Free Version Status and History |
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Introduction:
Considering the current low activity
levels in the free version of the game (currently hosted by WON.net) I
wanted to provide a little background information about the game and where
we stand with our business relationship with Havas Interactive. |
"The 6 Month Clause":
Due to a long and complicated situation
that existed with Sierra when we negotiated our original contract with
them, we agreed to a clause that gave them the right to discontinue
promotion of the game for a six-month period without being in violation of
our contract.
(This may sound odd now, but at the time Havas wasn't
in the picture and there were some potential mergers being discussed that
could have taken the fledgling World Opponent Network offline for a few
months.
That was the basis for everyone's agreement on that
"six month" clause.)
When all promotion and marketing for SpiritWars was discontinued by
WON.net in August of 2000, we were literally put in a position of having to wait
six months before we could begin the process of working out a resolution
to the problem. |
Terms of The Separation:
We have resolved all remaining issues
with Havas on the dissolution of our working relationship, and the final
papers are being prepared by the respective attorneys.
We have agreed to a 30-day transition period during which the game will remain
active on their network.
This 30-day period is a "non-exclusive" transition phase, however, and we can still
launch the game with another partner during that time period if we so
choose. |
Current Activity Level in the Free Version:
The current activity level in the Free
version is at an all-time low.
Prior to the decision by Free to stop promotion of the game, we were averaging
between 60-90 new players a day and our low-end level of daily games was
over 300; with busy days topping 600 games played.
As the longperiod of no promotion dragged out, we have seen activity levels slowly
decline.
We are currently seeing 5-10 new players a day, and the
low-end activity level for the free version is about 125 games a day with
a "good" day logging about 200-250 games played.
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