Comments on: Unity bailing out Blade3D customers http://blogs.unity3d.com/2009/08/14/unity-bailing-out-blade3d-customers/ A glimpse inside Unity Technologies... Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:04:14 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3 By: Susanne Dicaprio http://blogs.unity3d.com/2009/08/14/unity-bailing-out-blade3d-customers/#comment-17607 Susanne Dicaprio Wed, 22 Sep 2010 04:20:40 +0000 http://blogs.unity3d.com/?p=1211#comment-17607 I Enjoy The lord And that i Seriously much like the Holy bible I Enjoy The lord And that i Seriously much like the Holy bible

]]> By: Tim Grace http://blogs.unity3d.com/2009/08/14/unity-bailing-out-blade3d-customers/#comment-14882 Tim Grace Mon, 21 Jun 2010 21:59:29 +0000 http://blogs.unity3d.com/?p=1211#comment-14882 I am also not sure why Unity hired Tony Garcia either but of course David you have to say he's doing a stellar job. The grapevine has been saying that he's dropped the ball at least a couple of times on a couple of things which would have given Unity some major advantages. One thing I have learned in the past is that you never bring on somebody who's messed up at another company. Anyway, I wish Unity well, however our company will not use it. We have our own proprietary engine which if we had the money to get it into the market, you'd have some serious competition. :-) You guys will sort out your own problems as they come along. Best of luck to you. I am also not sure why Unity hired Tony Garcia either but of course
David you have to say he’s doing a stellar job. The grapevine has been saying that he’s dropped the ball at least a couple of times on a couple of things which would have given Unity some major advantages. One thing I have learned in the past is that you never bring on somebody who’s messed up at another company. Anyway, I wish Unity well, however our company will not use it. We have our own proprietary engine which if we had the money to get it into the market, you’d have some serious competition. :-) You guys will sort out your own problems as they come along. Best of luck to you.

]]> By: David Helgason http://blogs.unity3d.com/2009/08/14/unity-bailing-out-blade3d-customers/#comment-12108 David Helgason Tue, 23 Feb 2010 18:58:22 +0000 http://blogs.unity3d.com/?p=1211#comment-12108 Tony's doing a stellar job with Unity and is certainly not getting in anybody's way (quite the opposite, he facilitates a lot of complicated projects, freeing up other people to do their jobs). I can't comment on Blade3D or their investors, as I only know the stories second and third hand. Tony’s doing a stellar job with Unity and is certainly not getting in anybody’s way (quite the opposite, he facilitates a lot of complicated projects, freeing up other people to do their jobs). I can’t comment on Blade3D or their investors, as I only know the stories second and third hand.

]]> By: BlueMeanie http://blogs.unity3d.com/2009/08/14/unity-bailing-out-blade3d-customers/#comment-12100 BlueMeanie Tue, 23 Feb 2010 15:01:51 +0000 http://blogs.unity3d.com/?p=1211#comment-12100 So, as an update, I've learned the true story behind Blade3D and it was not a "good deal more benign" than it was put. Apparently the CEO put in place originally was a do nothing and managed to have a big help in firing all the Key Blade 3D members AND managed to screw up the other company that was present in the "Blade Games World" merger. So I'm not sure why Unity3D hired Tony Garcia - do they feel their development efforts are too productive and need someone to throw them off course? Also, if you look at Digini now, the new CEO that was installed after Tony Garcia was kicked off the team has also been fired, and with all that, it really seems like the company is going into the ground. So let me ask? What did California Technology Ventures bring to that deal? Is their idea of making successful companies seeing how fast they can bring them down in a year? There's one thing I know - I'll NEVER EVER trust them as an investor and nor should any entrepreneur. So, as an update, I’ve learned the true story behind Blade3D and it was not a “good deal more benign” than it was put. Apparently the CEO put in place originally was a do nothing and managed to have a big help in firing all the Key Blade 3D members AND managed to screw up the other company that was present in the “Blade Games World” merger.

So I’m not sure why Unity3D hired Tony Garcia – do they feel their development efforts are too productive and need someone to throw them off course?

Also, if you look at Digini now, the new CEO that was installed after Tony Garcia was kicked off the team has also been fired, and with all that, it really seems like the company is going into the ground. So let me ask? What did California Technology Ventures bring to that deal? Is their idea of making successful companies seeing how fast they can bring them down in a year? There’s one thing I know – I’ll NEVER EVER trust them as an investor and nor should any entrepreneur.

