So, I figured this would be a good place to ask this since people around here seem to know alot about this kind of stuff.
How can you tell if a game development company is actually real? Is there any way to tell if they're actually developing and marketing real games?
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
It should be pretty obvious with a bit of searching. If it isn't, asking on hatrack will ferret out the answer. Got a particular company in mind?
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
Yeah, what's the full story here?
Posted by DDDaysh (Member # 9499) on :
lol... It's Hades Labs.
The full story is that I have an extremely elusive ex who may or may not be showing up to a legal conference next month. He is currently listing that company as his employer (and himself as owner) and I am trying to figure out if this is actually a legitimate business this time or another smoke screen.
It's actually the first "lead" I've had on him in almost 3 years, so I'm trying to get all my ducks in a row.
Posted by MattP (Member # 10495) on :
Is it supposedly a video game development company? Even the smallest of those tend to have some web presence, which Hades Labs does not. If it's real it's either very small (i.e. a single person's DBA) or hasn't done anything yet (which is also unusual - most "new" studios, even small ones, tend to be created by people from other studios and there's usually at least *some* press about the creation of the new entity).
Also, if he doesn't have any history in game development, it's unlikely that he's founded a game development company.
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
They aren't on http://gamedevmap.com/ , which isn't complete, but is pretty good. I found one woman who has claimed to work for "Hades Labs, LLC" since 2002, as a "creative director/copywriter", but as far as I can tell that's just a name she does occasional contract business as.
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
It looks like that same person has registered the domain name hadeslabs.net, but with fake information. The contact info is like this:
quote: Suriel Kriesnal 1111 Nowhere Rd Nowhere, Texas 78001 United States
But the email clearly matches the name of the registered agent on the LLC.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
No knowledge of game development under that name. There's a "Hades Lab" that produces occasional smartphone apps. Games, not so much.
Posted by DDDaysh (Member # 9499) on :
Thanks fugu! (Well, actually, thanks EVERYONE!)
I hadn't found the Suriel Kriesnal name. I actually found a different address (still in MA), but it's a Box #, so of limited use in an of itself
He has a history in computers, but mostly (from what I know) in cyber security. I'm assuming it's a game development company only because a couple of searches have pointed that way, and another person who is supposedly "employed" there is listing herself as a game developer.
It's looking like this is a smoke screen. I only paid attention to it because the company seems to be created in January of this year, which is right before I started getting CS payments again, so... I thought it might be legit.
Thanks again! I appreciate it!
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
Well, if you ever need The Internet's help in tracking him down, I'm sure The Internet will be able to provide somehow.
Posted by DDDaysh (Member # 9499) on :
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)