Zev, say it ain't so! (Re: Pandemic app)

Backstory: From late 2010, I was developing an iOS version of the board game Pandemic in agreement with the publisher, Z-Man Games. An initial release version was completed in May 2011, but communication with Z-Man fell apart due to (what I later discovered to be) a change in ownership. The agreement lapsed during this time, and the new owners decided not to continue the relationship.

Full story: www.gamasutra.com/blogs/HenryTruong/2012..._Or_Not_To_Clone.php

It looks and sounds fantastic, and even appears to be on an iPhone screen, which I wouldn't have expected. But who knows if we'll ever see it now.

You will see it. It is being worked on in-house.

ZMan wrote: You will see it. It is being worked on in-house.

Okay, that's good, but quite a standard to equal with the version above.

ZMan wrote: You will see it. It is being worked on in-house.

You might want to consider chiming in over at BGG, too. The usual mountain-from-molehill, never-buy-from-these-guys-again thing is gaining a lot of traction over there. Four pages already ...

boardgamegeek.com/thread/766059/aborted-...c-ios-project/page/1

TheDukester wrote:

ZMan wrote: You will see it. It is being worked on in-house.

You might want to consider chiming in over at BGG, too. The usual mountain-from-molehill, never-buy-from-these-guys-again thing is gaining a lot of traction over there. Four pages already ...

boardgamegeek.com/thread/766059/aborted-...c-ios-project/page/1

Yeah, really. Criticism of Filosofia for not getting back to the guy at all is understandable, but the vitriol is getting ridiculous.

Honestly, fuck that BGG thread. I am not even going to read it because I know what it says already. The marketplace for decent games on ioS is SOOOOO much bigger than BGG. Just completely DWARFS it. Nevermind the, what, 12 really mad guys on that thread?

1. Make a good game.
2. Price it right.
3. Convince Jerry Holkins to play it.
4. PROFIT!!?!?!?

Stop wasting time with that place. Ugh.

Zev, thanks for responding at length to the other thread. That's what I was hoping for... to get your side of the story. Obviously all sides felt something was wrong with the situation. Too bad it didn't work out.

I definitely thought that Henry was getting somewhat of a free pass, especially after it sounded like he was originally only giving his "sanitized" version of events which obviously lacked the context of Z-Man's perspective.

But in the department of what happens when a "woman scorned" mentality exists, it was probably a mistake for Filosofia to shut down the relationship entirely even if they had a legitimate concern about Henry's professionalism. That decision has created the PR issue they are now having to deal with.

Filosofia may have been correct in their assessment of the lack of viability in proceeding with Henry...but it still pays to find amicable solutions to disagreements. There is the factual, contractual element to the story... but sometimes that can be rendered somewhat moot when frustrations (a very human reaction that I don't fault Henry for having) boil over.

An interesting negotiation case study.

Ryan B. wrote: But in the department of what happens when a "woman scorned" mentality exists, it was probably a mistake for Filosofia to shut down the relationship entirely even if they had a legitimate concern about Henry's professionalism. That decision has created the PR issue they are now having to deal with.

****There are some times when negotiation is impossible. It's a fact of business.

What's interesting is this happened almost a year ago and now he's bringing it up. Probably to finish working on the game and now deciding what to do with it.

Well, in fairness to you Zev, after a year, it would be reasonable to assume an issue has been settled and won't rematerialize itself.

As negotiation is part of my professional background, I would continue to assert that almost everything is negotiated.... from the big corporate merger to "where are we having dinner tonight?"

There are ways to "talk people down" so they don't do what Henry did. The semi-surprising thing was that this guy, Henry, waited this long to vent. At the same time, some people wait that long... rationalizing they can more logically vent their feelings after time has passed... or that they are so angry it finally just bubbles up. Either way, the motivation is some very strong feelings on Henry's part.

Your rationale from dropping communication was that Filosofia felt they could not work with him. Was there any concern then that he might vent on the BGG forums?

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Note: I have amended the comment I had made earlier in my BGG notation because I think that is too charged and not necessarily accurate. I don't think Filosofia "deserved" this situation but they do now have to deal with the fallout of it, whether deserved or not.