Indiegogo grants ZX Spectrum reboot firm another two weeks to send a console Indiegogo has given flailing Retro Computers Ltd a fortnight stay of execution on its threat to call in debt collectors after the ZX Spectrum reboot biz failed to deliver a product by the end-of-May deadline. Following some gentle and not-so-gentle prodding from The Register, the crowdfunding platform eventually told us that …
David Levy and Suzanne Martin have responded with the following statement:
"The actions of the previous Directors is the only reason for everything not being absolutely perfect in this best of all possible worlds. It's not our fault: Blame them. And pay no attention to the man behind the curtain."
Another deadline passes and another is set.
It looks to me that Indiegogo are perhaps having to face up to not actually being able to do what they had said they would.
Having followed the sorry saga so far it would not surprise me to see RCL claiming any non-compliance with what has been asked for has been justified by that "via FedEx" being too restrictive and they couldn't supply "name, phone number, and email address of the main contact at Sky" due to GDPR and confidentiality agreements.
It seems Indiegogo haven't got a clue what's going on because Sky has nothing to do with the delay or games or the lack of them, just the ROM and the instruction manuals. And Sky will probably be as equally confused by the question.
Is it wrong of me to think that perhaps RCL made some shit up to get them off their backs just a couple of weeks longer?
Sky has nothing to do with the delay or games or the lack of them
I am wondering, if Indiegogo have figured out there's little they can actually do, if they aren't simply hoping one of the big boys might be coaxed into kicking RCL into line and shifting the issue off themselves?
This fiasco isn't playing out very well for Indiegogo and there's a lot at stake.
I am sure that Indiegogo also think that Sky probably have nothing to do with it, that's why they've asked for the contact details.
The other issue is that RCL probably have no seizeable assets at all by now, thus sending in the bailiffs will simply end the whole sorry affair.
Indiegogo must be really quite scared, because this pre-order-gone-bad could close them down as well.
Indiegogo are probably panicking a bit due to the Vega+ court judgement being cited in other cases. They used the GDPR T&Cs change as an opportunity to add a clause which prohibits court action and says only a US arbitration service is valid. The thing is, GDPR specifically allows it (and that was on top of existing EU nation state law which probably already allowed it anyway) so I guess the change is to stop the wheels falling off the bandwagon in the US.
As for the Vega+, it’s probably going to be like the Every Child Can Code website pushed by RCL again using Sinclair's name. Great things were promised including a teacher support network and programming books. There was liberal mention of using the Vega (you know, that thing with four keys) in schools to execute BASIC programs.
In the end there was no teacher support network, no books, Paul Dunn (who did the BASin software used in the project) was never paid, the website disappeared, and the Twitter account was just used to spam more alternate-reality Vega+ news before falling silent.
Still, at least whatever harebrained scheme they come up with next to spend other people's money, their name in the Sinclair world is mud so they won't be bothering us any more.
Well the 'lots of people' also read that the development was done and funds were needed for manufacture right at the beginning of the campaign, on the IGG website. A judge has also deemed that the go-goers have actually placed an order, not an investment or a pledge. RCL did state that the product was ready for production on the campaign page.
Wrong, its more than that. It will be mentioned in retro gaming magazines and top 10 failed consoles lists for the next 20 or 30 years.
Kids in 20 years time will read about it and then someone will find a prototype or a selection of "nearly complete" machines that will end up on the ebay of the future selling for thousands :D
...on a project already 2 yrs overdue? seems weird.
and why were multiple backers recently saying that when they contacted indiegogo to open a case, indiegogo were immediately closing the cases and marking them as 'solved'?
and can anyone possibly explain this:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/DURAGADGET-Childrens-Princess-Headphones-Detailing-Pink/dp/B01BWOCYJ2/
I remember happily playing Speccy games on a hacked PSP about 8 years ago. I also bought a GP2X Chinese retro box around 2010 that would let me play Speccy, CBM64, Amstrad, SNES, Megadrive and countless other retro machines. The GP2X cost me something like £80 second hand at the time and what's more it was in my hand and usuable, not like this VEGA catestrophe that can only play one machine's games, has not made a single appearance and from a company that has investors money locked up "in trust" so to speak.
Android app stores are awash with retro emulators for pennies, either use on screen control or for something more tractile buy Bluetooth gaming add-ons off eBay for a few quid. At least you'll be gaming in a matter of days guranteed rather than waiting for news from a bunch of incompetant twats arguing among each other.
I suspect the easy availability of emulators is why all the backers thought this was real.
As far as I can tell, the only technically difficult part of this project was getting the rights. Which they had.
Quite how they managed to screw the rest up is beyond me. Unless they never intended to ship anything of course, but that can't possibly be the case. Can it?
I've had cause to look at a couple of other projects on Indiegogo in the last few weeks. Both were also around 2 years late, with little evidence in one case of any product being forthcoming and with complaints about lack of information. Yet people still seem prepared to risk large sums for something that often amounts to vapourware.
@GlenP
I've seen some sort of weight loss related nonsense being sold via a viral video on FB. This is a product ready to ship to us, the public.
The comments on it are absolutely stuffed with people who still have not had theirs yet from the original kickstarter 2 years back. Yet there they are, selling the same thing to the public.
The mind boggles. They're just no strings attached loans, basically.
Yes, I understand that crowdfunding is the new, hot trend, and the spin put on it is that crowdfunding is the democracy of capital in action. What it amounts to in practice is that no single party has enough money in the game to make it worth hiring a lawyer to go after anyone for non-performance. In theory, one might expect the crowdfunding sponsor, who takes a cut of the investment, to police the funded projects. That expectation ignores the central fact that crowdfunded projects are, almost by definition, too dodgy to receive conventional funding. A lot of conventionally funded ventures fail for various reasons in various ways, and those ventures were carefully vetted and usually have a sensible business plan, participants with experience in business and in the relevant aspects of their project (logistics, manufacturing, etc.). The real shock is that there are a non-negligible number of crowdfunded projects that succeed and deliver product.
I've noticed that the BBC are downplaying the fiasco too. Their last article certainly brings across IGG as getting caught up rather than anywhere near responsible for any part in it, and no mention of Suzanne Martin and her colourful history.
In fact, reading that last article (ZX Vega+ console faces Indiegogo's debt collectors) I'm starting to feel like David Levy has worked his magical self-promotion (just like the last four decades) to being a world renowned AI computer scientist and trusted businessman.
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