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Xfire Purchased, Team Leaving

Posted by kdawson on from the chat-on dept.

phorce phed and several other readers sent news that a system notification was sent out this evening through the Xfire IM client, to wit: "Xfire was bought by new owners today. Most of the team that has built Xfire over the last six years is leaving. We enjoyed working for you for the last 127 releases and wish we could stay to create the next 127. Good bye, good luck, and game on. — The Xfire Team." According to Wikipedia, the new owner is 3D Realms.

39 of 161 comments (clear)

  1. Don't rely on wiki too much.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    From what I've heard it's been edited multiple times since the announcement and both times was a different name of the buyer. Just wait until something official turns up.

    1. Re:Don't rely on wiki too much.. by crossmr · · Score: 5, Funny

      You do realize who posted this story right? If you went by his house and scrawled "Aliens ate Sarah Palin using the new X75 fork from IBM" on his sidewalk in chalk it'd be here the next day as gospel.

  2. Please Gaming Gods, No! by cosm · · Score: 3, Funny

    3D Realms decided that in order to get DNF completed, they needed 100% X-Fire integration, otherwise DNF would remain DNF, Forever.

    --
    'We are trying to prove ourselves wrong as quickly as possible, because only in that way can we find progress.' RPF
  3. no buyout. by RyuuzakiTetsuya · · Score: 5, Funny

    At 127 releases; they were on the verge of an 8 bit signed integer overflow. I suspect one of the managers panicked and convinced the CEO to sell before they had a chance to launch another and have to start over from scratch anyway.

    --
    Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
    1. Re:no buyout. by ben_kelley · · Score: 5, Funny

      It sure sounds plausible, but do you want to know the real truth?? The 8 bit integer overflow is still years away. And technologies like Integer-NAT will push it out even further.

    2. Re:no buyout. by MBGMorden · · Score: 5, Funny

      Great subtle dry wit on IPv4/CIDR/NAT :)

      Yeah . . . I can just imagine you as a kid.

      "Hahaha. That joke's awesome! It's funny because the boy yelled 'Wolf!' but nobody believed him after lying about it so many times. Brilliant!" ;)

      --
      "People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
  4. 3D realms? Ummm... No. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Not according to Wikipedia -- according to some random edit made to wikipedia with no source and reverted minutes later. Given DNF jokes, I hardly think this bears mentioning.

  5. What a shitty summary by sopssa · · Score: 2, Informative

    3D Realms seems unlikely and the random edit was only in Wikipedia for a few minutes. And why does the summary link to the static "down" html page? The website is up and working. Nice twisting there.

    But really, the previous owner was Music Television. I always thought that was a little bit weird.

    1. Re:What a shitty summary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      From Kotaku

      Titan Gaming, a startup company, has purchased Xfire from MTV." ... "I'm just an (eX)fire Web Developer; the Marketing Department is gone too, so you'll have to wait for Titan to issue the press release, sorry."

    2. Re:What a shitty summary by Low+Ranked+Craig · · Score: 3, Informative
      Yep, and now it's on the xfire website:

      Titan Gaming acquires Xfire.

      August 2, 2010--Titan Gaming acquires Xfire.

      Titan will be taking on the Xfire name, with a focus towards ongoing innovation in the gaming space. The Xfire services will continue uninterrupted for its users. Xfire redefined how gamers communicate, Titan...

      --
      I still cannot find the droids I am looking for...
    3. Re:What a shitty summary by nacturation · · Score: 2, Insightful

      And naturally kdawson will be updating this story to correct the misinformation, right? Hello? Is this thing on? [crickets]

      --
      Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
  6. What is up with this site lately? by WankersRevenge · · Score: 5, Insightful

    As of late, Slashdot seems to be phoning it in at best. I've been following the site for years and I've never seen such an apathetic disregard to both the site and the community from the editors. Lately, stories have either been incredibly sensational or just downright retarded. Or hell, even troll'ish. I'm wondering if Taco and company should just hang it up and try something new. Give people with some fire in their belly a shot. I don't know ... when you're citing wikipedia as a breaking news source, you gotta be wondering if what you're scraping is the bottom of the barrel, or the pile of shit underneath it.

