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Palladium Books Going Out of Business
kainewynd2 writes to mention a public plea put out in the Palladium books forums by the company owner Kevin Siembada. He bemoans the Rifts publisher's poor financial outlook, and asks people to buy a $50 print to save the company. From the post: "The truly wonderful Rifts® videogame - Rifts® Promise of Power - was stillborn. The N-Gage platform never took off in North America. That meant the N-Gage and Rifts® Promise of Power would NOT be available on the mass market in the USA and Canada. Finding it anywhere in North America required an act of God. There would be no Nokia royalty-based revenue stream. Nor would there be a Nokia videogame sequel and the money that might come from it. Nokia treated me nothing short of GREAT. They lost truckloads of money on this venture. We're both the victims of marketing fallout. Please don't blame these wonderful people for Palladium's woes - circumstance just didn't make them part of our solution." Wow, they made a game for the N-Gage and then lost a bunch of money. Who ever could have forseen that?
They are NOT going out of business. RTFA, submitter! (You too, Zonk!)
Yet. Kevin is asking for help to keep them afloat. Signed & numbered prints. Your name in a book.
Read the article.
My stupid web site
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palladium_Books
Honestly, I thought myself an avid RPer, being a fan of cyberpunk and D&D for the past few years. I've been to many a game store, but somehow never noticed *any* of their books:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palladium_Books
^Information on who they are, and what they sell^
Two things we needed to see in the post that make this Slashdot post misleading, all important items in the full article, are that:
1.) Palladium is close to going out of business, but not out just yet.
2.) Their primary reason for being on the brink appears to be embezzlement, or some related crime. Their real business isn't enough to overcome the loss incurred due to that legal trouble.
I'm not a big RIFTS fan, but I'm all for responsible reporting.
I never cared for Rifts, but I enjoyed the Robotech setting. I agree about their game rules. They're just awful, awful crap. It should not take more than 15 minutes to make an awesome character, but with the wierd class system, the poor options for skills, and their combat mechanics, this is impossible in Palladium.
In any event, the pen and paper RPG companies have been declining for years. There's a small number of gamers who are big fans, but there's not a lot of them. And the books seem to cost a fortune, which is odd for how little you really get. Plus, the rule books are reference materials which are handier to have on the computer. When even actual customers often prefer to get pirated scans of the books, it doesn't take much for them to start wondering why they were buying the books at all.
-- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
It appears that they were just the victim of theft of some inventory and a lot of collectables, like someone robbed a warehouse or their offices. Insurance? I guess not.