10tacle Studios Belgium closed - TOTEMS R.I.P

10tacle Studios Belgium was closed today!!!
The future of Totems in unknown - If it will ever be released is unknown...

We are very sorry for all the employees in Charleroi and fans around the world!
We all hoped this would never happen, but now it has...
In a few days this fansite would have it's 6th anniversary and now we have nothing left to celebrate...
Nothing more to say...

I cannot believe it.

This is unheard-of. What happens with Yves Grolet and his team? Has not said to you anything?

Fans of Brazil, want to translate my OUTCAST's web into the portuguese, to make to see ATARI that OUTCAST's sequel is what we would like. I was thinking to speak to them about TOTEMS, to support before this project, and now already for nothing.

Everything it is ELVEON's fault, and above this game publisher found!.

I would like to be able to do something, but I feel so impotent, though I know that speaking could to do something. Is it a time to speak with other publishers? The one who does possess the license of TOTEMS?

I could not have prevented a tear from escaping from me. Only in another occasion I pass, with canceled OUTCAST 2.

Well, that's pretty much it...Totems is done for...and what little hope I had for an Outcast sequel is now gone. I was really excited to play an OC sequel than it got cancelled...the same will probably happen with Totems, I guess.

And with these bad news in mind, I ask myself what's to happen with this forum if Totems isn't picked up by someone else (which I really hope it does)...I mean, there's still OC...

I guess we'll have the answer to that in the upcoming days/months.

Oh, and I think I speak for everyone when I say 'F***********************CK!'

	CutterSlade23 wrote:
	What happens with Yves Grolet and his team? Has not said to you anything? I would like to be able to do something, but I feel so impotent, though I know that speaking could to do something. Is it a time to speak with other publishers? The one who does possess the license of TOTEMS?

I am trying to get more info for you guys... at the moment only little things are known and a lot of things are unknown.
I am heartbroken (again, like with Outcast2), but unfortunally I don't think there is anything we can do right now... we can only hope that (even though it's a very small chance) Totems is going to be continued... Rolling Eyes

/edit: a french article: Studio closed & Project: Urban Race (another new EE game beside Totems))

open letter to the fans by an ex-employee wrote:

“It is true that 10tacle Belgium aka EE is dead. R.I.P.”

“The info you stated on your website was pretty much accurate, 10tacle AG is in a big financial crisis and it is not over yet. Here at EE it has been 6 months since they don't pay us. The company took on its personal cash and contracted debts in order to keep paying the employees until 2 months ago (since june in fact). So it has been two months since we're not paid which is a difficult situation for everyone here and Yves had to take a decision, we couldn't wait much longer for the money of 10tacle. So Yves decided to close the studios. Me and all the colleagues at EE are waiting for a last payment which will cover 2 months and a half of salary, but with very little hope because we had a lot of promises that never made their way out. Difficult situation especially for people for who have a house to pay, children or just one salary.”

“From the business and development point of view, Totems was paused (heavy) end of March due to cash issues of 10tacle, we were doing the VSD (vertical slice demo). We had quite a lot of things to show and positive feedbacks. I guess you saw the problem with Michael Pes and stuff, 10tacle AG suffered quite a lot due to Elveon cancel, Totems being late and more over wrong investments here and there. So 10tacle was out of cash, without a CEO and investors were not happy at all. With the new CEO, investors decided to change company's orientation, focusing only on online games and online worlds, they had already a project in mind (cannot tell you much more on this sorry). So for the team the last 6 months were quite depressing and there was a lot of uncertainties, some people left the company.”

“In the meantime as we saw that the financial situation was becoming critical at 10tacle AG, the company decided to create a small spin off project based on what've being doing on Totems for 3 years, we worked on a project called Urban Race, a multiplayer parkour game yet very different from an esthetic point of view but really the same movement engine behind Totems.”

“Concerning Totems IP I don't know what will happen. We don't even to whom it belongs. Some say to EE, others to 10Tacle.
I'd like to see it taken by someone else or a new studio with former members of EE, but I'm not confident about this, maybe one day Totems will rise again but form the moment it is buried in a dusty box. Concerning the assets and code ... All belongs to 10tacle (but we are not sure). The technology belongs to EE and Region Wallone (who is the subsidiary for the engine).”

“I saw the messages on the board, all I can say is thank you for the support.“

Ugh, this is such an awful repeat of what happened in 2002. Developer goes silent, works on a crappy spin-off with the same technology, and eventually everything's gone to waste. Just a few days ago I so openly said what I'd been thinking for a while... In total "wait and see" mode, no room for enthusiasm, and now it's official. It's a good thing you guys have been keeping an eye on 10Tacle's financial situation, otherwise we'd perhaps not even have seen this coming at all. And most of all I'm glad it's "just" Totems, a game that hadn't really materialized for me yet. If it hád been Outcast 2, that'd have been much worse.