]]> By: Wewoo http://blogs.unity3d.com/2009/08/14/unity-bailing-out-blade3d-customers/#comment-8015 Wewoo Tue, 25 Aug 2009 04:12:15 +0000 http://blogs.unity3d.com/?p=1211#comment-8015 Of course you get the kind words, I love your editor and underlying framework. Anyone who exploits mono gets street cred. But still, this is clearly a hijack situation. Just because they left of their own volition doesn't mean the investors didn't put them in that position. Afterall, you've now got the man the VC's installed on your team, so he's probably got a much different perspective than they do. I'm sure if I talked to them, I'd either find that they were bought out or that they were given the shaft by the VC's. Either way, from the user perspective, it's a bonified hijack. In any case, it's kinda sad, because now the market has one less competitor in the mix to drive every player towards innovative things. Of course you get the kind words, I love your editor and underlying framework. Anyone who exploits mono gets street cred.

But still, this is clearly a hijack situation. Just because they left of their own volition doesn’t mean the investors didn’t put them in that position. Afterall, you’ve now got the man the VC’s installed on your team, so he’s probably got a much different perspective than they do. I’m sure if I talked to them, I’d either find that they were bought out or that they were given the shaft by the VC’s. Either way, from the user perspective, it’s a bonified hijack.

In any case, it’s kinda sad, because now the market has one less competitor in the mix to drive every player towards innovative things.

]]> By: David Helgason http://blogs.unity3d.com/2009/08/14/unity-bailing-out-blade3d-customers/#comment-8006 David Helgason Mon, 24 Aug 2009 21:54:47 +0000 http://blogs.unity3d.com/?p=1211#comment-8006 @Wewoo: Thanks for the kind words about Unity (and yes, we're healthy and profitable, and as such a really good company to put your trust in). But to be fair, the actual story behind Blade3D is a good deal more benign that you put it: for example the VCs put in a fairly substantial amount of money, didn't fire anyone, and the founders left of their own volition. @Wewoo: Thanks for the kind words about Unity (and yes, we’re healthy and profitable, and as such a really good company to put your trust in).

But to be fair, the actual story behind Blade3D is a good deal more benign that you put it: for example the VCs put in a fairly substantial amount of money, didn’t fire anyone, and the founders left of their own volition.

]]> By: Wewoo http://blogs.unity3d.com/2009/08/14/unity-bailing-out-blade3d-customers/#comment-8005 Wewoo Mon, 24 Aug 2009 21:31:33 +0000 http://blogs.unity3d.com/?p=1211#comment-8005 Great job helping these guys out Unity team, I commend you Blade3D was made by a good company that was hijacked and turned into a waste by a bunch of idiot venture capitalists (California Technology Ventures, LLC). They came in, put a little money into the product 6 months ago, installed puppet CEO's, and then fired the founders (and LEAD DEVELOPERS) 6 months after the investment (which only happened in september '08) and then decide to take the product and do what they please. In other words, Blade3D was HIJACKED by the vulture capitalists at California Technology Ventures only 6 months after being involved and robbed all of you and the founders of your investment in the product. Funny considering on their frontpage they claim they make "direct investments in technology and life science companies. CTV has built a strong reputation for its entrepreneurial approach to investing and working with companies." "Entrepreneurial Approach"? If firing the founders, shutting down the product, and saying "tough luck" to the userbase 6 months into the investment is their idea of an Entreprneurial Approach, I'd stay FARRR away from them. This is a clear case of vulture capitalism from California Technology Ventures and nothing more. Fair warning, if you're an entrepreneur, stay away from guys like CTV and bootstrap your product. If you're a user, investigate the companies backers and ensure they're not pirates like CTV. Go with companies like Unity who have awesome track records for standing strong for their useres. Great job helping these guys out Unity team, I commend you

Blade3D was made by a good company that was hijacked and turned into a waste by a bunch of idiot venture capitalists (California Technology Ventures, LLC).

They came in, put a little money into the product 6 months ago, installed puppet CEO’s, and then fired the founders (and LEAD DEVELOPERS) 6 months after the investment (which only happened in september ’08) and then decide to take the product and do what they please. In other words, Blade3D was HIJACKED by the vulture capitalists at California Technology Ventures only 6 months after being involved and robbed all of you and the founders of your investment in the product.

Funny considering on their frontpage they claim they make “direct investments in technology and life science companies. CTV has built a strong reputation for its entrepreneurial approach to investing and working with companies.” “Entrepreneurial Approach”? If firing the founders, shutting down the product, and saying “tough luck” to the userbase 6 months into the investment is their idea of an Entreprneurial Approach, I’d stay FARRR away from them. This is a clear case of vulture capitalism from California Technology Ventures and nothing more.

Fair warning, if you’re an entrepreneur, stay away from guys like CTV and bootstrap your product. If you’re a user, investigate the companies backers and ensure they’re not pirates like CTV.