    And by the way ... it's all right to change the Microsoft icon. It was funny twelve years ago. It's kind of retarded now. Especially since the company now looks to be run by the three stooges after a weekend bender.

    1. Re:What is up with this site lately? by maccodemonkey · · Score: 3, Insightful

      "I can't imagine what you'd use for Microsoft though."

      I thought the three stooges sounded pretty good as an icon for Microsoft.

    2. Re:What is up with this site lately? by PinkyGigglebrain · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Agreement on the opinion of /., recently it seems to have lost it's Mojo.

      I like the MS icon. It recalls the days when MS really was something to worry about and is way better than one of Balmer photoshoped to look like Bozo the Clown, which would be my choice.

      To describe MS's current managment as "the three stooges after a weekend bender." is overrating MS's managment and insulting the three stooges. The Stoogies were way more innovative.

    3. Re:What is up with this site lately? by __aatgod8309 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The parent post has a good suggestion; the three stooges after a weekend bender.

    4. Re:What is up with this site lately? by wowbagger · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Considering that Slashdot didn't even bother to report on this New York Times story about Slashdot (even though it appeared in the Firehose twice (at least), but they DID report on The Science of Caddyshack (in Idle), are you surprised?

      (oh, BTW mods - I really don't give a shit about karma anymore - that's how big a "joke" Slashdot has become. Prove me right about this place swirling the drain....)

      --
      www.eFax.com are spammers
    5. Re:What is up with this site lately? by blahbooboo · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Where should we long time Slashdotters go then?

    6. Re:What is up with this site lately? by NeutronCowboy · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Some interesting excerpts from the article:
      "However this relatively narrow focus means that Slashdot has not grown to have broader appeal, like StumbleUpon and Digg. "
      "In addition, Slashdot has historically favored stories submitted from traditional media, over 'new media' such as blogs. Both of these things have made Slashdot seem behind the times and a bit too closed minded."
      "Likewise, library student @battmutler commented that Slashdot "seems to always be 12-36 hours behind the curve.""
      "However the impact that this community has on the social Web is minimal, according to Woopra's statistics. "

      Seriously? The issue is that Slashdot is 12 hours behind "the curve"? It's impact is minimal on the social web? It's not Digg? That's just fucking retarded.

      Let me summarize why I read Slashdot and not Digg or random blogs: I don't care if I'm behind 12 hours. I don't care about reading stories found at digg and StumbleUpon. I don't care to have an impact on the social web.

      I read Slashdot for two reasons: it gives me a broad overview of what's going in topics I find interesting, and the commentary is just about as good as ever - or as bad, depending on your take.

      --
      Those who can, do. Those who can't, sue.
    7. Re:What is up with this site lately? by tomhudson · · Score: 2, Insightful
      The nytimes story is beyond stupid. slashdot is not digg, and if it became like digg, And hackernews? Come off it.

      Why would anyone want slashdot to became like that piece of sh*t known as facebook (if there's one site that has a worse UI than slashdot it HAS to be facebook). Tis is a tech web site, not myspace.

    8. Re:What is up with this site lately? by raddan · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I think you bring up some an important point: /. is not about breaking news. It may have been back in the earlier days (when tech reporting was still largely on paper), but I don't think that ever was the focus. The thing that still draws me here, after ten years of reading, is the community.

      The NYT article contends that /. has lost traffic without providing a single shred of evidence to support this. Ten years ago, social media was largely unheard of, except for the few geeks who came from places like USENET or BBS scene. I think /.'s base is still largely those people. So the site doesn't draw the crowds. BFD. That's why I come here. I like that narrow focus. The instant ./ tries to follow in Digg's footsteps, I'm outta here. Anyway not growing and losing are two completely different things, NYT!

