AURAN GOES BUST !

Zodiac · Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2007 12:54 pm

According to www.news.com.au 14-12-07

"ONE of Australia's biggest computer game developers, Auran Development, was placed into voluntary administration yesterday, despite recently securing multi-million dollar investments from the National Australia Bank and the federal Government.
The decision was made after poorer than expected sales of its online multi player game, Fury, which Auran has spent $15 million developing over the past three years.

Last week, Auran announced a new business model dubbed "Free to Download, Free to Play" which will waive the regular monthly subscription fees.

The new offer , which launches today, is a radical move away from the regular Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) game subscription model.

In October, the NAB made a "seven-figure investment" to help market Fury internationally. The funding came after Auran secured $2 million in funding from the federal government's credit agency, the Export Finance and Insurance Corporation (EFIC).

Chief executive Tony Hilliam couldn't discuss whether the funding had been spent and said he would meet with both parties in the near future to discuss future arrangements.

NAB and EFIC could not be reached for comment.

Around 80 per cent of Auran employees have lost their jobs.

Auran employed 70 staff, and between 15 and 20 people, including Mr Hilliam, are set to join Fury's licensee N3VR41L Publishing.

Read the rest of the story at Australian IT »"

Zodiac

flathog · Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2007 1:00 pm

Hi everyone,

This afternoon Auran Developments, the developer of Fury was placed into voluntary administration (Chapter 11). This involved all the employees being dismissed.

However, the future of Trainz is still looking good. Trainz is owned by Auran Games and the directors are committed to continuing the projects currently under development and ensuring that Trainz remains as the number one rail simulator in the world. This involves a number of the Trainz team being re-employed by Auran Holdings, the parent company.

The current Trainz team are working with management to ensure that customers are not impacted by this transition. We wish to advise the community that Trainz, the Download Station and this community will continue as normal. We would also like to confirm that Trainz Classics 3 and other exciting projects to be announced soon will be delivered in the New Year as planned.

Cheers,

Lance Jago
Community Relations Manager, Trainz

Tom Wink

SinCity · Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2007 10:02 pm

I too just found this out, you both beat me to it Very Happy