I suppose no-one's to blame, really. 10Tacle was an overambitious publisher, but I think they gave it all they had, it certainly seemed exciting before their projects started stalling. It's a big shame, but it happens. Elsewhere was an ambitious developer, creating something so huge with the risks of an unexperienced publisher over their heads, with nothing to fall back on. I guess they trusted 10Tacle, just like we all did three years back.

It had been so long since any proper screenshots or videos of Totems, and there had been so many nasty things going on at 10Tacle. It's tough for people who just care about the games, but there are lessons to be learned about the videogame industry from the business side as well. It's not easy to fund and develop big titles. In a way, I'm relieved now: at least it's a definitive answer to any questions we might have had.

I wish Yves, Stephan and everyone else at Elsewhere all the best. I wish them good luck finding new things to pick up, whatever those may be. Messiah, I feel for ya, no developer deserves undying worship such as yours! I wish it could be rewarded!

Well, it's been fun. It's been a good run, I guess I'm pretty much done here now. I've come to terms with Outcast being a one-hit-wonder, something we can all cherish and look back on, but also something that has no future. I'll stick around of course so long as there's a website to visit - Messiah, thought about what you're going to do yet with this situation? It's all a bit disheartening...

Three cheers for Mirror's Edge, I suppose. Here's hoping it ends up a decent game.

Yods be silent!

Found some images of Urban Race
http://www.factornews.com/news-23967-Urban_Race_des_images_de_l_au-dela.html

I guess it may be time for a news post on the front page, no...?

Just watched "Der Untergang" (Downfall). Strange and indecent as it may seem, I see some similarities. 10Tacle's bankrupcy is Totems' demise. I'm especially sorry that this community, however small it may be, has lost its common dream.

It's so simple. The big games cost too much, took too long, no back-up plans.
Urban Race could perhaps have been nice, but I think Yves and co are too ambitious to take a smaller, simpler project serious. It wouldn't have done any good, I'm sure.

As an ex-employee I would just like to clarify some things.

Firstly, 10tacle germany indeed has had huge financial difficulties, and one of the reasons was the fact that Totems was supposed to be on market end 2007. It wasnt, which meant that instead of having revenue from a product in the shops, they had to spend extra money to continue funding the project. It is normal that investors are not happy when this happens ( + the problems with Elveon, both the big titles for 10tacle). That is when all the troubles began in Germany, the investors got really unhappy. They maybe weren't the best company in the world to manage other studios who are making games (maybe they tried to become too big too quick), but there is one thing they did do right, and that brings me to the second part.

10tacle germany believed in the capacity of E.E. and the potential in that company. All the ingredients where there to make a great game (there was good funding, there was a team of REALLY talented people). Unfortunately, if there is a complete lack of vision of what the game should be like, time gets lost, a lot of time gets lost. In my opinion, if you have a team of 40 talented people, the equipment and the money to pay those people during 2 years, there is no excuse for not making and delivering a great game. Everybody who worked there saw way upfront that things were not heading in the right direction, but unfortunately we were completely powerless if it came to changing this ( and believe me, some people tried, a lot even, but they simply werent heard).

If you are looking for the reasons why 10Tacle studios Belgium did not release a game after David Douillet Judo, be it Totems or any other game, one shouldn't be pointing fingers at 10tacle Germany. Doing this would be too easy and unfair towards them.

ex10tacle wrote:

10tacle germany believed in the capacity of E.E. and the potential in that company. All the ingredients where there to make a great game (there was good funding, there was a team of REALLY talented people). Unfortunately, if there is a complete lack of vision of what the game should be like, time gets lost, a lot of time gets lost. In my opinion, if you have a team of 40 talented people, the equipment and the money to pay those people during 2 years, there is no excuse for not making and delivering a great game. Everybody who worked there saw way upfront that things were not heading in the right direction, but unfortunately we were completely powerless if it came to changing this ( and believe me, some people tried, a lot even, but they simply werent heard).

Lack of vision and 'control' in bringing a game from zero to finished product can indeed be quite devastating. However, a lot of games, new IP in particular, suffer from this. It's something that affects release dates mostly I believe - it simply takes a lot of time to find the right direction when you're not sure. Bioshock's a very good example of a game where the developer had absolutely no idea where they were going until they got there. Take2 is a big publisher, capable of supporting a long pre-production fase, but 10Tacle isn't. You can have all the right ingredients, but a good director (for lack of a better word) is by all means one of those ingredients and if that's not there, you're going to notice.

I'm sorry to hear though that this was the case with Totems as well. I think I can speak for both Messiah and myself that we've seen Totems change quite a bit from beginning to current state, as a game, but personally I didn't realise it was a problematic issue. If anything, I always feared that Totems would eventually fall flat as a 'merely good' game rather than brilliant, with lower-than-expected sales. Didn't really see it coming that there was a lack of vision.