I have been following this thread for months, its interesting to watch as people give up hope and than somehow find a sparkling possibility and start wishful thinking all over again. I have paid into RAZA about 80% of the total. I will be very surprised if I ever see anything from this man.
I am guessing by his actions that he is likely (*******). The artwork is scattered and he cannot follow a theme, everyone of any quality stops working with him and there isnt enough money to complete the games left. The money has been sitting in his account, so therefor he feels like it is his. Frankly, he probably doesnt have any other opportunities so he will slowly live off of the remainder until he can file bankruptcy. At that point he will publicly say how everyone in the pinball scene has destroyed his business through negativity directed at him, blaming everyone else for his failure. The pinball world with then lose total interest to him and he will go on doing something 'more important' to save him from the reality that in fact, he is a deceitful opportunist. His initial enthusiasm and motivation for this project was real, but had been somehow corrupted along the way. His self preservation instinct will allow him to justify using the capital remaining for his own purposes...as long as he continues 'working' than it is okay to use it. Nobody that has the ability to manufacture these machines would partner up with this man. That would be financial suicide. His complete avoidance of his customers is a way of protecting himself from hurting people in his mind, if they dont exist, they cant be hurt.......
In the end, Pinside will be guilty of his failure...... who wants to bet?
I give it 4 months.

Just got the email from John, Someone is taking over the licence to continue to make the Magic Girl game, and possibly the RAZA and AIW in the future with no guarantee. The magic girl will be produced as a special LE version for collectors but will cost 16,000. So if you paid 4000 up front for RAZA you now need to pay an additional 11,0000 to receive a game. If you decide to take the standard non limited addition than you will lose half of your money and need to make up the additional to buy the game between 10,000 and 12,000 dollars which is not yet determined. Which costs you an additional 8,000 to 10,000 dollars.
oh, yeah.... if you decide that you want the game that you ordered in the first place like RAZA in my situation. The Price isnt yet established for the completion of the game OR how much of my 6,500 dollars will be credited to the purchase. AND, it wont be produced for 5 years, if at all.

I wont be investing any more money in anything this jerk has to do with.

The new owner will offer no refunds or returns.

I have opened an new thread, not to compete in any way with this one (as it is really interesting). The purpose of the newer thread is simply to find out what other customers of Zidware are thinking f doing regarding this new situation. Please only contribute to the new thread if you HAVE purchased or deposited on a game and want to know what the other customers are thinking of doing.

I dont want this to cause any confusion, but I do want to know what percentage of buyers are willing to invest more money in the possibility that they will eventually receive a game.

Thanks!
Rob

I sent this email to him yesterday;

John,
Now I have had all day to think about this mail. Your offer is unfair to all of the kind people that believed in you. Those of us who have waited patiently were ignored for months while you knew that this wasn’t going to work. Even now, your email starts with ‘ I am excited to present you’….. I realise that you are trying to make money and recover your image as a respectable designer but what ever happened to being a respectable person? What ever happened to integrity? Are you the kind of man that cannot admit a mistake? The false positive opening to your offer will not comfort any reasonably intelligent person.
Simply apologise openly for underestimating the project and for avoiding all these trusting peoples attempts at contacting you, that alone would make an enormous impact in the way people feel, including yourself.
I am certain that you are having one of your worst days ever, but this offer and the way it is presented is totally distasteful and appears to be manipulative and dishonest.

I certainly cannot give you any more money than I already have without any real honest information. I have given you 6,500.00 and you are asking me for an additional 10,000 dollars for a game that I do not want……..or lose everything or at a minimum half of my payment. Extortion and fear tactics…..very nice of you.

Integrity is rare, it is also one of the most beautiful virtues that a person can 'choose' to have.

Best personal regards,

I think John was trying to sell his company, probably as Ben said never really planned on going into manufacturing. As time went on he probably started working on more games thinking that it would make a better package to sell to possible buyers. Thats how the money was burned...now this is speculation but i do believe that if he would have focused on the first two machines with a mix of proven parts and new, he would have been able to make the machines that he originally presented. That is why his idea was so successful, because it was do-able. Somewhere along the line, which I believe was early... he decided to build and sell a pinball company which would be very profitable for him.
Us getting screwed was a byproduct of a bad idea, now it is his turn..... I dont think bankruptcy is pretty, it must be lousy for his self esteem, relationship and finances.....but since he wasn't concerned about the 120 + people that bought his idea... its hard for me to worry much about him.
His idea was stupid and selfish, upset everyone around him and now will embarrass him until the grave. Everything that I see that is great to look at seems to be from zombieyeti....this may turn into a wonderful thing for him, which it should since he did so much work already.

I am not so hopeful that anything will be produced, and if it is... i dont know if i would invest much more than I already have. I may just prefer to buy another machine that is already in production...........