Message from the Founders

[Quintilian]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T48Lpld0VOQ

EDIT: someone with more elite forum skills can put it in a frame.

[=CJW= Zweistein000 (W)]

Basically what I heard is that in order to prevent a full Cease and Desist order they negotiated a "gentleman's agreement" where MWLL would be given 1 year to complete what it can and after that point no new features could be released. The agreement also said that MWLL mustn't copy any features from MW:O except the ones MW:O copied form them (here lies a partial reason to commando death and why MW:LL will never have an official mechlab).
It was then the decision of Wandering Samurai Studio owners and the dev team, to discontinue working on the mod, that could have no new fetures (just bug fixes and rebalances).

TL;DR

1. No official CnD
2. To prevent it a "no new features or copying" order was given with 1 year to comply
3. Development of MW:LL was stopped because of 2.
------
Bottom line: MW:O and Piranha are still to blame, DO NOT POST RANT TOPICS AND HATE MAILS. You will only get Kamikaze, Criminal and the rest of the dev team into trouble. Protest silently (yes you can, join me).

[KorJax]

Basically what I heard is that in order to prevent a full Cease and Desist order they negotiated a "gentleman's agreement" where MWLL would be given 1 year to complete what it can and after that point no new features could be released. The agreement also said that MWLL mustn't copy any features from MW:O except the ones MW:O copied form them (here lies a partial reason to commando death and why MW:LL will never have an official mechlab).
It was then the decision of Wandering Samurai Studio owners and the dev team, to discontinue working on the mod, that could have no new fetures (just bug fixes and rebalances).

TL;DR

1. No official CnD
2. To prevent it a "no new features or copying" order was given with 1 year to comply
3. Development of MW:LL was stopped because of 2.
------
Bottom line: MW:O and Piranha are still to blame, DO NOT POST RANT TOPICS AND HATE MAILS. You will only get Kamikaze, Criminal and the rest of the dev team into trouble. Protest silently (yes you can, join me).

There really is no one to "blame" though in a "THEY DID THIS, THEY PULLED THE PLUG" kind of way

We made a mod on a pre-existing IP that at the time wasn't being used, and we did it through legal channels.

Fast forward to the current day, and the IP is now being used. Not only that, but the users of the IP are using the engine/technology that the founders of this project (Kami+Crim) now work for. Seeing as both of the mod founders work for Crytek on Cryengine 3, and PGI (who's using the IP in a higher up position) is using Cryengine 3, this creates an awkward situation where they basically had a mod project that competing with a commercial project using the same engine, and you work at the company that is letting this happen.

You could say PGI is to blame, but it's more or less the fact that the IP itself is now being used for commercial purposes in general. It doesn't really matter who would have taken the IP - Crytek, PGI, Smith+Tinker, Epic Games, whatever - the existence of someone doing a commercial project with the very same IP that you founded a mod on creates an awkward situation, especially if there is any concern shown about that fact either by the users of the IP, you as a founder, or the company you work for.

[McGondy]

This is pretty sad news. I was hoping this day wouldn't come. It didn't make sense to have two games in the same niche - PGI is trying to profit against a much better free mod.
GAH THE BASTARDS!
I wasn't playing their pale rip off on purely artistic and gameplay grounds, but now I actually have a good reason 

I only started playing since some 0.5 days but the community here and the fun gameplay were the stars of the show. You guys really know how to make a great game. All the best for the future. Please let us know if you get back in the dev game! I'm sure most of us would love to try out anything you guys put out, if you get back into it.


Edit: For clarification, the mod will continue to run - just no updates, correct?
Also, could server admins post letting us know their plans?

[Wolfcat9]

Sadness.... Confusion.... Some anger.... and a great deal of appreciation and thank you to the Dev team for all their hard work. 

[=CJW= Zweistein000 (W)]

There really is no one to "blame" though in a "THEY DID THIS, THEY PULLED THE PLUG" kind of way

We made a mod on a pre-existing IP that at the time wasn't being used, and we did it through legal channels.

Fast forward to the current day, and the IP is now being used. Not only that, but the users of the IP are using the engine/technology that the founders of this project (Kami+Crim) now work for. Seeing as both of the mod founders work for Crytek on Cryengine 3, and PGI (who's using the IP in a higher up position) is using Cryengine 3, this creates an awkward situation where they basically had a mod project that competing with a commercial project using the same engine, and you work at the company that is letting this happen.

You could say PGI is to blame, but it's more or less the fact that the IP itself is now being used for commercial purposes in general. It doesn't really matter who would have taken the IP - Crytek, PGI, Smith+Tinker, Epic Games, whatever - the existence of someone doing a commercial project with the very same IP that you founded a mod on creates an awkward situation, especially if there is any concern shown about that fact either by the users of the IP, you as a founder, or the company you work for.

