The following was just posted to CGL's website, and I was asked to disseminate it far and wide:

>>>>>
Catalyst Game Labs recently completed a detailed financial review of the company. We learned that over the past several years the company has achieved dramatic growth in terms of demand, increased total revenues and strong sales with an increasing market share in the gaming industry, despite a lackluster economy. We are thrilled by that news and are eager to move forward with our upcoming original game Leviathans, along with our other new casual games. We also remain committed to plans for our beloved licensed games: Shadowrun, BattleTech, Eclipse Phase, and CthuluTech.

While we wish the review had only uncovered positive news, we also discovered our accounting procedures had not been updated as the company continued to grow. The result was that business funds had been co-mingled with the personal funds of one of the owners. We believe the missing funds were the result of bad habits that began alongside the creation of the company, which was initially a small hobby group. Upon further investigation, in which the owner has willingly participated, the owner in question now owes the company a significant balance and is working to help rectify the situation.

The current group of owners was presented with this information on Monday. Administrative organization for the company is under review, and accounting procedures have been restructured, to correct the situation and provide more stringent oversight. We feel the management team at Catalyst did the responsible thing by seeking this financial review and we will continue to restructure as needed. We are in discussions with our partners and freelancers to remedy any back payments that may also be due as a result of this review.

We are embarrassed that this situation did occur but we hope our eagerness to make these changes, along with our reputation for making great games, will encourage you to stand by us. We understand that for a few employees the news was too stressful and we wish them all the best in their new endeavors. However, the majority of the team remains and will continue to bring great entertainment to you all. We appreciate the support our friends, freelancers, and fans have provided us in the past and look forward to a successful future.
>>>>>>

While I don't imagine this answers all questions people may have, I hope this sheds some light on the situation, particularly Catalyst's determination to continue producing products and to remedy back payments to freelancers. I remain open to questions people may have.

Jason H.

Unless the "owner" in question is very wealthy, you'd think they'd notice hundreds of thousands of dollars in extra "co-mingled" income. That or fire your accountant stat.

This is when you bring in the lawyers and lose a lot of money in attorney fees.

Thanks for the update Jason. I for one have been very happy with CGL and wish them best of luck, as long as you guys put out good products i'll keep buying.

Wow computer died and been out touch mostly for few weeks. Finally back online and log in to spot whats up with Catalyst. Sad to see so many good people leaving but I hope things can work out for the sake of our game.

So when will the free lancers that are owed money get paid? (Stupid question, but figured I'd ask anyway)

Freelancers are supposed to be getting statements shortly that would set out what they are owed and, from what I have heard, establish a payment schedule.

Jason H.

I sure hope you will make it thru this mess and continue the way you did before (and the Freelancers will get paid for their hard work, too).

You did a really great job with the game lines.

Bye
Thanee

I don't understand. The company is voluntarily disclosing this information? As in, without prompting, admitting fault and accepting responsibility?

They must be hiding something...

That owner should sell stuff he owns to give back to his company. Or hypotheque his life for the company ... Anyone up for the run (Kidding)

If, by "voluntarily" and "without prompting" you mean "trying to put a positive spin on a potentially disastrous leak fueling the rumor-mill", then yes.

Does this mean I will be able to buy my hardcopy of Vice at my local game store? *sniff*

- J.

[Redacted]

I have a copy of Vice. rather nice it is yes

Funny how Vice pops up in thread that deals with CGL's financial situation.

Sounds like some people got screwed over. Who'd we loose?

Lots of small business owners use personal accounts (which is dumb) to conduct business out of. It's only a problem when you cannot cough up the money - then you are stuffed.

http://adamjury.com/2010/no-longer-with-catalyst/

Bye
Thanee

That BLOWS. It's hard to imagine a current SR book that doesn't have his name in the credits.

The Kat takes an extended vacation from the Shadows and I come back to a whole heap of money sling'n, or lack there of, going on in the corporate belly of the beast. I hope they can repair the damage done and keep my Shadowrunners in business for years to come.

Hmmm I would suggest hiring a group of shadowrunners to take his thieving ass out, but sadly we can't do that yet.

edit: link to where i got this information.

tiger eyes (Jennifer Harding, was financial person... unsure of exact title), Adam Jury (layout guy, probably did half or more of everything else too), and an unnamed operations manager.

The list of staff members who have resigned is:
Jennifer Harding, Bookkeeper and Office manager
Adam Jury, Lead Layout
David Stansel-Garner, Operations Director

Please forgive my previous error, I have redacted my comment.

And do we have a running total of which freelancers have given serious consideration to never working with CGL again? Seems to be a few of them and other than Adam's ever-stirling work, most the Shadowrun material has come from freelancers, has it not?

K.

