22cans is unable to even pay salaries for enough people to fix their broken games. I got the impression their hopes are currently resting on whatever project Peter is currently trying to push out.
Nah, they're in good financial health. This article is from last week:
http://venturebeat.com/2015/02/03/f...eter-molyneuxs-reinvention-journey-interview/
Godus finally debuted just before the holiday season in 2014. Molyneux found to his dismay that players raced through content in a matter of days when he expected them to take weeks. That meant the team had to accelerate its schedule for creating new content. Over time, the team created 35 updates for Godus. The result has been tens of millions of dollars in revenue, Molyneux said.
Add to that the fact that Molyneux himself must be worth an absolute fortune. I can't find the figures for how much Bullfrog and Lionhead were sold for, but it would be tens of millions for sure. Around the time MS bought Lionhead they dropped over £200m on Rare. So Lionhead must have been around £50m at least?
Plus he's been a VP at EA and a VP at Xbox, both of which probably carry 7 figure salaries.
Molyneux is minted.
22 Cans only has 20 staff, assuming they get an average of £32k each (average UK dev salary) that's only £640k a year in salaries.
The whole Curiosity-Godus thing seems incredibly scummy, I can't believe they don't just send the kid a cheque for £20k or something and call it an advance. If his revenue share ever gets above £20k they can start sending him more money.
Yeah, ok, the terms of his contract means they can wiggle out of giving him anything, but at the moment, the prize in the middle of the curiosity cube was fucking nothing. They were selling upgrades for that game to give people a better chance of winning the "Life changing" prize.
The prize was literally nothing.