I am starting to see some of the information from the 2022 financial accounts of Cloud Imperium UK Ltd. begin to make its way into the content of Star Citizen YouTube creators. As I kind of suspected might happen, the journey of the financial accounts kind of gets twisted along the way. As an aid to explain what has occurred so far, I thought I would put together a little timeline covering some of the events that have occurred over the past few months as well as the stories I've published. At the very least, I can provide a link to any interested parties as to what has occurred so far.
1 January 2024: The financial accounts for Cloud Imperium UK Ltd. for the year 2022 officially become late. According to PwC, Cloud Imperium's outside financial auditor, "The tax return needs to be filed within one year from the end of the accounting period." The UK Companies House website would refer to 31 December 2023 as the due date until the accounts were finally filed and posted on 11 March.
12 January 2024: I write my first blog post on the story, Cloud Imperium Games Faces £150 Fine For Failure To File 2022 Accounts. The story was amusing, if for nothing else than Star Citizens' fans continued boasting of how transparent the company was in its finances. I anticipated CIG would file the paperwork in the next few days, I'd write about CIG being good citizens after all, and the story would die.
15 January 2024: MassivelyOP's Chris Neal picks up the story. I loved his headline, Star Citizen’s CIG was hit with a measly $190 fine for… not filing its 2022 financial report on time. Honestly, the amount of the fine is so small compared to the money CIG rakes in, it's almost an irresistible story. But that kind of got Chris roped into covering the story as well. But at the time, I would have asked, "What story?"
6 February 2024: The first word of layoffs at Cloud Imperium Games' US Studios was picked up by VideoGameLayoffs.com. I included the information in a post titled Notable Video Game Industry Layoffs - 1-13 February 2024. At the time I did not realize the possibility of a connection.
15 February 2024: Over at MassivelyOP, Chris Neal posts about Star Citizen Lead Director Todd Papy leaving CIG in Star Citizen’s live game director vacates position after nine years at CIG.
26 February 2024: I noted in a post titled Cloud Imperium Games' Potential Fine Rises To £375 that Cloud Imperium UK Ltd. had failed to submit its 2022 financial accounts by 1 February, thus subjecting itself to a larger fine. At this point, I started wondering what was happening in Manchester.
Also on the 26th, Chris Neal writes an article at MassivelyOP titled Star Citizen followers uncover additional layoffs at CIG that reference relocation and restructuring. I still didn't see the connection to the tardy financial accounts.
29 February 2024: Cloud Imperium Games contacted GamesIndustry.biz about a story covering the layoffs, blandly titled Cloud Imperium hit with layoffs. CIG replied to the story, confirming that "a small number of positions were eliminated."
1 March 2024: The date Erin Roberts signed the yearly report and 2022 financial accounts on behalf of the board of directors.
5 March 2024: The date the financial accounts and report were received by UK Companies House.
11 March 2024: The date UK Companies House posted the 2022 financial accounts and yearly report to its website.
12 March 2024: I post my long anticipated article Cloud Imperium UK Ltd (Finally) Posts The Company's 2022 Annual Report and Financial Statement. At this point, I noted the presence of a new financial auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (aka PwC).
13 March 2024: The introduction to the financial accounts included information about the purchase of Turbulent Media, which I wrote about in a post titled The Final Price Of Cloud Imperium's Acquisition Of Turbulent Media: $9.8 Million Canadian. The link between the layoffs and financial reports became apparent at this point.
Also on the 13th, Chris Neal posts at MassivelyOP about the annual report, with a few additional details in his article Star Citizen finally posts its 2022 fiscal report, acknowledges Squadron 42 can’t be in ‘part finished form’. It was in the comments of this article a user named cloverfield70 pointed out the importance of the put option for the outside investors.
14 March 2024: Chris Roberts publishes a Letter From The Chairman. On the following day, Chris Neal writes a comprehensive article about the letter for MassivelyOP, Star Citizen’s Chris Roberts confirms development is moving to a full 1.0 release. I continued focusing on financial matters in a post titled Chris Roberts On The Cloud Imperium Layoffs.
19 March 2024: I explored the importance of the put option in the outside investment into Cloud Imperium Games in a post titled New Details About The Calders' Investment In Cloud Imperium. Later that morning, MassivelyOP published Chris Neal's article on the same subject, Star Citizen’s 2022 financials offer additional information about investors and their expected returns. Both Chris and I noted the built in time periods in which the investors could cash out by invoking their put options.
27 March 2024: A Star Citizen YouTube creator named Morphologis created the first video I'd seen on the subject of the payout to the outside investors titled Star Citizen and Squadron 42 May Have Deadlines.
Just a note. I've mentioned Chris Neal of MassivelyOP a lot in this post. I want to note I don't know Chris and have never met him or held any conversations online with him. He has been nice enough to mention me and my blog in his articles and so I thought I should return the favor, especially since I linked to him so much in putting together this timeline.
No comments:
Post a Comment