IncGamers has spoken to Cheyenne Mountain about its financial situation, and the state of its long awaited MMO, Stargate Worlds.

Things are looking up for SGW, but the company still needs investment to be able to finish the game.
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You may have heard that the official Stargate Worlds MMORPG is dead before it even launched. But that will not stop you from playing this free Stargate game...
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MMORPG.com writes: "The next week and a half may finally bring resolution to the curious case of Stargate Worlds. According to a former employee who has recently left the company, Firesky has until August 1st to raise capital or MGM will pull the license.

At this time, the company's last hope appears to be a group of doctors who are considering an $8 million investment into the company. This cash infusion would keep the company alive, allow it to pay off back wages and launch Stargate Worlds. However, our anonymous source does not believe that the deal will get done..."
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Myth-Games:

"Kevin Balentine as released a statement assuring everyone that Stargate Worlds is still in development. The statement read as follows:

I've been asked from many corners lately to provide an official response to a story circulated by Gateworld.net. I spoke with Darren Sumner, the author of the story, soon after it was posted and gave him a detailed response to the article which he decided not to publish.

Our official response is that the lights here are still on and the development team is working hard every day to get this game built. Team members are in the office seven days a week to deliver Stargate Worlds. Brad Wright is the Stargate expert and a creative consultant on Stargate Worlds who advises us on the story; unfortunately we had not recently updated him on our progress or the impact from the current global economic crisis, and he was not fully aware of the continuing progress on our game."
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GamingShogun.com writes: "We just got an official statement from Firesky regarding the status, and recent financial troubles, of their still in-development MMO: Stargate Worlds. Listen up people, looks like we still have a go!

Official Statement:
The Lights are Still On and Stargate Worlds Development Continues

I've been asked from many corners lately to provide an official response to a story circulated by Gateworld.net. I spoke with Darren Sumner, the author of the story, soon after it was posted and gave him a detailed response to the article which he decided not to publish..." (Cont.)
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Is the Stargate Worlds MMORPG Dead? Cheyenne Mountain Money Problems & a new Lawsuit may delay the Stargate Worlds MMO Release Date....
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The troubled developer of highly anticipated MMO Stargate Worlds, Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment, has been sued over a financial issue.

The lawsuit was initiated by IO Capital Princess LLC regarding an unpaid open account. This isn't the first time CME has hit the headlines over financial issues, a representative of the company made a statement about their difficulties recently when employees of the CME created a web page with the highly original name DaysSinceCheyenneMountainEmployeesHaveBeenPaid.com. The figure currently stands at 125 days.
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Source: According to the exceedingly niche interest Web site http://www.days-since-cheyenne-mountain-employees-have-been-paid.com/, it has been 22 days since the firm has paid its employees.

What we heard: While The Old Republic and Star Trek Online have been grabbing most of the sci-fi massively multiplayer online role-playing game headlines of late, Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment has been toiling away on Stargate Worlds. The game was first announced nearly three years ago. A closed beta for Stargate Worlds is set to expand shortly, but Cheyenne and its publishing arm FireSky have yet to see dime one from the project.

With the Sci-Fi Channel ready to launch a new Stargate television series next summer, the MMORPG would seem to have a prime cross-promotional opportunity waiting in the wings. If Cheyenne is running dry on resources right now, one would think there would be interested parties in loaning them enough to reach the finish line and cash in on three years of work and buzz surrounding the new TV series. At least, there would be in a better economic climate…

The official story: A representative for Cheyenne provided GameSpot with the following comment: "At Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment, we have always been upfront with the media and our fans that we are a start up. Like many start ups, we face the same cash-flow issues that all pre-revenue companies face. We have maintained a core of dedicated investors, but the new economic realities are forcing us to seek out additional sources of funding and that's what we're doing.

"We continue to move forward on the Stargate Worlds project. We recently completed a successful phase of closed beta testing and we will start a second phase early in 2009. We invite all of your readers to come to our site, check out our fantastic community and sign up for our beta."

Bogus or not bogus?: Unfortunately for both Cheyenne and its employees, this one...
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Gamasutra: "As of press time, it's been 22 days since staffers at Stargate Worlds creator Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment should have been paid. At least, so says a a rather stark, declarative insider website devoted solely to a running tally.

Cheyenne Mountain actually seemed to be having a strong year; in March, the company's Joel Ybarra told Gamasutra that it has four teams at work on both the Stargate MMO and a second, unspecified online title.

And in April, the company formed its own publisher, FireSky, to handle Stargate Worlds and Cheyenne's other unannounced online titles."
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Gamasutra: "Newly-formed publisher FireSky licensed Convergys's Relationship Management Solutions for its forthcoming Stargate Worlds massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG).

