Living Room Games

The_Emperor · Posted: Wed Mar 01, 2006 10:27 am Post subject: The Inevitable Conclusion

Hi folks. I know it's been a while since I updated, and for that, I apologize. I bring bad news for our fans, though I suspect that many of you had anticipated this announcement for a while now. Regrettably, we have had to put Capcom World Tournament on indefinite hold. I am letting our forum readers know about this first, before making an official, public statement on our website.

There are many reasons for this decision, but the most outstanding one is due to the current state of the industry. I believe that in one of my last posts before my hiatus, I had mentioned a severe decline in industry performance. Though this would normally be priviledged information, I feel that it is important for our fans to understand what this really means as it will ultimately affect you as the end consumer. In speaking with the director at a major industry marketing firm, I learned that over 1100 brick and mortar retail stores selling games have closed down in the past year; less than 200 new stores have opened in that same time period. That's about 25% of the industry's distribution network. Also, overall industry sales figures are down somewhere in the order of 30% (I forget the exact number, but it's around there). We are no exception to this trend.

The production costs to complete Capcom World Tournament were just much too high for us to continue, given our financial performance from the 2005 fiscal year. Even if we took the possibility of pre-orders into account, we would only get about 40% of our needed capital to continue.

While we regret having to make this decision, we feel that it is a necessary step in order to ensure the continuation of LRG as a company. Our currently available products are not affected by this decision, though future production will be slowed down to help us stabilize.

I am trying to put together a little something for our fans who have been patiently waiting for the product. I do not plan on making this a public offering, so no mention will be made outside our forums. Once it is ready, I'll make another short announcement about it.

Our grace period with Capcom will end on March 31. At that time, we will be removing all association with Capcom and Capcom World Tournament from our website. I will allow this forum to continue after that, but under a different name so that those of you who still want to talk about what could have been are welcome to stick around.

Again, my apologies to our fans. This hasn't been easy for me (heck, it took me 2 days just to write this post!). I can only hope that things will improve enough in the future to let us try again. Thanks for everyone's patience and support over the last couple of years.
_________________
Joe Chan
Living Room Games, Inc.
pr@lrgames.com

Dash Taisen no Chris · Posted: Wed Mar 01, 2006 11:27 am Post subject: Re: The Inevitable Conclusion

Mr. Chan:

Thank you for being, as always, honest with the customers who have patiently awaited the release of the CWT product line. While it is unfortunate that the line must be placed on indefinite hold, I understand that this choice was made in the best interests of LRG as a whole. The best of luck to you and the LRG staff in your future endeavors, and I will continue to hope that future conditions might favor the eventual release of the CWT product line. Thank you very much for all your hard work and correspondence thus far, and I look forward to the above-mentioned "little something for [the] fans."

--Chris

mrwonx · Intermediate Joined: 08 Mar 2005 Posts: 118

Matt · Posted: Wed Mar 01, 2006 11:58 am Post subject:

Sad news indeed, however "indefinate hold" at least leaves a glimmer of hope.

With many videogamers turning to 3d and many rpgers turning to mmorpgs, both street fighter and pen/paper rpgs have both seen better days.

So it was a heroic to even attempt. Thanks for trying.
_________________
http://www.sfrpg.com
"From strength learn gentleness, through gentleness strength will prevail." - Gouken

Rubio · Novice Joined: 08 Sep 2004 Posts: 55

*sobs*

Well, it was fun to dream.

Thanks for sticking with this for so long and giving it your all and more for no more reward than the pestering of your insistent fans. You truly are a World Warrior.

Keep the faith, Emperor.
_________________
"Fungah! Foiled again."
-Bowser

Lynx Winters · Intermediate Joined: 16 Apr 2004 Posts: 127

Damn. Well, I guess that answers my question of "where will this be when I get out of basic."

You did your best, man. I know I always come off as the cynic of the group, the naysayer, the pessimist, the general ass, but I really did want this to be as good as it could be. From everything I saw in the two demo packs and what you guys gave to us loyal fans, you were doing a lot to make the best product you could, and I applaud you for that. Hell, most of my pessimism over the project was towards Capcom anyway.

I am interested in what you plan on offering here, though. Personally, I'm hoping for a release of open content, with all trademarked content removed. You guys wrote a bang-up system from what we've seen, and it'd be a shame to let that go to waste.

Kyoudan · Novice Joined: 27 Dec 2005 Posts: 14 Location: Kailua, HI

As everyone said before me, thanks for the effort dude. I know we can be a royal pain, but we was just trying to facilitate the effort. (yeah, right!) Sorry that you guys couldn't do it, maybe some time in the future, it may be more feasible, eh?

Mahalo (Thanks)

-Kyoudan

Jonathan · Posted: Wed Mar 01, 2006 2:49 pm Post subject:

Awwww...

As hard as it is to read, I understand the reasons behind the decision. Good luck with your continued endeavors!
_________________
"Heroism feels and never reasons and is therefore always right." -Emerson

CountZero · Novice Joined: 02 May 2004 Posts: 10

A slight question, if I may. About the winners of that competiton a while back, the one where the prize was each winner getting a PDF of a chapter of CWT, I presume that the NDA still applies (either that or you'd rather we just delete the files)?

Tenzhi · Novice Joined: 24 Aug 2005 Posts: 30

CountZero · Novice Joined: 02 May 2004 Posts: 10

Firefly · Neophyte Joined: 18 Jan 2006 Posts: 6

I agree with that. While I'm still curious about how they "streamlined" the setting, I've already my own ideas about the way the setting & characters should run (and i would have had work to do as i want to include KOF characters too). However the game mechanics seemed promising & i'd clearly like to see them released in a way or another (i'd like a free e-book but i'd be ready to give some cash if it wasn't free).

mrwonx · Intermediate Joined: 08 Mar 2005 Posts: 118

I'm going to wait and see what the forum only thing is before deciding what to do. Odds are I'll make some house rules for D20 Modern. Not nearly as good, but it can be done.
_________________
The one and only true Mr. Wonx
All others are spawned by over imaginations and Grape Kool-Aid
Accept only the original.

The_Emperor · Posted: Fri Mar 03, 2006 10:33 am Post subject:

Kyoudan · Novice Joined: 27 Dec 2005 Posts: 14 Location: Kailua, HI

That's cool. So you think we might be able to get a look at the system, minus Capcom stuff? I really was impressed with the angle you guys took with d20.

"I wish you good luck!" *garbled SF1 voice*

-Kyou