I do not have that information, and believe that it is a very subjective discussion for each individual.

All writing for Shadowrun is done on a freelance basis. Jennifer Harding, for example, was also a freelancer on current and forthcoming books like Vice, Corp Guide and The Sixth World Almanac. Several freelancers of long-standing have expressed their displeasure at the news of CGL's financial mismanagement, particularly in regards to its direct impact on them (i.e. the chronic delays in payment) and CGL's ability to maintain the line in the future. I can't speak for any of them as regards to whether they will ever work for CGL ever again, but right now lots of people are holding out just to see CGL hold up their end of the contracts.

What about you AH?
Where do you stand in all of this?

Unhappy. I don't care for this situation or CGL's handling of it, and some of the most vocal freelancers who have left or stated their intentions to withdraw from their contracts are my friends. There are a couple details of my own situation which make it harder for me to just pack up and leave; right now I'm continuing with my current contracts while waiting for CGL to either resolve the situation (by holding up its end of the freelancer contracts) or implode (when/if they lose the license).

Well, good luck to you too then.
I hope this plays out OK for all of you.

Professionals don't kiss and tell. Unless we get burned.

Take a look into the other thread Khadim.
All who have rank and name and have quit are in there i think.

Okay, management has issued another statement to address some books being pulled (which was originally reported by ICV2.com, which explains the header of the statement. The statement in its entirety follows.

>>>
In Response To ICV2.com’s News Item, 03/19/2010 09:34pm

ICV2 is a great website that rapidly compiles information across the width and breadth of the gaming industry, as it occurs, and tries to provide a single source for all such news. However, there recent report contained some factual inaccuracies.

First, there has been no halt to sales of any CthulhuTech products. We’re are in negotiations with our friends at WildFire for how best to move forward, ensuring this great book line continues to grow. As such, neither Catalyst Game Labs, nor WildFire, have put a stop to any books from being sold.

Second, the stoppage of a small, select list of Shadowrun books has nothing to do with the license for Shadowrun, which Catalyst still holds. Instead, the halt to sales is due to on going negotiations between Catalyst and its freelancers. We’re moving quickly and thoroughly to resolve this situation to mutual satisfaction, so the community can have access to these great Shadowrun books in short order once more.
>>>

As has been my wont, I'll continue hanging around to answer what questions I can.

Jason H.

Good to know. I posted this in the other thread too.

Thanks for that!

It's quite reassuring to see that you are confident in moving forward and getting things to run stable again.

Bye
Thanee

Wow, this sucks. When I heard the news I said to myself "If Adam and Jen are gone then CGL & Shadowrun can kiss my ass." And here we are.

I've said this to a couple fans privately -- the last week has been a nice one for fan mail -- but for the love of, well, Shadowrun: don't stop loving the damned game/universe on account of me no longer working on it!

I still love it, after all.

You know...Shadowrun has been around since before Adam did layout on it. Since Jennifer Harding was a writer, and
since before the current crop of freelancers and artists. Really, what is the big deal? People quit for various reasons all the time, and it does not really change the game(much).

Yeah, this... as long as I have players who are willing to pretend to be an elf who shoots people in the face for money I'll keep playing Shadowrun. As long as someone continues to publish books that I find useful in said endeavor then I'll be happy.

I likely should have stepped in earlier, but...

Hey guys. Can we keep this thread clear for announcements and the like. General discussion is down a few threads, in the "CGL Discussion Thread, Part 2".

Thanks.

Bull

Er thats up to Part3 now Bull.

From CthulhuTech's official press release, which had been printing with Catalyst:

1) WildFire holds the rights to CthulhuTech like Wizkids holds the rights to Shadowrun? i.e. - charge for the license, but don't produce anything of their own?

2) Why was Catalyst trying to sell poo? That sounds unsanitary. (And why does WildFire want it back?)

That doesn't sound good for CGL.

Yes, CT and Poo were produced under license from WildFire, just like Eclipse Phase was produced under license from Posthuman Studios.

Do we have any imformation on if Posthuman have been paid?

Does not look like it.
Posthuman has quit business relations with IMR because of payment issues.

I really don't know what poo is. (Well, I do, but I don't think we're talking about the same thing here.)

Do we know how much the cost of the Cthulhutech/poo license was compared to the Shadowrun/Battletech license? Does the loss of one portend the loss of the other?

Stahlseele, please don't speak for Posthuman Studios. Posthuman is in the process of severing their arrangement with Catalyst.

It's a card game by WildFire, about monkeys flinging Poo at each other. Last monkey that isn't covered wins!

These are different issues. CthlhuTech is the intellectual property of WildFire; Catalyst acted as publisher to them. It is not a licensing agreement in the same way that SR and BT are licensed from Topps.

Jason H.