Habbo UK/AU/SG to close? [RUMOUR] [Archive]

Frisky

21-05-2010, 09:56 PM

Taken from Shenk's website (which I'm not allowed to opening post here). Anyone agree/disagree?

I'm sure quite a few of you have seen me talking about a possible deletion on the HabboUK/AU/SG hotels...
I'm also pretty sure most of you (Like I normally would be doing), are thinking:
Come on Shenk! Sulake aren't ******ed enough to risk over 50% of their fan-base!... Think of all that money they'll be losing!

Well... I'm afraid this time instead of siding with the notion that Sulake love stealing money from kids... I'm going to have to argue MY point!

Reasons why the UK/AU/SG hotel won't close:
- Literally over 50% of Habbo's income come from these hotels and Sulake, naturally, love stealing money from kids.
- Sulake would have to deal with lots of pissed off kids... and probably media-attention...
- There would probably be a suicide or two (There always is when MMOCC/RPGs close).

Reasons why they may close the UK/AU/SG hotels:
- There was an email, by Sulake (To their staff) saying it was a possibility.
- Sulake own all rights over their furniture etc... this means they can close down easily and without getting sued.
- Think how much of a delay their was between the US and CA hotel merging? (Around 1-2months?) Something must've gone very wrong...
- Delays in releases cost money... Sulake have delayed this merging plan for quite a long time now... it must be costing them a fairly large amount!
- The merging system itself has been REMOVED from the UK/AU/SG hotels.
- The man-power needed to watch over, test and fix errors during something like a merge of two MASSIVE communities must cost a huge amount also...
- And if anything goes wrong in the merge (Again, assuming the delays indicate something has gone wrong), it may end up costing Sulake more money than even they can afford!
- HabboUK famously has the largest scripting&hacking community... deleting this hotel would remove a lot of the errors they couldn't fix!
- Sulake know even if they did delete these communities... over like 80% of users would come to HabboUS anyway!
- They're already going to delete thousands of accounts, including: people that are banned, people that can't get online etc...

So... to sum up, basically my main reason for the hotels possibly closing is that it may actually cost Sulake MORE than a years hotel-income to pay for the maintenance during the merge...

To be honest... can anyone else actually think of some more reasons FOR it staying open?... I'm actually really struggling...

I would upload a screenshot of the email... but my CPanel licence has currently run out, again...
- Alex (Shenk).

Yeah this is a rumour so I assume this is the right section for 'news & rumours'

immense

21-05-2010, 09:58 PM

I have been told the merge is the last chance for things to improve. If they don't, Habbo will cease to exist.

Mickword

21-05-2010, 10:02 PM

I will be one of the people who will commit suicide. Also, I have spent over £1,000 on Habbo UK alone. And if it gets shut down I want a refund.

immense

21-05-2010, 10:04 PM

I will be one of the people who will commit suicide. Also, I have spent over £1,000 on Habbo UK alone. And if it gets shut down I want a refund.

Shouldn't have agreed to the T&Cs then, lol.

Arron

21-05-2010, 10:07 PM

wow its actually got to this stage?
i thought habbo was successful?

Mickword

21-05-2010, 10:07 PM

Shouldn't have agreed to the T&Cs then, lol.

Yeah, but who reads the terms now-a-days also, they change it to often, so therefore none of us have agreed to the new ones.

Special

21-05-2010, 10:10 PM

i want it to close & also habbo/sulake make out to be a massive successful company and they really arnt

immense

21-05-2010, 10:11 PM

Habbo closing would ultimately lead to Habbox closing.

Special

21-05-2010, 10:12 PM

Habbo closing would ultimately lead to Habbox closing.

they would perhaps keep for forum though just remove the habbo sections because 75% of people on here dont play it anyway

immense

21-05-2010, 10:14 PM

the last official poll that was done showed more people played habbo then didn't.

i agree it wouldn't suffer too much at first, maybe even be helped but a year down the line i think it'd die.

Samantha$

22-05-2010, 02:07 AM

Yeah, but who reads the terms now-a-days also, they change it to often, so therefore none of us have agreed to the new ones.mm i think just by simply playing you have an implied agreement with the t&cs, whether or not you have read them.

anyways, this guy has a point. i can't say i'd move to US/CA habbo if it closed though, it would just be the end of habbo-related things for me... i would have quit one day. and to those stupid enough to even consider suicide over this... just wow. must be a whole new level of sad. either that or your life is extremely boring.

.shawty

22-05-2010, 02:20 AM

You know, ive always wondered what habbo would do if it closed. altho i think they waste a bit to much money on some things.
1) beta.. some of the additions were not needed.
2) the ammount of accounts there are. i know habbo said they did cleaning.. but really, they wont need so much space.. if they remove every inactive. they should have an option that people can delete there acc. if they quit, ofcourse make sure there is a safe process, to avoid scammers doing it ect. ! Or if someone is perm banned, and they are not going to be ubanned under any circumstances.. delete the account ect.. It will save so much more space. i mean atleast 1/50 habbos dont play anymore. ect
3) do promotions .. to make money, offer deals or item packages with purchases.

if they are going broke, then they need to turn on there brains, and use them. Altho it seems us people that play habbo, actually think of it, and are more intelligent.. no offence to sulake.
And they add things, without wondering what habbos think, they decide what they will do, then ask habbo if they like it.. with those random surveys they probably dont even read.. ! mb they should do a vote, majority vote. that way they dont waste money on things nobody cares for.

altho for some reason.. i think people would have a battle if habbo was to ever close.. nowhere does it say "if habbo closes you wont be compensaited" it only states "we cant return ur furni if you are banned or scammed". ;o.

altho, tbh i highly doubt habbo will go broke. there just a little slow these days :)

Art

22-05-2010, 02:36 AM

Yeah, but who reads the terms now-a-days also, they change it to often, so therefore none of us have agreed to the new ones.