Go with companies like Unity who have awesome track records for standing strong for their useres.

]]> By: guy http://blogs.unity3d.com/2009/08/14/unity-bailing-out-blade3d-customers/#comment-7820 guy Wed, 19 Aug 2009 17:56:50 +0000 http://blogs.unity3d.com/?p=1211#comment-7820 I was a Blade3d user. I have a license for Torque. I don't like it. (It doesn't support fbx, has it's own file format ->dts-> That gives a lot of trouble exporting it. It can't just run a script and debug it. You have to start the engine all over again. The way they organised it in subfolders is not very clean. I just don't like it. Who at Digini should I contact ->mail adress please -> to give you an overview? One last question. OnLive streaming gaming service is coming. Would you guys consider making game streaming servers for Unity games? I was a Blade3d user. I have a license for Torque. I don’t like it. (It doesn’t support fbx, has it’s own file format ->dts-> That gives a lot of trouble exporting it. It can’t just run a script and debug it. You have to start the engine all over again. The way they organised it in subfolders is not very clean. I just don’t like it. Who at Digini should I contact ->mail adress please -> to give you an overview?

One last question. OnLive streaming gaming service is coming. Would you guys consider making game streaming servers for Unity games?

]]> By: Tom Higgins http://blogs.unity3d.com/2009/08/14/unity-bailing-out-blade3d-customers/#comment-7748 Tom Higgins Mon, 17 Aug 2009 18:33:33 +0000 http://blogs.unity3d.com/?p=1211#comment-7748 @ABC: while Torque might be offering a less expensive step into their product for Blade users, we think ours strikes a better balance between offering folks to cross over from Blade3D while at the same time respecting those that have already spent their hard earned money on Unity. If folks don't want to send us the needed information that's entirely understandable, there are good options from both our end as well as from Garage Games, so people can pick the one that suits them and go for it. @ABC: while Torque might be offering a less expensive step into their product for Blade users, we think ours strikes a better balance between offering folks to cross over from Blade3D while at the same time respecting those that have already spent their hard earned money on Unity. If folks don’t want to send us the needed information that’s entirely understandable, there are good options from both our end as well as from Garage Games, so people can pick the one that suits them and go for it.

]]> By: Aaron http://blogs.unity3d.com/2009/08/14/unity-bailing-out-blade3d-customers/#comment-7686 Aaron Sat, 15 Aug 2009 15:24:42 +0000 http://blogs.unity3d.com/?p=1211#comment-7686 As the collapse of Blade3D tends to suggest, you get what you pay for and low prices can't always support great developers. It's a nice gesture from both the Unity guys and Torque, but if you're only deciding factor is the cost of a tool, then there's a good chance you end up with the wrong tool for you. Just try out the free stuff and see what you like. Personally, I use Unity for many things, but I'm rolling my own code for an iPhone game right now. As the collapse of Blade3D tends to suggest, you get what you pay for and low prices can’t always support great developers. It’s a nice gesture from both the Unity guys and Torque, but if you’re only deciding factor is the cost of a tool, then there’s a good chance you end up with the wrong tool for you. Just try out the free stuff and see what you like.

Personally, I use Unity for many things, but I’m rolling my own code for an iPhone game right now.

]]> By: ABC http://blogs.unity3d.com/2009/08/14/unity-bailing-out-blade3d-customers/#comment-7683 ABC Sat, 15 Aug 2009 13:20:42 +0000 http://blogs.unity3d.com/?p=1211#comment-7683 A nice incentive but the Torque3D deal is better. First of all, Unity subscribers don't receive an "invoice", you sign up and the only verification of charges is on your credit card/bank statement. I'm certainly not sending Unity a copy of 7 of my personal bank/credit card statements to get a $100 discount. Also, Digini has only been offering a subscription for a limited amount of time, probably less than a year, so unless you were foolish enough to spend $99 a month on their "pro" subscription (no reason to do this until the product was completed), the odds that you'd accumulated enough charges to get to 50% of the price of Unity Pro are possibly but pretty low. Therefore, the Torque3D deal of 50% off for "any" verified subscriber is a far more enticing offer on an already less expensive product...that also includes the source code. Unity is a "great" game development system, but may want to consider being a bit more competitive, particularly now that the development environment is cross platform. A nice incentive but the Torque3D deal is better. First of all, Unity subscribers don’t receive an “invoice”, you sign up and the only verification of charges is on your credit card/bank statement. I’m certainly not sending Unity a copy of 7 of my personal bank/credit card statements to get a $100 discount. Also, Digini has only been offering a subscription for a limited amount of time, probably less than a year, so unless you were foolish enough to spend $99 a month on their “pro” subscription (no reason to do this until the product was completed), the odds that you’d accumulated enough charges to get to 50% of the price of Unity Pro are possibly but pretty low.
Therefore, the Torque3D deal of 50% off for “any” verified subscriber is a far more enticing offer on an already less expensive product…that also includes the source code.

