Wasteland 3 returns players to a post-apocalyptic setting, this time the savage lands of frozen Colorado, where survival is difficult and a happy outcome is never guaranteed. Players will face new difficult moral choices and make sacrifices that will change the game world. Each player’s reputation in the game is theirs to build from scratch, and the choices made could have far reaching decisions that will impact the shape of the game world.
Wasteland 3 will include an updated dialog tree system, vehicles and environmental dangers, as well as a more fluid action system, improving on
Wasteland 2’s tactical turn-based combat and encounter design. For the first time in the history of the
Wasteland franchise, players will also have access to an online multiplayer system to journey into the post-apocalyptic wastes with their friends. Once a game is started, players can play
Wasteland 3 missions with or without friends, with different consequences depending on the actions taken online or offline.
For a number of reasons discussed elsewhere in this offering circular, including in the sections entitled “Our Business” and “Risk Factors,” there can be no assurance that the
Wasteland 3 game will generate earnings from which dividends will be paid to holders of Fig Game Shares – Wasteland 3. In addition, the final version of
Wasteland 3 that is commercially released may differ from the game as currently described in this offering circular. Game development is a creative process, and Fig, as a publisher of the game, would expect to support that process rather than hinder it, and publish the final version of the game if it complies with the Wasteland 3 License Agreement, even if its development involves creative detours.
inXile Entertainment, Inc.
inXile Entertainment, Inc., a California corporation formed in 2002, is a privately held video game development studio with locations in Newport Beach, California and New Orleans, Louisiana. Headed by its chief executive officer, Brian Fargo, inXile includes among its individual developers both industry veterans and up-and-coming talent.
inXile is an independent video game developer, meaning that it is not owned or controlled by one of the large, traditional video game publishers. Examples of large, traditional publishers include Sony (which owns the PlayStation, one of the principal platforms on which consumers play games), Microsoft (which owns the Xbox platform), Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Tencent and Nexon. Historically, independent video game developers have been required by traditional publishers to relinquish all their intellectual property rights in the game they are developing, including distribution rights and rights over sequels and other derivative works, in exchange for receiving funding to finance the game’s development. This business model, which has been characterized by some game developers as “work for hire”, has often left developers with low revenues, delayed or uncertain cash flows and little or no return from a game after it is delivered to the publisher.
inXile began as a “work for hire” developer, but in recent years has embraced rewards crowdfunding as an alternative means of financing its game development while also increasing its return on published games. inXile was one of the first game studios to use rewards crowdfunding to finance multiple million-dollar projects, including
Wasteland 2;
Torment: Tides of Numenera (due to be launched later in 2017); and
The Bard's Tale IV (due to be launched later in 2017). In April 2012, inXile launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund
Wasteland 2 and raised more than 300% of its initial goal of $900,000, collecting $2,933,252. In March 2013, inXile’s Kickstarter campaign for
Torment: Tides of Numenera broke the then-existing record for the fastest Kickstarter drive to reach $1 million, raising that amount in seven hours and two minutes. At its conclusion, that campaign set the record at the time for the highest-funded video game on Kickstarter, with over $4 million pledged. In June 2015, inXile launched a third Kickstarter campaign to fund the development of
The Bard's Tale IV, raising over $1.5 million. As a result of using rewards crowdfunding, inXile has been able to finance game development outside the “work for hire” business model and receive ongoing revenues after launch from rewards-crowdfunded games. Operating as a “work for hire” developer was a financial and business challenge for inXile. Operating under a rewards crowdfunding model has materially improved inXile’s financial and business position. With
Wasteland 3, inXile in seeking for the first time to develop a game with funds raised not only through rewards crowdfunding but also through investment crowdfunding.
inXile had its first game,
The Bard’s Tale, published in 2004. Over inXile’s history, it has shipped 12 games across 15 platforms. During the most recent five full years, and since then, the following games developed by inXile have been published:
inXile has a history of developing games on multiple platforms, and many of its games have met with critical and commercial success. Among the games developed by inXile since 2011,
Wasteland 2 was profitable to inXile,
Hunted: The Demon’s Forge was approximately break-even to inXile and
Choplifter HD was not profitable to inXile. Since 2011, all of the games undertaken by inXile have been developed to completion and published. In 2010, however, inXile’s game
Hei$t was cancelled by its publisher, Codemasters, near the end of the game’s development. In addition, the original release date of
Torment: Tides of Numenera has been delayed by over two years, in part due to project management issues that inXile has since addressed.
inXile has developed games with development budgets across a wide range of sizes, from budgets of $250,000 to $10 million. The Company believes, and inXile has reported to the Company that it believes, that the funds from the Fig crowdfunding campaign and internal investment by inXile will be sufficient to complete the development of
Wasteland 3 to a commercially marketable level, consistent with the
Wasteland 3 License Agreement.
inXile currently has three games in development:
Wasteland 3, Torment: Tides of Numenera and
The Bard's Tale IV. Fig and inXile are of the view that inXile is sufficiently staffed to handle the development of all these games. inXile employs approximately fifty full-time employees, including development personnel specializing in design, animation, 3D art, audio engineering, production, writing, programming and concept art. From time to time, inXile works with contractors for specialized work relating to game development, such as quality assurance.
For a discussion of the risks that apply to inXile as a developer, please see “Risk Factors – Risks Related to The Current Game and Developer”.
It is the Company’s view that, based on its knowledge of inXile and its operations, including the information discussed above, and the fact that the game being developed is a sequel to a prior game, and therefore much is already determined as to its design, characters, music and sound, inXile is qualified to deliver
Wasteland 3 on time and as agreed in the
Wasteland 3 License Agreement.