Headquartered in Arizona and formed in April of this year by developer Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment, Firesky seeks to publish titles that exemplify 'the fusion of social experiences with entertainment software in Social Networks and Play (SNAP).'"
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Stargate Worlds, the massively multiplayer online role playing game based on the popular Stargate series from MGM, will hit another major milestone on Oct. 15 with the launch of closed beta.
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GamingShogun writes, "Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment has released some new screenshots from their upcoming MMORPG based on the Stargate SG-1 universe, called Stargate Worlds. The MMO is due out in 2009, but according to official press release, the first closed beta test will begin on October 15th..."
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Via Massively: "Firesky has launched a Stargate Worlds channel on YouTube, and has promised that a new video will go live every week day from here on out. So far there are six videos, all of which are brief, punchy developer interviews related to the various weapons in the game."
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Massively: Get ready for some dubious corporate drama. We were contacted by a tipster claiming to be a Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment employee. He or she alleged, among other things, that CME/Firesky is in critical financial condition -- that it has accrued a large debt, that massive layoffs are planned, and that the future of Stargate Worlds might be in jeopardy. Knowing full well that potentially-scorned anonymous employees are rarely a wholly reliable source, we contacted the company and provided them an opportunity to comment.
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GamingShogun writes, "We have just received word from FireSky that a new YouTube channel has been opened up specifically for the developers (Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment) to share special game videos with the fans. New videos are to be added Monday through Friday, and will be posted by Jim Younkin of the game's marketing team..."
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FireSky Studio head Dan Elggren told VideoGamer.com in an interview from Leipzig Games Convention that a console version of the upcoming sci-fi MMO is something the team "wants to look at down the road" and that the only issue would be how the controls are ported over.

When asked when console owners would get a chance to play the game, he said: "Yeah, I've actually had that a few times! You know Xbox 360, or even Xbox 720, the client's based on Unreal 3, so it's really at that point based on how we adjust the AI.

"It's definitely something we want to look at down the road and how that ports over to console. I think the client we utilised will open up some of those doors but it's how we cross those controls really that's going to help us with that."

However, Elggren stressed that the a console version of the game, as well as movement into the lucrative Asian MMO market, will be determined by the success of the PC version.
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FireSky head Dan Elggren told VideoGamer.com in a Leipzig Games Convention interview that if Stargate Worlds ends up as a "stinker that's not ready" the company may close down.

The game is currently scheduled for a Q1 2009 release.

He said: "For us as a start up I don't have seven other products behind me right now that are going to be making money for this company. So if I release a stinker that's not ready it doesn't do anybody any good and my company closes down. So I want to make sure that what we launch at day one is solid, it's fun to play and it's gone through those cycles. And so if it comes down to it that we need to slip it to make sure that we have that iteration we'll do that."
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FireSky studio head Dan Elggren has revealed post-release content plans for upcoming sci-fi MMO Stargate Worlds.

Subscribers can expect a level cap increase from 50 to 52, new story lines, new worlds, new abilities and new armour sets, all for free.

He told VideoGamer.com: "We're actually adding post-live content. We're actually developing some of that post-live content before we launch. That's going to consist of new story lines, new worlds, new creatures to fight, as well as we're looking at adding two more levels, so going from 51, 52 and then so on and so forth. So that's new abilities, new armour sets and new ways of exploring the universe as well."

Content of this type, categorised as mini episodes and seasons, will be free, Elggren confirmed.

Elggrin said: "If we move to Atlantis or another universe, then we'll have a boxed Atlantis expansion. But mini episodes and seasons, that's going to be free content that we're just going to hand out."
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Stargate Worlds developer FireSky is planning an open beta for just before the game's launch, slated for early 2009.

When asked if the team was planning an open beta, studio head Dan Elggren replied: "Yeah. I want to do that just before launch. To me you've got to have a pretty solid product when you go into open beta."

He added: "Age of Conan, I mean they had a miracle patch at launch. I tried their open beta and I was like, 'oh! What is this?!' But then they launched the game. I want to be able to go out there with open beta as like a great way to market the game and for people to play it and have a positive experience that they want to now go buy the game."
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Stargate SG-1 actor Christopher Judge visited Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment's game development studio to check out Stargate Worlds last week. Judge played the part of Teal'c -- the Jaffa warrior on the SG-1 team -- for the entire run of the TV series and in the movies The Ark of Truth and Continuum, and has appeared on Stargate Atlantis as well.

Members of the development teamed gushed about how awesome he was on the Stargate Worlds community site. "I wouldn't have thought I was the type to get embarrassed and feel like a blushing teenage girl (no offense to blushing teenage girls) when meeting a star like Christopher Judge but apparently I totally am," said one of the team members. The team got the impression that Judge was "SUPER excited" about the game.
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