Shrapnel Games Blog

      It’s funny it only seems like a few weeks have passed since Tim and I first met while he was finishing up 101rst Airborne.  At the time I was almost finished with my tenure as head of Marketing and Business Development at Wargamer.com and we were interviewing Tim for the final release of his game to the general public.  Fast forward almost a year where Tim had just started Shrapnel Games.  I had started down the road to the gaming business by launching the product Red Thunder, for the now defunct EdenSoft Games, and was intrigued by Tim’s idea of how to change the face of wargaming.  I have never been one for conformity and I had been increasingly frustrating with the direction of the serious war and strategy gaming market.  Tim’s idea was to bypass retail and bring good games to the people and I felt it was an idea whose time had come.  And so a 9 year relationship with Shrapnel Games was born.

     I will always be indebted to Tim and the community for this opportunity over the last 9 years.  I can remember the early days where we struggled to find a reliable web host and spent several days down during the ice storms of late 99.  Recruiting and signing the first developers was a thrill and those early days of getting excited over an individual sale of a game or an individual post to our forums will always be special memories.  My favorite times were meeting with the people behind the forum posts and I will always cherish my visits to Connections or Origins and meeting our incredible community face to face. 

       If nothing else we did change the face of the industry.  Now the market blazed by a few small companies has blossomed into a way of doing business.  We also, in the process, developed a lively community of close to 10,000 registered members, who are passionate about gaming and each other.  We published some of the most award winning games in our genre and developed a reputation for excellence and close connection with our fans and community.  And I am glad for every moment I spent along that journey.

      Many of the newer members of the community probably will not remember any of this, and to be honest, probably will wonder who this Richard guy is :).  That’s the other reason for leaving.  Over the last few years my real career has taken off and has increasingly asked for more of my time.  In that time other people have stepped in to take over many of the things I used to do and I think there will be opportunities in the future for more folks in the community to help continue to fill that void.  So that’s why it’s time for Mindi and I to step aside so we can concentrate on the other interests in our life and blaze our own path along the road.  That doesn’t mean we won’t be back from time to time but when we do it won’t be doing it as employees of Shrapnel Games, we’ll be doing it as supporters of the community.  Because if there’s nothing else that I treasure of the last 9 years it’s the folks I have met along the journey to where I am now.

       So thanks again for everything and hopefully we’ll see each other in the future.