Automaton Games Limited (09802133): administration
- Status
- Administration ended
- Administration began
- 2019-07-30
- Administrators
- Paul Steven Cooper, Paul Robert Appleton
- Administrators' firm
- FRP Advisory
- Incorporated
- 2015-09-30
- Location
- London
- Industry
- 58290 Other software publishing
Why it went into administration
- Funding withdrawn / unable to refinance
- Cash flow / liquidity pressure
- HMRC / tax arrears
- Creditor pressure / legal action
From the administrators' statement
4.1 The business was originally set-up by the Director with a relatively small team with a view to pushing the boundaries of multi-player online experiences. The Director had previously set-up RS Buddy Limited (“RSB”) in 2011 as a trading vehicle for a platform called OSBuddy, which provided a toolkit for major online fantasy roleplay game, Runescape. In other words, it provided an alternative client which contained various tools to give gamers an advantage. This entity became a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company and has generated an income for the business by way of loans to develop other games.
4.2 In its first couple of years of trading, the Company developed a game named Deceit, which was released in March 2017 for the PC market and distributed through the Steam network. The game provided users with a new twist on the age-old zombie battle format. It has proved successful as turnover increased year on year and is generally well regarded and reviewed by gamers and industry sources alike. The income generated by the game has varied monthly with larger initial sales, but on average this has been circa US$30,000 a month in the past year.
4.3 In addition, over the last three years, the Company began to develop a 1,000 player AAA shooter game, Mavericks: Proving Grounds, a fantasy game, which had the intention of changing how we interact with virtual worlds. Significant investment went into the game through development and advertising with the number of employees in the business growing to 40 full time staff. In addition, the Company moved into much larger premises in 2018 at a significantly higher rental cost. Given the increased overheads, the Company required further investment and has been funded since the start of 2019 by Improbable Worlds Limited (“IWL”), a well-known multinational technology company, specialising in simulation software for video game and corporate use. [WL holds a fixed and floating charge over the Company’s assets in respect of a £5m uncommitted secured convertible term loan facility agreement. The charge was created on 21 February 2019 and registered at Companies House on 26 February 2019. The sum of £1,355,739 is currently outstanding comprising of a principle of £1,346,022 and accumulated interest of £9,718.
Administrators' statement of proposals (2019-09-20) · Companies House register