In the month following the game closure, Brian, Matt, and the others were collecting investors and actively bargaining with NCSoft to buy back the game and set up Paragon Studios again.
At the very last minute, NCSoft came back with a list of liabilities they wanted the new entity to assume. Part of that list was that each and every one of them (investors and members of Paragon Studios) would be held PERSONALLY responsible for those liabilities. Not just the new corporation would be responsible, but each of them personally. I have never, ever, heard of anything like that. It's just plain vindictive. This is probably why Matt is so pessimistic. It's pretty clear NCSoft has a vendetta going.
This is when we got the "all options have been exhausted" letter.
At that point, people had to look at getting new jobs, because the ground was coming up fast and their parachutes had timers on them.
The venture capitalists probably took their money elsewhere; these guys don't leave money sitting around for long.
People started putting every minute they had into job hunting. Face it, when you are out of work, you have bills to pay and a family to take care of, you don't waste time you could be spending tailoring a resume on ANYTHING else. And once you GET a job you are on probation; you don't want to be seen putting your time into anything other than being a good employee.
This is where we come in. We are doing this, because this is something they can't--or are too discouraged and pessimistic to try. We have time--time we were spending playing CoX, so what's the harm in spending a little (and face it, aside from Team Wildcard, most of you are spending VERY little) actual time on turning over every possible rock? Brian is still sure he can get a core group of devs to support the game if we can find it a home. Until he tells me that is not possible, I am not giving up.
Now no one is holding your feet to the fire and making you do any of this. If you don't want to anymore, then don't. Wander off elsewhere. Find another game. Take up golf. Whatever you feel you want to do. We always knew that in the first week people would start to drop off because we didn't get instant satisfaction. Team Wildcard is in this for the long haul; I expect to spend at least a year going through the list. And if I am the only one still doing that, so be it. It took me 4 years to get a toon to 50, so spending a year trying to get the best MMORPG ever back in business doesn't seem like a big deal to me.