In an SEC filing, Korean-based developer Gravity (Ragnarok Online) disclosed that in October, it received a notice that U.S.-based online game developer Perpetual, in which Gravity invests, would be liquidating all of its assets.

According to the filing, the notice said that a separate company called Perpetual LLC would "shall liquidate the Assets, wind down Perpetual, and distribute the net liquidation proceeds to creditors of Perpetual."

The date on which Gravity stated the notice was sent, October 10th, is the same day that Perpetual announced that its PC MMORPG Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising would be put on hold indefinitely.

Just prior to that announcement, the company announced it would lay off between 30 and 40 employees, as it did the first time that Gods and Heroes was delayed, reportedly due to the need for further beta testing.

Gravity stated that it does not expect to recover any of the $9 million investment it made in Perpetual in 2006, and that the loss will be reflected in its financial statement for 2007.

However, it is unclear whether this announcement also affects Star Trek Online, Perpetual's other MMO, which was still believed to be in development - or whet

Hello all, I just wanted to take a moment to stop by and reassureeveryone (and echo what Daron said) that the development on STOcontinues at full force and is in no way negatively affected by theHOLD status of Gods

Gods and Heroes Put On Indefinite Hold

Though San Francisco-based developer Perpetual recently pushed back the release of its PC MMORPG Gods and Heroes: Rome Risingfor a second time due to the need for further beta testing, anannouncement on the game's official website says the project has nowbeen put on hold indefinitely.

The announcement reads:

"The development team established some very lofty and ambitiousgoals when the initial work was started on Gods & Heroes. Recently,we took a step back to evaluate the competitive landscape, the game'scurrent state, and the overall goals for our organization. And while weare truly proud of and pleased with what we have created in Gods &Heroes, we also realize that achieving the level of quality and polishthat we are committed to will take a significant investment."

At the time of the recent delay announcement, Perpetual CEO ChrisMcKibbin maintained that Perpetual was extending the game's time inbeta to "focus on quality and polish... rather than rush to a shipdate." Now, according to the announcement, the team is allocating itsresources among several projects, including the development of Star Trek Online and the growth of Perpetual's online ga

Breaking News: Gods and Heroes Canceledby Dana Massey, 10 Oct 2007 5:43 ambreaking news, warcry

Perpetual Entertainment has indefinitely delayed (essentially canceled) Gods and Heroes. The company will continue work on their development platform and Star Trek Online, and continue its operations in the same San Francisco studio under the same management. Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising, though, is no more.

Our source tells us that the majority of the Gods and Heroes development team has been let go as part of the move, which comes only a few weeks after they had downsized and pushed back the release date. The Star Trek Online team, those who worked on the Perpetual Platform (which was recently licensed to BioWare) and a small number of people from the Gods and Heroes team will be remain with the company.

WarCry will bring you more details as the story unfolds.

Perpetual Entertainment have announced that they will be releasing some beta codes for Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising. The keys are being given out to help facilitate the stability test that will be happening over the weekend.

Beforeyou go rushing off to get a beta key though, you might want to knowwhat the game is about first. Players will be placed in a veryproblematic time in the history of Rome.A race of beings that theOlympian gods imprisoned has returned from exile seeking vengeance.They start their assault by kidnapping all of Rome's heroes andinciting beasts, creatures, and rival cultures to attack the city.

If that got you interested in trying the game, click on our Read Link for more details on how you can get a beta code for Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising.

San Francisco-based developer Perpetual Entertainment has pushed back the release of its PC MMORPG Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising, due to the need for further beta testing.

This is the second time the target launch has been delayed; the prior incident coincided with layoffs at Perpetual in December 2006.

However, in an exclusive interview with Gamasutra, Perpetual CEO Chris McKibbin maintained that a formal ship date has never been solidified. "We have been targeting a fall launch and we are extending the time in beta to focus on quality and polish," he explained. "From our standpoint we want to give our game more time to get to [that level] of polish, rather than rush to a ship date."

