Shroud of the Avatar Acquired by Catnip Games
If you’re like me, you read that title and immediately thought thusly:
First, yes, this acquisition is a real thing, and has been confirmed by Starr Long in a forum post that also, helpfully, explains much:
As of October 2019 Austin-based production studio Catnip Games has acquired the operating assets of Portalarium, Inc.; primary of which is Shroud of the Avatar.
Portalarium was co-founded in 2009 by Hall of Fame videogame designer Richard Garriott (aka “Lord British”). Portalarium’s most recent game Shroud of the Avatar has a large global community of players which Catnip Games will continue to develop and expand.
Catnip Games was established by Chris Spears, who served as CTO of Portalarium for over 6 years and was appointed President of Portalarium in 2019.
Commenting about the acquisition, Richard Garriott noted “We’re immensely grateful to the community who has built this game with us. The community’s support and participation remains strong and growing, and Starr and I plan to continue being involved in the community and within the game.”
Starr Long, the executive producer of Shroud of the Avatar, also commented on the acquisition; noting that “Chris has successfully led the design and the team for many years, he is an all-star A player.”
Chris Spears added that “The development team remains with the project, and we plan to continue with the established patterns of regular releases, frequent live broadcasts, community events, release parties, and a development cadence focused on both constantly improving the core game, while also working towards Episode 2.”
On the surface of it, I suppose this means very little (if anything) will change; Chris Spears has been the face of development on Shroud for some time now, and it does make sense for him to have more legal control over the project by having it be under the banner of a company he owns. If there are any other developers regularly working on Shroud, presumably they are now employees — contractors, more likely — of Catnip Games.
What this means for Richard Garriott’s future involvement with the game (or Starr Long’s, for that matter), and any sequels – sorry, subsequent episodes – that may or may not ever see the light of day is unanswered, though it has been suspected for some time that Garriott has largely parted ways with Shroud.
Similarly, what this means for Portalarium is uncertain, though my guess would be that the company will soon be dissolved, now that it has divested itself of the only game it still had in its portfolio.
The First Age of Update: No, this isn’t the Catnip Games in question. Nor is this one, though Catnip Studios does have Origin Systems alum Dr. Cat as one of its team.
Agreed that nothing will change with the game. It will continue the steady deathmarch it’s been on for the last few years. Richard and Starr will continue their minimal involvement with the project regardless of its legal ownership. Richard isn’t even showing up for SOTA Con this year except for the VIP tour. Ouch.
The good news is that the game is apparently making enough money to keep going. Otherwise they would just shut it down. And I’m assuming selling the assets to a shell company will absolve them of Port’s debt or some other similar financial maneuver to help the game survive. It’s like putting a band aid on a bullet wound but I guess it’s better than nothing.
So, in other words, Chris can keep the microtransacion trickle coming in, and not worry about any of the promises that Portalarium made. And still, no one has to step up, take responsibility, or even admit mistakes were made.
Years ago, Garriott was doing a QA that I was excited about. I mentioned it to someone I knew at the time and he said “Oh yeah, I’ve heard he’s kind of a twit.” I was offended at the time, but now, I see where he was coming from, and frankly agree. What a waste of everyone’s time and money.