      We've probably lost a few great commentators over the years, but it's likely not because ./ isn't trendy enough for them. It's because the stories aren't nerdy enough anymore. Hey editors: we want more science stories. Challenge us. I'd personally like to see ./ pick up more cutting-edge research (like computer science and computer engineering journal articles), because that's when the broad base of knowledge in the readership really shows, and where ./'s value is head and shoulders above the other "social media" sites out there.

    9. Re:What is up with this site lately? by westlake · · Score: 2, Interesting

      it's all right to change the Microsoft icon. It was funny twelve years ago. It's kind of retarded now. Especially since the company now looks to be run by the three stooges after a weekend bender.

      The geek is easily distracted by glitz:

      In the most recent three months, Microsoft earned $4.52 billion in profits, versus Apple's $3.25 billion and Google's $1.8 billion. Lost from view is Microsoft's very best story -- its transformation into a powerhouse supplier of the specialized software that meets the complex needs of large corporations. Microsoft's enterprise software business alone is approaching the size of Oracle. Even With All Its Profits, Microsoft Has a Popularity Problem

    10. Re:What is up with this site lately? by PopeRatzo · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The issue is that Slashdot is 12 hours behind "the curve"?

      Can I let you all in on a little secret?

      "The Curve" does not exist. It's a concept created by press agents and PR flacks to try to force media outlets to jump on their bogus stories before taking the time to make sure they're not complete bullshit. It's a far sight more important to get it right than to get it fast, but our corporate media has gotten it backwards. The worst part is that they try to cover up their incompetence with assertions like "I had to go with it, it was breaking news" or "we didn't want to be scooped by our competitor".

      Have any of you not read a superior in-depth, accurate article on a topic because some tabloid had gotten to it first with a lot of crap? Do any of you read Slashdot because you expect to be among the first to read about a "breaking story"?

      Now there's even a further reason why people are pushing "breaking stories": because then they can get out in front and try to shape the way the story is told. They can get away with that because most people are pretty dumb. So if someone comes out with a breaking story, let's say that "So and so, who is black, admits to being a racist and is cheered by the audience, which was also black" it's not going to matter that the whole thing was completely fabricated, because it confirmed a bunch of stupid people's small-mindedness (and small-minded people just love to have their small-mindedness confirmed and affirmed). But if you're someone who maybe tries to be aware of what's going on in the world, and you see this story picked up by the number one cable news network (this is all purely hypothetical) and then repeated on the numbers two and three networks because they don't want to be scooped, and you buy into the story, you're going to look like a complete horse's ass when you find out that it was all bullshit to begin with. You're going to feel used, and sullied and well, kind of stupid for being in such a goddamn hurry that you'd pay any attention to the number one cable news network to begin with (hypothetically).

      So you know what? Fuck "the curve". You don't have to be ahead of it any more than you have to be "outside the box" or "in the know" or "in touch" because none of those things matter as long as you're capable of a little discernment.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    11. Re:What is up with this site lately? by EllF · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Where should we long time Slashdotters go then?

      Pay Rusty a visit at www.kuro5hin.org. Then you'll really pine for the old days.

      --
      We who were living are now dying
      With a little patience
    12. Re:What is up with this site lately? by snero3 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Considering that Slashdot didn't even bother to report on this New York Times story about Slashdot [nytimes.com] (even though it appeared in the Firehose [slashdot.org] twice [slashdot.org] (at least),

      I can see why they didn't bother to report that NT times story, it is utter sh!t. I am sorry but really there is nothing news worthy in the whole piece. Maybe their point has some weight to it but the way there reported it definitely didn't. They could have (and probably did) just of made it up.

      --
      It said "windows 98 or better" so I installed Linux
    13. Re:What is up with this site lately? by unity · · Score: 2, Insightful

      "The thing that still draws me here, after ten years of reading, is the community. "
      ^That.
      and most especially this:
      "We've probably lost a few great commentators over the years, but it's likely not because ./ isn't trendy enough for them. It's because the stories aren't nerdy enough anymore. Hey editors: we want more science stories. Challenge us. I'd personally like to see ./ pick up more cutting-edge research (like computer science and computer engineering journal articles), because that's when the broad base of knowledge in the readership really shows, and where ./'s value is head and shoulders above the other "social media" sites out there"

      I've been coming here forever, nowhere near as much as I used to mainly because the majority of the stories don't interest me.