McKibbin stressed that Gods and Heroes is a content-complete closed beta, whereas prior testing as of early 2007 had involved only an art-complete build.

Additionally, McKibbin told Gamasutra that Perpetual would be laying off another 30-40 employees. "The size and bar of content creation is very high and requires a pretty sizable team," he said, "The process of really play-tuning and balancing takes a much smaller, more focused and agile team, and so that is the transition right now."

He added that Perp

San Francisco-based developer Perpetual Entertainment has pushed back the release of its PC MMORPG Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising, due to the need for further beta testing.

This is the second time the target launch has been delayed; the prior incident coincided with layoffs at Perpetual in December 2006.

However, in an exclusive interview with Gamasutra, Perpetual CEO Chris McKibbin maintained that a formal ship date has never been solidified. "We have been targeting a fall launch and we are extending the time in beta to focus on quality and polish," he explained. "From our standpoint we want to give our game more time to get to [that level] of polish, rather than rush to a ship date."

McKibbin stressed that Gods and Heroes is a content-complete closed beta, whereas prior testing as of early 2007 had involved only an art-complete build.

Additionally, McKibbin told Gamasutra that Perpetual would be laying off another 30-40 employees. "The size and bar of content creation is very high and requires a pretty sizable team," he said, "The process of really play-tuning and balancing takes a much smaller, more focused and agile team, and so that is the transition right now."

He added that Perp

GODS & HEROES: Hammer of the Gods! Perpetual Entertainment have delayed the release of GODS & HEROES into next year and have laid off 30-40 employees involved with the game.

WarCry have scooped the story and offer up an interviewwith Perpetual’s Chris McKibbin. Co-Chairman & President, McKibbin,offers reasons for the firings and G&H’s push into 2008. Thecompany line is GODS & HEROES‘need for further polishing and that an “official” release date hadnever been set in stone. Perpetual was only “aiming” for Fall. Theymissed.

“For the last several weeks, Gods and Heroes: RomeRising had been in Closed Beta testing. While it is, according toPerpetual, content complete, they felt it needed more polish before itgoes to market. ‘Our feeling was driving hard to make a fall launchwould lead to less than high quality results and we’ve seen that inother launches,’ he said. ‘We’ve made the decision to give the gamemore time. What we really want to do is to deliver a polished andhigh-quality game.’ “

SOE is a big name in the MMO business. Perhaps too big a name. Perpetual Entertainment has clarified Sony Online Entertainment's role in their upcoming MMO Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising, assuming full publishing duties while SOE will continue to handle marketing and retail distribution of the title. Previously listed as co-publishers, Warcry explains that the move is to make sure credit for the development of the game goes solely to Perpetual as this is their fledgling project, with the power to define them as a company. I am wondering if similar steps will be taken for Pirates of the Burning Sea, which SOE is publishing for Flying Lab. With both games being presented at major gaming events by SOE the confusion over roles is sure to come up in Pirate's case as well.

You don't often get to use the phrase "Friends, Romans, countrymen"when playing a massively multiplayer online role-playing game, but youwill when Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising launches later this year. Likeother MMORPGs, Gods & Heroes will give you the chance to explore avirtual world populated with thousands of other players. However,rather than let you create a character and explore a traditionalfantasy realm full of elves, orcs, and dwarves, Gods & Heroes willlet you create a Roman character and explore a world where the mythicalhas come to life. While we've covered the early parts of the game previously, we recently had a chance to check out some high-level content.

Developer Perpetual Entertainment hopes that Gods & Heroes' uniquesetting and gameplay mechanics help make the game stand out in a verycrowded genre. For instance, the game will feature minion combat, orthe ability for you to control henchmen in addition to your primarycharacter. The idea is that if you have a character with severalminions and you join up with two or three other players online, you canhave large-scale adventures without needing a large number of players.When your character is level 5 in the game, which