[qmchuote author=Sermon link=topic=10284.msg169742#msg169742 date=1418340482]
So do we actually know that some people involved are under NDA or is that just speculation as to why some people involved haven't been posting?
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The answer is... we don't know :-) if they are under a NDA then they couldn't tell us that. Or even if not, its good business sense not to splash the negotiations across the internet.
Corporate deals like this just do NOT have their details discussed openly with anyone who isn't involved directly with the negotiations. We've seen this pop up in these threads all the time "why don't we get more info". "Why is it taking so long" a lot of people just have not had any experience with corporate dealings and their expectations do not line up with reality. Now I'm not saying that as "ha you're stupid for not knowing this" or pointing fingers at anyone. But the ebb and flow and pacing of these kinds of deals can sometimes be hard to wrap your head around until you've experienced them first hand.
Even if they gave us an update like "we've agreed on accounts, the image of the game and the IP, now working on the royalties and marketing". In two weeks time all of what they said could be completely different. And having all that play out in the public eye be make negotiations even more of an hardship then they already are. And then the speed of things, its not like buying a car or even a house. Proposals and agreements are done through talks, maybe a few days there with the back and forth. Papers are drawn by legal with what was agreed on. Coupe weeks to months there depending on the lawyers. Papers sent to other party, their legal goes over it, again a few weeks there. Changes are made, counter proposal drawn up, again could be a few weeks there. Now back and forth like that, with it changing and growing more involved the more things are added. This is not just sit on the phone for a few hours and hash things out.
Toss in the research time on what can be sold, the need to prove technical competency, etc. Its going to take a long time. And ye, while it might not feel good, the addage no news is good news. Really is good news. Because they can't or shouldn't talk about the on going negotiations we can only expect one of two real updates, We got it, or Talks are off.
NCSoft as a corporation will not drag this out just to drag it out as some kind of spiteful act. Doing things like this does cost them money in resources and man hours. Which the dept that is in charge of the negotiations has to, like all parts of a corporation, justify their dept budget. And however much their salaries plus billable hours from legal need to have a reason more than "we wanted to mess with the American gamers" behind them or someones getting fired :-)
And as emotionally invested as we all are in this game, we have zero actual monetary investment as a player base.... well potential playerbase , we'll know what happened when we get one of those two answers, we just have to wait