    14. Re:What is up with this site lately? by Arykor · · Score: 2, Funny
      NYT says:

      Slashdot Struggles to Remain Relevant in The Social Web

      Hah! Pretty funny coming from a NEWSPAPER...

    15. Re:What is up with this site lately? by cmholm · · Score: 2, Informative

      Re: not growing v. losing... exactly. If someone wants to see a losing site, surf to kuro5hin.org. Once in a blue moon I'll surf there to see what's up, and find that the leading posts haven't changed in weeks. I could probably host the site on my DSL connection.

      --
      Luke, help me take this mask off ... Just for once, let me butterfly kiss you with my own eyes.
    16. Re:What is up with this site lately? by Pteraspidomorphi · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Sorry if I'm wrong about this, but aren't slashdot stories submitted by users and voted up or down by users in the firehose? Editors just OK the highest rated ones... They don't do much else, from my observation.

      You're right about wikipedia, of course.

    17. Re:What is up with this site lately? by _Sprocket_ · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Oh, I don't disagree with your analysis of the content of the NYT article - indeed, see my Journal Entry on the subject for more.

      But the fact that Slashdot did not even see fit to post the story, and allow discussion of the issues raised - that they weren't even willing to take the risk that people like you would find fault with the story - THAT is what is the real "tell" on what is going on.

      Or maybe it's more along the lines of "...and nothing of value was lost." If you agree with the analysis that the article is bogus (and clearly, with a statement like "Oh, feel the BURN!", you feel otherwise) then I fail to see any significance in posting the story. People can, and will continue, to grouse about Slashdot without a topic dedicated to it. Although it would be interesting if said grousing was actually on-topic for once; I don't know what the complainers would do with themselves.

    18. Re:What is up with this site lately? by martin-boundary · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Yeah, k5 used to be great back in 2001. RIP.

    19. Re:What is up with this site lately? by Aceticon · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Funilly enough this ties back to the crisis of news reporting:
      - There is no more in-depth news reporting in daily news media: the ones that on their own words are at or ahead of the "curve" just parrot events, hear-saying and gossip.

      In fact, thinking about it, the main reason I come to Slashdot is for the further in-depth analysis which are the comments.

      For example, just look at some of the articles about the Internet filter in Australia:
      - You'll see comments from ozzies explaining how the current Australian government has to pander to politicians from a specific conservative state to keep support for other laws.
      - You'll see comments explaining how the state is set-up in Australia (i.e. the dual-chamber system)
      - You'll see technology comments on the technical viability of such sytems.
      - You'll be pointed out other similar systems in other countries and past news about those systems.

      When was the last time that any mainstream daily news media actually had an article about some political decision in some country of other and actually explained the political background in that country and/or pointed out similar decisions in other countries and subsequent results?

      In fact, when was the last time that any mainstream daily news media had an article about basic human rights, liberty and/or privacy?

      An this is not just limited to ideological subjects:
      - Go to articles about medicine and you're likelly to find comments from doctors.
      - Go to articles about a scientific area and you're likelly to find comments from researchers in that area.
      - Go to (the early) articles about the oil-spill in the Gulf and you'll find comments from people that work in propection in the oil industry.

      For all the dross, baseless opinionating and ad hominem attacks, almost any Slashdot article together with it's comments has more in-depth reporting than almost any "news story" in daily mainstream news media today.

      PS: I say "daily" news media because I believe some of the weekly and monthly magazines - you know, the ones behind the curve - do have more in-depth news reporting.

