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Loki Speaks up on Chapter 11

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the words-of-hope dept.

Traivor writes "Loki sent an email to all its customers about the chapter 11 filing. The most interesting bit is they claim to be making money." I've been rooting for Loki forever (and I've taken to buying all their releases even tho I don't have time to play them lately ;) Anyway, I've atached the email to this story so you can read it if you're curious.

The following is an email sent by Scott Draeker of Loki

Dear Friend of Loki:

As you may know, on August 3, 2001, Loki filed a Chapter 11 reorganization. As our valued customer, we wanted to let you know why we have elected to reorganize and how, if at all, it will impact our ongoing business.

Under US law there are two kinds of bankruptcy:

  1. Chapter 7 is a liquidation. We have not filed a Chapter 7 and have no intention of doing so.
  2. Chapter 11 is a reorganization. This will allow us to deal with our creditors fairly and equitably and at the same time continue to operate the company. We are still shipping products and porting new games and expect to be doing so for a long, long time.

Most of the debts we are restructuring through the Chapter 11 are well over a year old. They represent mistakes made by a young company. We've learned from our mistakes and become cash positive. Going forward we have every confidence that Loki will continue to be successful and grow.

We cannot say for certain how long Loki will remain in Chapter 11. It depends on many factors. However we do intend to bring the process to a conclusion as quickly as possible. Once our plan of reorganization is accepted by the court, our creditors will receive an agreed upon settlement and all other prepetition obligations will be fully and finally discharged.

During and after the reorganization your orders will continue to be honored. We will continue to provide end user support, bug fixes and new products. Negotiations are in progress to guarantee Loki a steady stream of additional AAA games to bring to Linux.

Most importantly, we'd like to thank each of you for your support over the years. Without our customers, we are nothing. The outpouring of support we have received in the last few days has been overwhelming, and we will continue to do everything we can to merit that support.

Kind regards,

Scott Draeker
President, Loki Software

4 of 216 comments (clear)

  1. Re:I've changed my mind... by Jace+of+Fuse! · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Given what I know now, I'd say wait to buy Loki products until someone other than Scott Draeker is in charge there.

    Why? Does it matter if they are still funcitoning or doing well for their product to be useful to someone?

    If they have developed a game you want to play, there's no reason not to buy it dispite the condition they happen to be in. At best, in the long run it won't matter, at worse, there won't be any more patches for your software. You'll still have the game you purchased.

    --

    "Everything you know is wrong. (And stupid.)"

    Moderation Totals: Wrong=2, Stupid=3, Total=5.
  2. What Scott Draeker is really up to... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If you really want to know what happened, check out this Linux Today Story.

    Basically, Scott has been screwing his employees over for the last 18 months, and when he was told to pay up, cowardly claimed chapter 11 so that he could continue paying himself, and no-one else.

    I think all of this sympathy is misplaced.

  3. sigh by Gruneun · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Most of the debts we are restructuring through the Chapter 11 are well over a year old.

    We've... become cash positive.

    It doesn't work that way. You may have income, but you're not positive if you can't pay your debts. Part of a successful reorganization is recognizing the situation you're in so you can fix it.

    I wish them the best of luck, but they have some more thinking to do.

  4. Support Loki, buy a game! by RNG · · Score: 5, Insightful
    While I'm usually not much of a gamer, I have purchased a few (3 to be exact) of Loki's games, for the following reasons:

    1) While I'm not a hardcore gamer, I enjoy playing a game from time to time
    2) It makes sense to support a company who makes cool stuff for your platform of choice (similarly, I donated to Mandrake after downloading their latest release). I have a decent job and can afford to miss some cash in exchange for a quality product.
    3) Not everything should/can be free. If you want Linux ports of closed source (ie: professional) games, someone will have to pay for them. Otherwise resign yourself to the fact that you'll have to resort to the likes of Tuxracer and Freeciv in terms of games (and I'm not dissing these games, they're written by hobbyists and simply don't compete in the professional game market).

    So to sum it up, if you want Loki to be around a year from now, fork over some $ for a game. If you think the price is too steep, team up with your fellow Linux diehards and purchase a game for a few of you. While not exactly right/legal, it's still better if 3 people buy 1 game to share than nobody buying the game at all. Loki makes quality products for our favorite OS; I hope that they'll still be around a few years from now ...