Unity is a “great” game development system, but may want to consider being a bit more competitive, particularly now that the development environment is cross platform.

]]> By: Jim Borden http://blogs.unity3d.com/2009/08/14/unity-bailing-out-blade3d-customers/#comment-7667 Jim Borden Fri, 14 Aug 2009 14:23:21 +0000 http://blogs.unity3d.com/?p=1211#comment-7667 I used Blade3D since around the time of its first beta when I used it to develop my senior project at my university. I switched to Unity because of networking support, but I always thought Blade would be as good as or better than Unity when it reached version 2.5. The devs of Blade were very helpful and it was a pretty good product, it's really sad to hear it is dying. I used Blade3D since around the time of its first beta when I used it to develop my senior project at my university. I switched to Unity because of networking support, but I always thought Blade would be as good as or better than Unity when it reached version 2.5. The devs of Blade were very helpful and it was a pretty good product, it’s really sad to hear it is dying.

]]> By: Jonah Stagner http://blogs.unity3d.com/2009/08/14/unity-bailing-out-blade3d-customers/#comment-7666 Jonah Stagner Fri, 14 Aug 2009 14:20:44 +0000 http://blogs.unity3d.com/?p=1211#comment-7666 Wow. I know some people that might be completely panicking right now. This is an exceptional offer, I hope they take Unity up on it! Wow. I know some people that might be completely panicking right now. This is an exceptional offer, I hope they take Unity up on it!

]]> By: Wodger http://blogs.unity3d.com/2009/08/14/unity-bailing-out-blade3d-customers/#comment-7664 Wodger Fri, 14 Aug 2009 13:56:38 +0000 http://blogs.unity3d.com/?p=1211#comment-7664 Very nice offer! :) Blade users should jump at this chance asap. Not only do they save some money, but Unity is a *much* better product as well. Our little hobby project used Blade for a while, but although it showed promise, it was very version 0.8 (like so many other low-cost game engines out there..) I guess this offer does not apply to ex-Blade users who have already switched to Unity? ;) Very nice offer! :)

Blade users should jump at this chance asap. Not only do they save some money, but Unity is a *much* better product as well. Our little hobby project used Blade for a while, but although it showed promise, it was very version 0.8 (like so many other low-cost game engines out there..)

I guess this offer does not apply to ex-Blade users who have already switched to Unity? ;)

]]> By: Marty Plumbo http://blogs.unity3d.com/2009/08/14/unity-bailing-out-blade3d-customers/#comment-7663 Marty Plumbo Fri, 14 Aug 2009 13:19:25 +0000 http://blogs.unity3d.com/?p=1211#comment-7663 So, the "official" number of Unity devs now is "around 10,000" - awesome! So, the “official” number of Unity devs now is “around 10,000″ – awesome!

]]> By: Jashan Chittesh http://blogs.unity3d.com/2009/08/14/unity-bailing-out-blade3d-customers/#comment-7660 Jashan Chittesh Fri, 14 Aug 2009 12:19:13 +0000 http://blogs.unity3d.com/?p=1211#comment-7660 Wow - that's what I call generous! Before I found out about Unity, I was actually looking at Blade3D which back then was still in some early alpha/beta stage. I think it looked like a decent engine, so I'm sorry to hear it didn't work out for them. I'm very glad I took the Unity road, though - even though back then this meant I had to get a Mac (which I don't regret at all - but it meant quite an investment). I can certainly say that Unity totally rocks - and I think moving from Blade3D to Unity shouldn't be too hard even though obviously, every product is different, so there sure will be some things you'll miss while there will be lots of other things you'll love ;-) One of the things I appreciate most about Unity is it's wonderful community - so ... a warm welcome to everyone who'll be joining us! Wow – that’s what I call generous! Before I found out about Unity, I was actually looking at Blade3D which back then was still in some early alpha/beta stage. I think it looked like a decent engine, so I’m sorry to hear it didn’t work out for them. I’m very glad I took the Unity road, though – even though back then this meant I had to get a Mac (which I don’t regret at all – but it meant quite an investment). I can certainly say that Unity totally rocks – and I think moving from Blade3D to Unity shouldn’t be too hard even though obviously, every product is different, so there sure will be some things you’ll miss while there will be lots of other things you’ll love ;-)

One of the things I appreciate most about Unity is it’s wonderful community – so … a warm welcome to everyone who’ll be joining us!

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