For any of those who already know about the upcoming game Horizons http://www.artifact-entertainment.com" TARGET="_blank">http://www.artifact-entertainment.com" TARGET="_blank">http://www.artifact-entertainment.com" TARGET="_blank">http://www.artifact-entertainment.com there has been an interesting development that could put Horizons six feet under unless something happens quick, this was taken off the Horizons news site :

JUNE 28th, 2000

ARTIFACT ENTERTAINMENT PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT: HORIZONS PROJECT 1:35pm
It is with both hope and regret that I inform the gaming community of the serious problem that has arisen in relation to the HORIZONS project. As you know, HORIZONS was supposed to be a privately funded project; the problem is that the funding has fallen through, and the project is now facing extinction.

We have been in talks with a publisher for close to two months now and have just been informed that it's going to take them even longer to make their 'decision', and the problem is that we cannot last during this amount of time (we have already been privately and personally funding HORIZONS for the past 9 months). At this time, we have a team of roughly 20 people; many of them industry professionals that are migrating from other companies to work on HORIZONS. This team will fall apart and be disbanded over the next few weeks unless something is done.

According to the current Gamespot poll, Horizons is the #1 anticipated MMORPG in the industry right now. We have concepts and designs that are both unique and industry leading planned for the project; many of them not even known to the public (some are of such an innovative nature that we cannot release the information until BETA). HORIZONS has been labeled by many as the most ambitious and feature-rich publicly announced game in the industry.

It is at this time that we call on the public community to help keep HORIZONS together.

I am personally in debt for hundreds of thousands of dollars with Artifact Entertainment and trying to make this project fly. I have put everything that I have into this, including my house, lifestyle, and even more (I sold my NSX a few weeks ago just to cover base business costs). I have tried to maintain a positive mentality with this project, but I can only do so much, and relying on others who apparently don't take the project as serious as we do has been nothing but degrading to the entire project.

As far as I can tell, the only way that HORIZONS will be bailed out is if somebody acts quickly and works with us to make this amazing project a reality with the proper financial support (millions of dollars). We have the people, the talent, the design & concept, and even more importantly, the drive and ability to make this project a reality. We are only interested in working with those who will not waste our time and are interested in making things happen instead of talking about it.

If you or anyone you know is capable of helping AE out with the HORIZONS project, please contact me immediately at davida@artifact-entertainment.com. We are open to both private funding and publishing deals.

I will make an official announcement shortly as to the status of the project.

Regardless of how things turn out, I want to thank everyone for their support.

---
David Allen, CEO
Artifact Entertainment, L.L.C.
http://www.artifact-entertainment.com" TARGET="_blank">http://www.artifact-entertainment.com" TARGET="_blank">http://www.artifact-entertainment.com" TARGET="_blank">http://www.artifact-entertainment.com

: Well there it is, bad news for a game that was going to or might still have a chance to be the greatest MMORPG (next to M59 of course). For more info on Horizons, click on the link I mentioned earlier or just click on this one :)
http://www.artifact-entertainment.com" TARGET="_blank">http://www.artifact-entertainment.com" TARGET="_blank">http://www.artifact-entertainment.com" TARGET="_blank">http://www.artifact-entertainment.com

Source: David Allen, CEO Artifact Entertainment, L.L.C. - davida@artifact-entertainment.com