On the exact same day, and only a few hours after I received the email from our Network hosts, the offers of site hosting help started to come in. And one in particular caught my eye. With apologies, I am reprinting a small portion of that email, sent to many of the GameFan Affiliates:
"...To preface this letter, I'd like to tell you that we at eFront were recently contacted by Billy "Wicked" Wilson of VoodooExtreme and are now in the final negotiations of a deal which will make him the newest member of our family of sites and editors. It was your previous relationship within the GameFan Network with VoodooExtreme that prompted the extension of this offer to you. VintageGaming is another example of someone paving the way to a new home with us."
To put it this way, if I was Mr. Wool, I wouldn't be making such a deliberate statement as was quoted in his interview, without some knowledge that news of Voodoo Extreme had already started the process of jumping ship. The fact that this was a false statement only calls into question the entire validity of his statements, and in a post to a forum, a member of Voodoo Express has stated that "voodooextreme was not effected. We started the process of moving to a new host before express pulled the plug on the network." He also stated in separate posts that "as far as former domain contract claims, non payment issues or other factors, they have been taken care of. You will see where we end up next week."
With the recent announcement that Express has laid off several GFN employees, 3 out of 5, including video producer, Kevin Deselms A.K.A Hi-Fi, only serves to back up my impressions. The other fact that has come to light is that they also made those fired employees sign nondisclosure agreements before hand, to prevent any future embarrassment, though I may humbly submit that it is to late for that to happen. It has also come to light that express may be on even shakier ground than mentioned in the Gamers.com news article, as in a news bulletin by Video Business, one of the items will be on this: "Online DVD retailer Express.com running low on cash, put on C.O.D. by suppliers. Full story by Wendy Wilson exclusively in the Oct. 2 print edition of Video Business."
As this particular opera continues, more and more sites have been breaking bits and pieces of the GameFan saga. In a particular and very interesting piece, Fatbabies released a private communication with Voodoo Extreme, in large part about the unpaid revenue to VE:
"Please keep this email in strict confidence. While Express is not a public company, we do try to keep any problems out of the news and eager vultures. I want to make sure You are all kept up to date with recent developments as well as given information on what to expect in the future. With this in mind, there is certainly bad news but at the end of the day, there is reason for optimism as well. As You are all aware, GFN is not performing at the level we had all anticipated. This lack of GFN advertising combined with the high burnrate of a pre-IPO company puts Express into an unsatisfactory financial situation. Summer sales have been excellent, but not enough to compensate for the weakness in other areas of the company. Due to all of your efforts, Voodoo Extreme is doing very well. The recent traffic slide has stopped and we have even gained back some ground. Express is in the final stages of closing funding that should continue operations until the company files its IPO sometime early next year. Once this funding closes, we should have the funds needed to pay everyone what they are owed plus ensure that this does not happen again. I have worked with accounting to come up with a *reasonable* date all this can happen. They have told me that by October 8th they should have the funding and back-pay situation settled. I trust this explanation, while difficult to accept, provides You the information You seek. So again, on or around October 8th, You should all be paid what You are owed and we can move forward stronger than ever. Thanks for your time and if You have any further questions, feel free to contact me. Regards, ****** Director GameFan Network"