True, but if MWLL and MW:O really were equal in everything except the fact that one is free and other one is commercial I wouldn't be making this posts and would be playing MW:O now. I was part of a closed beta and what I saw there was an early alpha game (It was less feature complete than MW:LL at it's beta release). Now that it has gone open beta I played a little and says basically no improvement what so ever and the design choices were terrible and what is worse, it become apparent that the focus is not to create a good game and sell it but is in fact to create any game no matter how bad and leech it till death. Basically LoL is a semi-good game that sells well and it took original DotA mod with it MW:O is like ST:O - we will create a game where you can only get better if you pay but If you don't, fapp you, you will never be good at this game and thus will never enjoy it. That is why this is not ok. if it was a good game killing a good mod not one would really feel this way, but in this case it's a cheap leech game killing a good free mod just go get a few more people to leech. It's like someone stopping your car production to sell your costumers half dead horses and old carts for transportation.

[Criminal]

There really is no one to "blame" though in a "THEY DID THIS, THEY PULLED THE PLUG" kind of way

We made a mod on a pre-existing IP that at the time wasn't being used, and we did it through legal channels.

Fast forward to the current day, and the IP is now being used. Not only that, but the users of the IP are using the engine/technology that the founders of this project (Kami+Crim) now work for. Seeing as both of the mod founders work for Crytek on Cryengine 3, and PGI (who's using the IP in a higher up position) is using Cryengine 3, this creates an awkward situation where they basically had a mod project that competing with a commercial project using the same engine, and you work at the company that is letting this happen.

well said.

[BLUPRNT]

I can't claim much here, I didn't play. Tried but didn't invest it what it really takes to be competetive.
I do however want to say that I feel a sense of sadness at this action and offer my condolances to the community and Devs. I too feel a sort of unfair injustice at this action. It is sad.
I do remember in early development that the team was also hoping to create this with hopes of a future resume and I hope it works out for all
Six years is a long time and you have done well with it.
Thanks for your sacrifice and contribution to the world.
Sincerly,

[Deathbane]

Warning: The following post was typed on a mobile at one am :-P

Regardless of I suspected this was coming for the last year, still sucks a bag of dicks.

I would like to say that this game and the entire community that built up around it has been pretty special, and through it ive met alot of great people. Thats something that will make this unforgettable for me.

Working on the team was mostly a pleasure (fapp deathvalley) and it taught me alot and it was a great to make stuff for the community.

Hope everyone will stick about on forums and enjoy the new patch for awhile longer. Id personally love if wandering samurai would either create a battletech inspired rts game or dwvelop its own mevha ip and games. Id  love to help on such a project.

[Nemo]

There really is no one to "blame" though in a "THEY DID THIS, THEY PULLED THE PLUG" kind of way

You know, what I wanted to hear was the IP holder picked the mod and the dev team up à la Counter Strike and MWLL 1.0 was going to be found at my local game store, Soon™. I guess not everyone has Valve's business sense.

[DeathYacht]

Hey, what about releasing the source code to the Mod to the community, maybe those less in-tangled would take up the cause over time?

[Sxooter]

My dream would be for a multi-millionaire AND / OR a kickstart campaign to take what there is, make it into a proper standalone game and put it on steam.  It would roflstomp MWO into oblivion.  Sadly, that is unlikely to happen.

[Nemo]

Hey, what about releasing the source code to the Mod to the community, maybe those less in-tangled would take up the cause over time?

Odds are somewhere between nonexistent and doubleplus unpossible. The dev team leadership is made of industry professionals, this isn't some fly by night organization, its one reason they accomplished so much. They know, gah, KNEW, wtf they were doing. They're stopping production at this point purposely and aren't going to give rise to the mess that would come about through such an action. It would hurt their integrity, and in all likelyhood MWLL wouldn't be allowed to continue to exist even at this level.

[Zaro27]

So...where are we going to go now? I mean, like, the forum? Where are we going to get to talk about our ridiculous shit, with our stupid in-jokes and stuff? What is gonna happen to the community?

[[CG]Anastasius Focht]

As far as i know the forum is unaffected by this, It remains a portal to discuss the game, announce new maps, and plan leagues etc.

Try not to think of this as "the end" people, the Devs have worked extra hard these last few months to bring us the finished product.
Version 7 is a bit like the off the shelf copy of MW4 mercs we bought. a finished tested product.(with a few player reported bug fixes to no doubt come)

Like the rest of you i would have loved to have seen more, and my views on the hows and whys are the same as yours.

But it is what it is, the final product has been delivered, its a great game and imo has plenty of life left in it yet.

A well organised PL and mapmaking team could easily take this in an exciting new direction keeping the fun fresh.
The Devs have done their bit, Its up to us now to take the torch and run with it