Hello,
Below I am sending answers to your questions.
- what was the nature of P8 (since there will be no more marketing campaign) and what specific development goal was not achieved after 6 years of development?
As we wrote in the investor information, the idea of "Project 8" was ambitious and promising. However, we have not been able to produce it at this time. We do not want to reveal the details of the game. Other studios are also looking for ideas for new games and who knows what will happen in the future....
- what assets will be reused in future projects (are we talking about UE5 assets, soundtrack...)?
We are currently reviewing "Project 8" assets, but we see potential to use certain mechanics, graphics, etc. in our other productions (games), including future ones.
- what is the exact number of employees who will leave the company? (although this is a sensitive topic in games, it would be helpful to shed some light on the future valuation)
Nearly 20 people will be leaving the 11 bit studios. The rest of the "P8" team will join the Frostpunk 2 and The Alters teams and will be assigned to new, as yet unannounced game projects.
- will the board members have any "participation in the game", such as buying shares or resigning
Yesterday we reported on the purchase of shares by an entity related to one of the company's board members.
https://ir.11bitstudios.com/en/current-reports
- what steps will the company take to try to regain investors' trust in financing future projects?
The company does not need to seek external financing to continue producing games. As for the change in attitude towards the company, we believe that subsequent releases will translate into solid financial results that will be appreciated by investors. We prefer to be judged by the fundamentals (results) rather than promises.
- what measures will be taken, if any, to ensure that nothing like this happens again in the development cycle?
The failure of "P8" has been a valuable lesson for us. We are analysing exactly what mistakes we made in the management of this project so that we can avoid them in the future. Certainly, too long a development cycle is a key problem in such a dynamically changing industry.
- The whole handling of P8's shortcomings seems at least fraudulent after 6 years, and the value of the shares clearly reflects this, secrecy and lack of information proved to be more harmful than anything else. An example is Remedy Entertainment, which canceled Project Vanguard after 6 years, but the market reaction was completely different, because they were more transparent about the status of each project in their quarterly updates.
The production of "P8," with some problems that we signalled, was moving forward. So the project was continued because we believed in its success. However, the last milestone showed that the game still required a lot of money and an extension of the schedule. As a result, the chances of it being profitable decreased significantly. We decided that it would be better to close "P8 (this decision was also very unpleasant for us) and redirect people and money to other, more promising projects.
Best regards