Update: Feral got in touch, all is fine. As I suggested it was, it's due to a late filling of accounts. Phoronix has now removed their article and Feral has given permission to quote them on this:
Hello Liam,
Thank you for your email.
Sorry to give a mundane explanation, but this is a non-story. It is simply due to late filing of our accounts, not great, but not terribly unusual.
It’s a shame Michael Larabel didn't contact us before publishing this piece, we would have been happy to set him straight.
Feral is in good health and we look forward to continuing to bring great games to our favourite platforms for many years to come.
Regards,
Timur
Original article:
Feral Interactive, the porting company that has made many games available on Linux (as well as macOS and mobile) may be in a spot of trouble.
Reported first on Phoronix, as found out from the UK's Companies House, they're being given a "First Gazette notice for compulsory strike-off" which is not exactly a good sign for any company. What this means, is that they have a few months before they might cease to legally exist. There can be a few reasons for this, like not sending in their accounts or an annual confirmation statement. Looking at Feral, it seems theirs are overdue as they should have been done by 31 December 2019.
This would be really bad for Linux gaming as a whole considering just how many ports they've given us including: Mad Max, Shadow of Mordor, XCOM, XCOM 2, Life is Strange 1 & 2 + Before the Storm, HITMAN, Tomb Raider, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, numerous Total War titles and they were supposed to also be bringing Total War Saga: TROY to Linux this year too.
However—given how they've only somewhat recently expanded into Nintendo Switch and mobile porting with multiple titles (and they're pretty lucrative platforms), and they only just released Company of Heroes on iPad, something about this seems a little odd. Hopefully it's a case of some missing paperwork that's being prepared late with this notice perhaps being automatic.
We've reached out to Feral Interactive, to see if they can provide a statement.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
I do really really hope we don't lose Feral. Maybe buying more stuff from them would help, even though we're a tiny demographic.
Just bought the new Tomb Raider and LiS 2 full price from their store. :)
Feral leaving would be the day I'm installing Windows 10. Because there's no better suited system to start Exe files.
In case you wondered:
Yes, I'm the one to decide. :D
It's not like that at least some people assumed this will affect Feral.
Going for Switch is a good business decision.
Hopefully, it's not too late for them.
I feel for the employees and the uncomfortable time they're going through. :/
Of course they can't use the codes from the games they already ported, but I think they may have people with know how to make decent multi platform games (pc/consoles/mobiles) and this is still a niche even between big companies.
It take just one good game to make a company relevant, and if they somehow could make a cross platform game (consoles) this could be the icing on the cake.
benoliver999 Feb 26, 2020
In Dutch we say "een storm in een glas water" (I'm sure the meaning can be figured out with the knowledge of English. I'm expecting that this is what we have here.
In England we unsurprisingly say 'storm in a tea cup'.
This could really just be an admin oversight.
I think Feral should think about become a gaming developer company rather than just porting existent ones...
Game design and making takes totally different skills from porting.
As Phoronix noted, Feral has terrible employee reviews on Glassdoor. There is something not working there.Glassdoor is an outlet for disgruntled ex-employees. People there all have a bone to pick.
I wouldn't give it too much credit.
Last edited by TheSHEEEP on 26 February 2020 at 12:59 pm UTC
And can also take multiple years for a single game.I think Feral should think about become a gaming developer company rather than just porting existent ones...
Game design and making takes totally different skills from porting.
Mohandevir Feb 26, 2020
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the Mac market going to dwindle by lack of new valuable X64 gaming hardware? That's another blow to Feral's traditional business model.
Seriously, I'm not terribly shaken/surprised by the news. I really do like what Feral did for Linux gaming and I'm a big fan of the company, but lately they had lots of problems finding new ips to port.
I had the opposite impression when looking at their mobile / Switch news. My fear was they might abaondon Linux and maybe even Mac for their new fields of action.
Last edited by Eike on 26 February 2020 at 1:31 pm UTC
Game design and making takes totally different skills from porting.
But doesn't prevent then to acquire/hire people with those knowledge :)
I mean, they must at least have some very good Vulkan programmers in the team due to their very good quality ports.
And can also take multiple years for a single game.
Some years which they may not have if they base their business only in porting things.
Anyway, it's only a thought I have, it's not like I'm their CEO anyway...
Mohandevir Feb 26, 2020
Seriously, I'm not terribly shaken/surprised by the news. I really do like what Feral did for Linux gaming and I'm a big fan of the company, but lately they had lots of problems finding new ips to port.
I had the opposite impression when looking at their mobile / Switch news. My fear was they might abaondon Linux and maybe even Mac for their new fields of action.
Tought that too, but did it turned out as they hoped? Anyway, we will find out soon enough. Let's hope it's just an administrative "fumble".
Mohandevir Feb 26, 2020
Let's hope it's gonna be HAL-right. Ba Dum Tss! ;)
Last edited by Mohandevir on 26 February 2020 at 6:49 pm UTC
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