Note: At the time, the idea of a server had not materialized.
Originally posted on the Earth Eternal Forever fansite forum (now Terra Eternus)
Post subject: Re: Wildly speculate on who bought EE!Here's the story. This is the real deal. I can't say where I got it from, but let's just say it's inside information. Intrigued? Read on.
You see, Sparkplay Media had more than just a few people on the development team. They played the game too, as we did. Like us, some members of the team were upset over the changes implemented by recent patches. It began a few versions ago, but as further patches modified the game with radical changes to drops, item stats, and character models, this small group of employees became increasingly annoyed with the direction Sparkplay Media was taking the game. There were some arguments at staff meetings, the game's development was controlled by majority rule and some of the higher positions clearly wielded more influential votes. Some employees on the development team were frustrated that their voices went unheard during these meetings, their complaints promptly dismissed. Sparkplay decided they knew what was best for the game's future and investors. It is reported that one angry employee threw a coffee mug at the wall after a meeting.
With tensions rising, the increasingly disgruntled employees held private staff meetings during off-hours, organized through communications outside the company network. They agreed that if their voices were not heard during the next staff meeting, they would be forced to take more extreme measures. During the next staff meeting, even more outrageous plans were unveiled for the next upcoming patch. Remember the April Fools post earlier this year? A few of the joke changes weren't really jokes, but were planted to gather community reactions. As you might expect, the next meeting didn't go well.
Details are sketchy from this point onward, but some time after this meeting the employees began archiving the game source code and assets for both the client and server. Apparently several copies of this data were distributed. These events were eventually caught by the executives. With the truth uncovered, the company immediately fell apart. All participants in the scheme were immediately released, pending legal investigation. What wasn't known at the time was one of the higher executives knew of the movement, and was directly responsible for assisting the data leaks. Also, he apparently had some connections to a few associates in the law business and he was able to secure some loopholes that protected his contributions toward the game's intellectual property.
Because of how large this company movement had become, an unofficial truce was called to prevent information from reaching the public. This supposed sale to another game company is nothing more than an internal legal battle between Sparkplay Media employees over the rights to the game. Matt said we had five guesses. Who would've suspected it was their own people? The so-called buyer is actually the collective group of ex-employees who have somehow provided enough of a legal counter-threat that Sparkplay is willing to keep quiet. They intend to launch their own company, Flintpause Media. The game will be relaunched under the title Planet Forever.