Betting The Farm?

We run a succesful business these days, and are currently turning it upside down. Here’s why!

Early 2009, things were not going so well with Paladin. We had a great team, but too little projects, and the crisis started to kick in. It turned out that this would be our worst year ever. Even though we worked almost full-time on EnerCities, we developed it at a loss and had to prefinance a whole bunch. In the third quarter of 2009, we had a huge debt. Our promising clients of 2008 cut their budgets, and we were out of credit. To survive, we had to fire half of the team and seriously cut back on all types of expenses.

It was then that we decided to stop chasing clients and follow our passion instead: Make Awesome Games. At heart we were a product company instead of a sales & account management machine. It was time to take some risk and start building our own games. But first we had to get out of debt.

Flash forward to early 2010. With EnerCities finished, we needed cash immediately. We pitched hard and desperately, because we knew it was all or nothing. We had been dangerously close to our credit limit for a couple of months, and the clock was ticking with the bank. While we were explaining the situation to the team, Dylan took the phonecall of a big prospect. There were shivers up my spine and all kinds of explosions in my brain when he gave me a big smile and a thumbs up – they told him we could start straight away. The company was safe, and it would be the turning point.

It turned out that 2010 would be our best year so far. We took on two huge projects and several smaller ones. We had the highest profit ever, and were completely out of debt. Not bad, considering the loss of the previous year.

This is where we are now, and it’s the perfect position to be in as a company – I know I sleep a lot better these days. BUT, the cash is coming from B2B projects, and we have learned that it will not sustainable in the long run. So in the past months we have created the Game Pipeline (I will share that later) and have prepared the design documents and prototypes.

We now have the time (and budget) to chase our dream, and we will invest it all in (drum roll please for the working title!) Project Momonga. It’s a bit like betting the farm at this point, but we know it’s the right thing to do.

Project Momonga

So here we are – the first week of production, and our biggest investment yet. We will share the whole creative process with you right here.

What do you think? Is this a good move or have we gone insane? Let us know in the comments! And stay tuned – we will post our updates right here on the blog, on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

See you around, and have fun! πŸ™‚

-Derk

PS: That little furball up there is Momo, our hero! You’ll be able to read all about him soon.

27 Comments
  • Alex
    Posted at 14:23h, 08 June

    Hi Derk, sounds exciting! How big is the team working on this?

    • paladin_studios
      Posted at 14:54h, 08 June

      The whole enchilada: 8 people πŸ™‚

  • Rineke
    Posted at 14:26h, 08 June

    proud of you Derk! Good moves! De aanhouder wint πŸ™‚ Really curious what this game will be likel!! Enjoy your passion πŸ™‚

    • paladin_studios
      Posted at 14:54h, 08 June

      Thanks! πŸ™‚

  • Martijn
    Posted at 15:01h, 08 June

    Brave move. Love it! All the best to you guys and keep us posted.

    • paladin_studios
      Posted at 10:53h, 09 June

      Thanks Martijn!

  • Femke
    Posted at 15:12h, 08 June

    Momo looks sweet!
    Follow your passion is always the best thing to do! ( en ik kan het intussen weten ) πŸ˜‰

    • paladin_studios
      Posted at 10:54h, 09 June

      Ja toch! Zo is het πŸ˜‰

  • Wouter
    Posted at 19:31h, 08 June

    You’ve gone completely insane! But that’s usually the best move to create something memorable. I sure want to roll Momo through all kinds of adventures! Please don’t test our patience too much… ;D

  • Rik van Renssen
    Posted at 21:37h, 08 June

    Hi!

    I have respect for this company. Posting that you were in financial trouble is something that not anyone would do. For me it means that you guys are honest and truly following your dreams. Keep up the good work and I wish all of you the best on the new creative projects! By the way.. Momo looks awesome!

    Greetz,

    Rik van Renssen

    • Derk
      Posted at 10:56h, 09 June

      Thanks for your kind words Rik. Most companies have their ups and downs, and it’s a lot easier to talk about afterwards πŸ™‚

  • BasWas
    Posted at 11:51h, 09 June

    Cool! Good luck! You guys got the 2 most important things for this: talent and skills! Can't wait. Greetings to Niels.

    • Derk
      Posted at 13:34h, 09 June

      Cheers Bas, I can’t tell you how lucky I feel to be part of a team like this!

  • Steve
    Posted at 12:13h, 09 June

    Good luck gentlemen! Looking forward to the dev updates!

    (the Steve from Vstep back in the day)

    • Derk
      Posted at 13:35h, 09 June

      Hey Steve! Great to see you here πŸ™‚ Thanks for the kind words!

  • Tim
    Posted at 12:42h, 09 June

    Awesome! Best of luck πŸ™‚

  • Richard Boeser
    Posted at 13:03h, 09 June

    Chasing a dream is never insane. Not trying is.
    Enjoy the ride! I'll be following it.

  • paladin_studios
    Posted at 14:01h, 09 June

    Cheers! πŸ™‚

    • Marcus
      Posted at 17:06h, 09 June

      I am still a bit confused about the exact plan, but I wish you lots of succes guys!

      • Derk
        Posted at 20:03h, 14 June

        Hehe, the plan is to create and launch a game. Simple as that! πŸ™‚

  • Heeswijk
    Posted at 17:25h, 11 June

    Good luck!

    A major part of the fun in games comes from the feeling of accomplishment. That is probably best achieved by being able to do something you previously couldn't do, but now can be because you actually learned something. So who better to make good games than a studio with experience in educational games?

    Lookin forward to this

  • Joost van Dongen
    Posted at 19:31h, 15 June

    Congrats on the bold move! I often complain to random people that many Dutch studios end up in B2B despite really wanting to make their own games, because they don't have the balls to make something on their own, and don't dare have all the risk (and success!) for themselves. You guys prove me wrong! I totally wish you all the best, and I pray you will make something that is both quality and unique! ^_^

  • paladin_studios
    Posted at 08:12h, 16 June

    Thanks Joost for the kind words! I totally agree with your statement on boldness – no guts no glory. We're now working with own IP and what we think is a fresh concept perfect for mobile. We'll see how it all turns out πŸ™‚

  • Uit Eindelijk! β€’ Momonga Pinball Adventures van Paladin Studiosβ€’ Control Magazine β€’
    Posted at 15:44h, 17 January

    […] een goed idee. Maar ja… het moest dan ook nog eens gebouwd worden. Net na een tijd dat het niet helemaal lekker ging met Paladin en het team met hard werken en wat goede opdrachten er weer bovenop was gekropen, […]

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