsumea article the exact same thing happened to the China studio last year.
Some more links;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IsIKDmGWjk
http://www.wabusinessnews.com.au/en-story/1/78513/Interzone-folds-owing-1-5m-wages-taxes
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/business/a/-/business/6794108/fair-work-tax-office-pursue-wa-games-group/
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/27229/Reports_Reveal_Big_Trouble_For_Australias_Interzone.php
http://www.tsumea.com/australasia/australia/news/120210/interzone-games-perth-closes-staff-locked-out
Sorry, I meant '08 not '09 as 'last year'.
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