Good Or Bad - "Ottoleaks"!

[smarty2]

my reply was well in the rules all i im gonna say is I TOLD YOU ALL SO. then im no longer gonna have anything to do with ukts and railfailworks so im gonna leave ukts unistall railworks. but this is the last comment ever cause im very very very upset. ukts and railworks have made enemies out of me now (big mistake). farewell you will never see me again.

Never say never.

[bigvern]

Everything after the word imagine in your quote to be fair does hint a little of scaremongering.

Not at all, actually. In fact reading the thread on TS induced more than a twinge of guilt and has caused me to take a look at dusting off some of my mothballed RW route schemes.

@Derek... It's having those gypsy creams custom baked that pushed it over the edge.

[ightenhill]

Everything after the word imagine in your quote to be fair does hint a little of scaremongering.

Not at all, actually. In fact reading the thread on TS induced more than a twinge of guilt and has caused me to take a look at dusting off some of my mothballed RW route schemes.

@Derek... It's having those gypsy creams custom baked that pushed it over the edge.

Excellent

[simuk]

The difference there is that MSTS was a "fire and forget" product, RW is a slightly different beast in that ongoing support by the developers through Steam is pretty much essential pre-requisite - imagine if you came to reinstall and you suddenly had no access to the patches/updates and your DLC? I can only hope, as I mentioned on TS, that some sort of "bond" is paid to Steam by the publisher to provide ongoing support in the event of a company folding. After all, they are still selling RRT3 even though Poptop no longer exist (I think).

.

The point they still sell a product from a closed software house is no different to buying a bargain bucket hard copy in a sale.. The full product with all the latest patches will be yours for that price and will remain on the server.. If you were an original user of RRT3 from launch day if steam didnt keep it on the server you couldnt delete it from one HDD and reinstall to your new PC etc

Actually, before you discredit Vern's post, RRT3 is published by Take 2, and they very much still exist, so that is why it is available from Steam and continues to be, no matter what the situation may (or may not) be with the developer of that specific product.


edited: to fix quote markup error.

[FoggyMorning]

Now I'm no accountant, but the "bottom line" there is in the black

Note that the sum to be paid to creditors is what's due in the next 12 months - i.e. not immediately

I would hazard that most of us here have very little tangible knowledge of the costs involved vs. returns generated (I don't see any mention of revenue generated in that account sheet, which seems a rather odd omission). Read this in conjunction with James Woodcock's interview with Darren Porter, which contains a couple of eye-popping allusions to costs involved.

Now, RSC are obviously not the next Apple or Microsoft but I would urge caution on predicting it's imminent demise based on what seem to me to be rather incomplete figures

Steve

[Darpor]

To tell you the truth, I am a bit shocked this morning to see what Otto has cobbled together in order to reinforce his point. Old figures that matter nothing to the current state of any business, a business that has arguably enjoyed its most successful period and the best, most prominent releases since the last figures were published, hence the projections of a profit in the next financial year. Those are the figures that I would take more of an interest in.

To also see that he has listed a document such as a screengrab from Play.com, with FlashHarry (?) making a statement on the original RS, what the hell does that have to do with anything?

Utter pish.

[AndiS]

Has anyone been asked to buy shares of the company, or lend them money?

Otto himself said on the very same page that the whole fuss does not matter. He quotes Ford, instead of MSTS.

While someone still pays their cookies, there is some faint hope for (some more) documentation. And the fact that someone fed them over the past years brought us cars that stop at crossing gates and that do not vanish at road ribbon boundaries; a properties box and increased sensing range for signals: pressing TAB being communicated to the signals; increased draw distance; and various content fixes.

That is all that is relevant for me. And for all customers, I would say.

If you buy your games only from a company with nice business figures, you will never buy one -- or only the very outdated ones.
Besides, MS cancelled MSTS 2.2 to improve their business figures. So you should order that now, because it is a solid company.

I can understand that someone who builds a route full of high viaducts across mountain valleys complains about bugs in the stencil shadows and reduced draw distance. I can understand that some people want PZB and LZB. I can understand myself a lot when I complain about AI and how train safety schemes were integrated into the game as a whole. But I cannot understand people worrying about business figures.

[bigvern]

I did wonder about the date on some of the figures.

Anyhow, keeping the positive vibes going, I have decided to shift up my plans to do a GWR branch line from next year, on the basis this will give a good home for the Class 31 and the bits and bobs out of Falmouth when they are released.

