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To: leisuresports who wrote (8862)	12/5/1998 12:39:00 PM
From: Todd DeMelle	Respond to of 14266

Cyberflix gets out of the game business... from macledge.com What a loss: Cyberflix gets out of the game business: Mac users who have played games for as long as Mac games have been available often have a warm spot in their hearts for Cyberflix, makers of such popular Mac-only and Mac-compatible games like Lunicus, Jump Raven, Dust, Skull Cracker, Titanic: Adventure Out of Time, and the recently released Redjack: Revenge of the Brethren. On Wednesday (12/2/98), Knoxville, Tennessee-based CyberFlix, Inc. announced that it is no longer in the business of creating video games. As quoted (with permission) from Knoxville's MetroPulse periodical: On Wednesday, the company announced that it will be shutting down its studio division (the creative arm made up of writers, programmers, digital artists, etc.), thus ending CyberFlix's presence in the highly competitive CD-ROM game industry. This comes after the company's successful Titanic: Adventure Out of Time game and the recent launch of Redjack: Revenge of the Brethren, which already had been drawing industry raves. So why stop now? "It's a tough business," says Erik S. Quist, CyberFlix's vice president and general manager. "We have had good success [with games], which had gotten us contract work. But it's good to go out at the top of your game, to get out while the sands are shifting beneath you." And the sands have been shifting quite a bit in computer gaming as 3D graphics technology has been evolving ever faster, backed by larger corporations with bigger development budgets. Consequently, founder/software guru Bill Appleton will now devote his company solely toward developing its proprietary multimedia software tool, DreamFactory. While some pink-slipped employees will be heading off to San Francisco's "multimedia gulch," one group is planning on starting a new independent studio to be called ACME Digital Studios. In simple numbers, CyberFlix's downsizing could mean the lay-off of up to 20 of its 30 employees; but the impact may be even larger on Knoxville's growing reputation as being a high tech business wonderland, particularly in multimedia. And what of the city's plans on transforming Market Square into "Digital Crossroads," in which CyberFlix would have been an anchor tenant? Contrary to rumors that CyberFlix would soon abandon Knoxville for Silicon Valley, Quist says it's staying at least until the company's lease runs out in October of next year. "It's our full intention to fulfill our lease," he says. "As we come closer to that date, we might have to reevaluate our space needs." So while we are losing a truly dedicated Mac game developer, ACME Digital Studios will branch off of Cyberflix and continue to make titles using the Dream Factory engine.