Put this squarely in the “rumor”  “seems likely” category for now even though there’s been no official confirmation as of yet.  I spotted this just now via Virgin Worlds, which linked to the “news” at The Escapist.   Here’s what is being said:

We’ve received word from an anonymous source that Perpetual Entertainment, developers of Gods and Heroes and Star Trek Online, will dissolve in the near future.

The remnants of the company have been acquired by a major independent game developer, which will purchase Star Trek Online and Perpetual’s game platform assets. It’s unknown whether Gods and Heroes will be purchased, but the leadership has already offered certain members of the team a position in the new company, working on the Star Trek Online team. The majority of the Gods and Heroes team will be laid off, so the game’s future doesn’t seem bright.

Phone calls to Perpetual were not immediately returned.

So, if this is true, it sounds like G&H might cease to exist, while STO might live on but be a long ways out.  If this is true, my thoughts are with all the devs who may be laid off. 

So Warhammer Online announces a 2 month beta shutdown (and quite possibly a delayed release as well), Tabula Rasa pushed back it’s release two weeks, AoC was already pushed back, Spellborn has been pushed back and now it seems that G&H might be extinct.  It’s been an interesting 2007 indeed - heck let’s throw in the VG debacle just for old times sake.

Will certainly update here to either confirm this is true and give more info, or to retract this if it turns out to be false.

EDIT:  More info from WarCry:

Perpetual Entertainment has indefinitely delayed (essentially canceled) Gods and Heroes. The company will continue work on their development platform and Star Trek Online, and continue its operations in the same San Francisco studio under the same management. Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising, though, is no more.

Our source tells us that the majority of the Gods and Heroes development team has been let go as part of the move, which comes only a few weeks after they had downsized and pushed back the release date. The Star Trek Online team, those who worked on the Perpetual Platform (which was recently licensed to BioWare) and a small number of people from the Gods and Heroes team will be remain with the company.

WarCry will bring you more details as the story unfolds.

Update 8:28 PM EST: We originally reported that Perpetual Entertainment had been acquired by another firm, but according to further sources at Perpetual this not in fact the case. It will continue on as described above with new investors.

More from TTH:

The industry types are buzzing like bees about this one.

Inside sources are reporting that Perpetual Entertainment, makers of the upcoming MMOGs Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising and Star Trek Online are being bought out by an undisclosed studio. WarCry is reporting that according to their sources it may not be a complete buy-out, but rumors are flying like crazy and nothing will be positive until an official announcement goes out.

Other sources indicate that the company involved in the acquisition/investment is likely to be Foundation 9 Entertainment (http://www.f9e.com/), although this is unconfirmed at this time.

Keep an eye on Ten Ton Hammer for further news as the situation develops!

Well that’s starting to sound a bit more “official”, but again, nothing has been directly released by Perpetual at this time that I’m aware of.  Again, my thoughts and prayers go out to all affected by the layoff.  I’ve had to lay off people before and it’s not a fun thing to do, at all.  Seems that G&H is definitely gone and who knows how this will impact the timeframe for STO, although really they weren’t getting into real “production” until 2008 anyhow.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 9th, 2007 at 6:37 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.