[TransportSteve]

This is just Otto, being, well.....just Otto.

First of all he posts the balance sheet figures up to March 31st 2010, we are now in December 2010, then he sort of negates his spurious findings by posting the Chairman's statement which was signed in August 2010, in which he stated that the loss was due to the amortisation and costs incurred in the pre-release and takeover stages between RailSim and Railworks, having the expenditure to buy Railworks technology, etc, etc, for the non-Accounts folks on here, which is understandable under the circumstances, and the figure was recorded as a loss. The Chairman then states his thoughts for the forseeable future trading summer/winter months ahead and the next balance sheet year-end figures will be generated in March 2011, by which time that £300k loss will be a profit !!!
Let's wait and see what information is made publicly aware next Spring, taking into consideration nearly 2 years trading by Railworks, before we all jump on Otto's bandwagon.
I don't go on that forum anymore and take the majority of Otto's comments with a pinch of salt, I cannot fathom out what his original post was supposed to support, a major bankruptcy conspiracy, or, what, and as he has no Accountancy qualifications to my knowledge, nor, the majority of those posting comments afterwards, they haven't a clue what they are talking about.

The most relevant document to me was the Chairman's statement, let's leave it at that for the time being.

Cheerz. Transport Steve. ( And I'm about to enter my 22nd year working in various Financial Departments )

[Acorncomputer]

Perhaps the purchase of the biscuit factory was the problem

I saw these figures a long time ago and they look OK to me taking into account all relevant factors. Planned amortisation of intangible assets over three years financed by the investors is the main 'problem' but not a surprise. These figures actually reinforced my own personal confidence in the Company as it became much clearer as to how they are going forward. Business as usual as far as I am concerned.

One additional thought, although these accounts are available from Companies House to anyone, they do like you to purchase your own copy.

It also helps to check out the Annual Return which paints a much clearer picture of the structure of the Company and the many people involved.

[ightenhill]

I don't go on that forum anymore either.. I once quite reasonably questioned what one of Ottos posts had to do with my thread and was banned

Acorns point is very good as well.. RW maybe classed ltd company but I suspect thats simply to protect liability which is common practice, the only shareholders will be the actual directors and with companies this size the balance sheet is very fluctual from year to year , especially in early years when the assets are written off against the bottom line.

My wife will argue however that RWs liquid income must be rather bouyant.. She keeps finding odd purchases in our accounts to Steam

[styckx]

Wow, what seemed like a innocent little discussion turned into this huh?

The thread was, and is harmless. Everyone knows it's speculation, everyone knows what that balance sheet shows isn't the complete picture. It was just coffee talk and surprising rather civil considering some of the participants. To be fair, TS has got much better as of late. Moderating has got much more strict which is bringing out some of the constructive users who went into hiding for awhile.

[Wikkus]

my reply was well in the rules all i im gonna say is I TOLD YOU ALL SO. then im no longer gonna have anything to do with ukts and railfailworks so im gonna leave ukts unistall railworks. but this is the last comment ever cause im very very very upset. ukts and railworks have made enemies out of me now (big mistake). farewell you will never see me again.

Having been away for a while, is this some sort of joke? Not the Otto thing over at Ottoworld -- that's typically Otto, i.e. random, foaming, conspiracy theory; just throw in an alien abduction and some connection with Tom Cruise and the Scientologists and we'll have a full set -- no, I mean the above outburst? Was this person's account hacked by a surly teen?

Enquiring minds, etc.

Rik.

[Acorncomputer]

my reply was well in the rules all i im gonna say is I TOLD YOU ALL SO. then im no longer gonna have anything to do with ukts and railfailworks so im gonna leave ukts unistall railworks. but this is the last comment ever cause im very very very upset. ukts and railworks have made enemies out of me now (big mistake). farewell you will never see me again.

Having been away for a while, is this some sort of joke? Not the Otto thing over at Ottoworld -- that's typically Otto, i.e. random, foaming, conspiracy theory; just throw in an alien abduction and some connection with Tom Cruise and the Scientologists and we'll have a full set -- no, I mean the above outburst? Was this person's account hacked by a surly teen?

Enquiring minds, etc.

Rik.

He is trying to give up smoking.

[ashgray]

OK, you know what I'm going to say next if anyone says what they shouldn't, so don't say it.

Ash