Factor 5 in deep sh*t?!?!?!

[KnackChap]

Developer Factor 5 is facing tough choices due to our bad economy, according to a blog post from Sam Baker, an animator for the company. Baker explains that after a two-week foray to work with California-based animation studio The Orphanage, he came back to Factor 5 and found that none of his fellow employees had been paid in the past month. His team continued on their current project, but then had their health care benefits taken as a cost-saving measure.

 

Next, the company told employees that they had to shutter the current project due to insufficient funds. "We figured it wasn't a problem, however, because there were still other projects that needed us," he said. But most recently, Baker claims that Factor 5 president Julian Eggebrecht told the employees that they need funding in a week, or employees may need to start looking for other jobs. This is all the word of one blogger, so without official comment from the company we'll file it as a rumor for now. We can hope that the situation isn't as dire as it sounds, but if it is Factor 5 may need to start letting go of employees within the next week.

 

Baker doesn't mention any of the projects the company had in the pipeline, but we know that the company was working on a Wii title, rumored to be a new entry in the Rogue Squadron series, or a revival of the SNES classic Pilotwings. Factor 5's last big game was Lair, which was received harshly by critics due to imprecise motion controls. The company has been known for pushing hardware, so fans hoped the next game would showcase their skills. Unfortunately, due to the bad economy, they may never get the chance. We'll keep you posted as we learn more.

 

UPDATE -- As some have noted in the comments below, Baker has deleted all of his former entries, and updated his blog with a new post explaining the situation away as a misunderstanding. We've taken a careful look at the cached version of his original post, and still believe in the accuracy of our first report.

 

In his new post, Baker claims that the misunderstanding came from the recent loss of Brash Entertainment, and that none of the projects at Factor 5 have been stopped. "This does not mean that we've stopped production on that game, or that it was even in trouble," he said. But in his original post, he stated, "without proper funding on the project I was working on, the company was forced to stop production." He and his coworkers decided to stay at the company despite the canceled project and lack of pay because, "if we left, there would have been no hope in F5 staying afloat."

 

Regarding the overall health of the company, Baker's new post says that "the other projects currently under way at Factor 5 are doing great." However, in his original post he stated, "the president of the company basically told us that if we didn't receive funding in 1 week, all of us should move on and look elsewhere for another job. ... I have 1 more week left at Factor 5." The "we" here could be referring only to his team and their canceled project, or Factor 5 as a whole.

 

This is a sensitive subject both on a personal and corporate level, so it could be that Baker was asked to take it down by his employers, but we can't be sure. We sympathize that this likely a hard time for Baker due to the possibility of his studio closing, and we wish him and his coworkers the best of luck if Factor 5 does need to lay off employees or close its doors.

 

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3171691

[BuffMonkey]

A friend of mine who worked on Lair quit that company like 3 months back.

 

Said it was the best thing he ever did :s

 

edit : Hmm factor 5 were the dev's right? otherwise im talking about a diff company

[ghb]

no Lair 2?