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.
Quoting: TeodosioAs Phoronix noted, Feral has terrible employee reviews on Glassdoor. There is something not working there.I wouldn't call them outright terrible, out of 6 reviews only one is negative and another one neutral. The rest are positive.
QuoteIt’s a shame Michael Larabel didn't contact us before publishing this piece, we would have been happy to set him straight.
Surprise, surprise.
Mohandevir Feb 26, 2020
@all: Cookies to Feral!?!
Quoting: subProton/Steamplay. *Hooray* \o/
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. :/
they have to choose games more carefully
i am pretty sure they wouldnt have made a linux port of life is strange 2, if they have known about proton
i guess the cash cows are online games like they do with total war and warhammer and games with really good graphics like romb raider
at least the very skilled vulkan and linux game developers have a new job in no time
epic should throw some money on feral for linux client and fortnite and rocket leauge linux versions
Last edited by Raaben on 26 February 2020 at 2:29 pm UTC
rustybroomhandle Feb 26, 2020
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