It seems that Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment, the developer of Stargate Worlds, is in financial difficulty yet again.  According to this report, they are now being sued by IO Princess LLC, a data center in Arizona, for a long-unpaid open account. Some lawsuit specifics from the Arizona Business Gazette:

Case number: CV09-03172

Plaintiff: IO Capital Princess LLC.

Defendant: Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment Inc., dba Cheyenne Mountain Games.

Nature of complaint: Unpaid open account.

Attorney for plaintiff: Geoffrey S. Kercsmar.

Cheyenne Mountain has had a history of financial problems, including a long term problem paying its own employees.  For many months, we’ve been checking in with a website creatively entitled DaysSinceCheyenneMountainEmployeesHaveBeenPaid.com; the site consists exclusively of a black number on a white background.  Currently that number stands at more than 120, which means that Cheyenne hasn’t paid it’s own people in more than four months.  Just for the sake of clarity, it’s now mid-March; the last time the good people of CME got paid was sometime before Christmas.  When these payroll issues first arose, a Cheyenne rep issued a statement about the need of the company, as a startup, to find additional sources of revenue to overcome this difficulty.  Apparently, they still need to do that.

One professional insight: in the experience of several members of the Wandering Goblin staff, simple competence by Cheyenne Mountain management is an ongoing issue.  Cheyenne has, very simply, struggled on a lot of levels.  For example, we were invited to attend a press event showcasing Stargate Worlds at a major convention last year.  When we arrived, we were turned away at the door.  Attempts to reach  the Cheyenne Mountain PR rep, or indeed any member of the Cheyenne Mountain management, to resolve the matter proved impossible.

At that same conference, they had a large, expensive display, at which they company had promised formal presentations of the game.  These presentations proved frustrating.  In our attempts to attend them, we found that they weren’t presented either on time, or with any respect to the schedule they themselves set.  What’s more, the display was staffed by people who couldn’t answer simple questions.  To make matters worse, there didn’t seem to be anyone in charge anywhere in the vicinity, despite our repeated attempts to locate them.

If Cheyenne Mountain management cannot resolve these kinds of simple matters – things as simple as paying their employees, professionally marketing their own product, or paying their bills – the likelihood that gamers will ever get to play Stargate Worlds significantly diminishes over time.

~~~

If you enjoyed this post, visit our illustrious Wandering Goblin main page. There’s lots more tomfoolery just like this.