    20. Re:What is up with this site lately? by kiddygrinder · · Score: 2, Funny

      current front page of digg:

      3 Best Performances by Paul Rudd
      Google brings translation tool in Google Docs Suite! | Crazy
      Tin Man, How Can I Ever Thank You (GIF)
      Prey Fish Turns Predator (this one isn't too bad actually, i was shocked it wasn't an animated gif)
      20 Classic Opening Lines In Books

      etc etc etc, they can keep this shit tbh

      --
      This is a joke. I am joking. Joke joke joke.
  7. Looking around by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    xfire itself

    Team Leaving

    August 2, 2010--Xfire has been purchased by another company. Most of the team that has brought you Xfire for the last 6 years is leaving, including me. We've enjoyed our time and I personally am sad that I was only able to do 127 releases. Good bye and game on!

    --- Chris

    Kotaku

    Kotaku has tried to reach Xfire for additional comment through a press inquiry email address. Any that comes will be updated here.

    So in other words, 3D Realms seems more of a rumor than anything. Hey, let's just say EA bought it. Or Curse?

  8. Re:Why bother with seperate widgets? by Grimbleton · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You aren't really familiar with what Xfire is, are you?

  9. Re:Why bother with seperate widgets? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    You aren't really familiar with what Xfire is, are you?

    Actually I'd never heard of it, and so had no idea at all, but thanks to the excellent summary I now have only almost no idea at all.

  10. Well played, sir. by rakslice · · Score: 2, Funny

    Step 1: Edit Wikipedia article to make outrageous claim.
    Step 2: Submit story about the news to /.
    Step 3: ???
    Step 4: Profit.

    Discuss.

  11. wikipedia is not a good news source by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Goodbye, Au Revoir, Da Svida, Auf Wiedersehen
    2010-08-02 5:52 PM PDT
    Xfire has been sold by MTV / Viacom to Titan Gaming, a startup. The vast majority of the remaining staff has been laid off.

    There is no official press release at this time.

    As a Web Developer who has been with this company full-time for 4+ years, I'm sad to have to pack up all of the posters from my office walls, though MTV has been trying to sell us for some time now.

    I received about 800 messages in the minutes after the system broadcast went out. If I don't respond to your messages, please understand that it's nothing personal.

    The Xfire service itself, as far as I know, will continue. A million people a day log into the Xfire client and FOUR million unique visitors use the website each week. No one in their right mind, in this author's humble opinion, would walk away from that kind of userbase by terminating the program.

    Thank you all for your support!

    I have always believed in Xfire, and our community of users has played a big part in that. Together, we made Gaming History.

    source

  12. Massive quit by dargaud · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Just a general question, does it ever happen that the employees of a company all quit after said company changes owners? Then the company is suddenly worthless if it's based on intellectual stuff like software, right? So is the law OK with it or can the new owners sue or whatever ?

    --
    Non-Linux Penguins ?
    1. Re:Massive quit by totally+bogus+dude · · Score: 2, Informative

      I imagine this would be part of the buyout proposal if it matters to the purchasing company. You'd have to notify every employee and have them agree to terms of employment with the new owner (which may just be the same terms, but not necessarily). I mean, you can't force people to work at a certain place, so you'd have to new contracts set up to retain the employees. Of course that means you have to spend longer in negotiations with more people knowing details of the deal, which increases the likelihood of leaks.

      The IP isn't necessarily worthless if everyone leaves though. Generally all rights to the software developed by the employees of a company are owned by the company, so the buyer would get those. They would of course lose the knowledge from the people who wrote it/worked on it; but depending on how many leave and how complex the software is (and what kind of state the codebase is in), it's quite feasible to have others take over. Especially if you already have programmers etc. in a related field.

      Again, all this stuff should be spelled out in the buyout proposal, including whether the buying company actually gets rights to the source code or just the trademarks, etc. Maybe not initially, but during the negotiations certainly. You're not going to buy another company without all the details pertaining to exactly what you're getting being agreed to in writing. Unless you're an idiot, of course. Although sometimes you might just be killing of a competitor, so loss of knowledge etc. isn't a problem -- you don't plan to do anything with it anyway, except bury it.