You agreed to let them change the t+c at any time.

HotelUser

22-05-2010, 02:39 AM

I'm sure it wont close. It's really just pointless speculation at this point.

Art

22-05-2010, 02:41 AM

Sorry Habbos didn't mean to cause any confusion! No need to panic - the merge is still happening and AU is not closing :)
about 18 hours ago via web

From AU hotel manager's twitter. Mind you I think she is leaving... http://twitter.com/bamaloo

Moh

22-05-2010, 02:53 AM

I heard Sulake has their best quarter so far?

Sink

22-05-2010, 04:19 AM

I will be one of the people who will commit suicide. Also, I have spent over £1,000 on Habbo UK alone. And if it gets shut down I want a refund.

lol @ the £1,000 and the suicide

Ajthedragon

22-05-2010, 06:42 AM

Oh well. Life goes on. Although I doubt they'll close us down, UK, NL and ES are very profitable.

Verrou

22-05-2010, 07:10 AM

-Danube-

22-05-2010, 07:42 AM

He does have a good point about the merge system being shut down on UK/AU/SG

www.habbo.co.uk/start_merge (http://www.habboxforum.com/www.habbo.co.uk/start_merge) no long works on any of the merging hotels. Unless they just decided to change the link as they knew loads of people had found it.

But tbh i think their revenue will improve so much through this merge. They are going to have much lower levels of staffing, and i can see that being their main loss. I mean didn't they have like 3 hotel managers for UK at one point, i no officially they don't all do the exact same job but it's very similar and 3 just aren't called for, a waste of money.

They need to do more promotions. I mean this thing they have thought up that you get a free badge when you buy a rare, it genius. Many people just buy the rare to get the badge, and if these people can't trade for credits they will buy them. But people will eventually get bored of the novelty of this so they need to keep thinking things up. They should bring back the credit deals, i haven't seen one of these in years. When Callie was manager (ye i no lol) she used to do weekends when you'd get double the amount of credits if you bought this weekend, double HC if you bought this weekend etc etc. They need to bring back all the payday plus deals etc. BattleBall and SnowStrom should come back, but this time, charge for it.

Habbo exchange was probably their biggest mistake, although great for us, most people wont be buying creds no more. They should introduce another payment method, they have credits and pixels, they should have another, which you can't trade and you can only use to get certain furni and rares that other people can't. They should make it that VIP can only be bought with this alternative currency. Most people would be like "I'm not going to buy another currency" but you'll find many will because it's the pull of having something knowone else can.

I think it's a combination of bad management and the recession that has caused this (more bad management tbh) and by doing the merge, and the world starting to creep out of recession (we hope) then i think Sulake have every chance. If they do fail though, i think there's a good chance someone would buy Habbo.

They need to do more TV ad's. Sponser something that will get them a TV ad, they used to do these i think but not for years. Even just a 5 second ad in a primetime spot that said HABBO.CO.UK would get people signing up, as they will be intrigued to what it is.

lorren

22-05-2010, 08:01 AM

i want it to close & also habbo/sulake make out to be a massive successful company and they really arnt

i want this.

dogboy123

22-05-2010, 08:09 AM

I heard Sulake has their best quarter so far?

Thats what Sulake are saying...

'Good news :) Sulake's Habbo Hotel Reports Strong Growth in First Quarter of 2010 http://fb.me/ynIbsIiV (http://fb.me/ynIbsIiV) '

Tintinnabulate

22-05-2010, 08:24 AM

Taken from Shenk's website (which I'm not allowed to opening post here). Anyone agree/disagree?

Yeah this is a rumour so I assume this is the right section for 'news & rumours'

This guy is an idiot. Sulake are still profitable and will be for several years so they won't close it down. Anyone who believes that news story is simple a fool.

I will be one of the people who will commit suicide. Also, I have spent over £1,000 on Habbo UK alone. And if it gets shut down I want a refund.

I love it when I see posts such as yours as I just laugh. Spend £100,000 on Habbo if you want and legally they don't have to give you a penny back. So what if the T&C is long? It outlines all the terms and conditions and if you don't agree to them, dont read it. When you registered, you also agreed to allow them to change the T&C at any time and by still playing, it means you agreed to the new T&C.

Habbo have brought about their own downfall by changing so much, and not ensuring battleball and snowstorm work. Sometimes it feels that company is run by a bunch of idiots the way they change so much without ensuring some of the main features work.

The UK is their biggest hotel and they will not delete it.
What the merge allows them to do is retain most of the users while reducing costs. People won't leave because of the merge (well most of them won't anyway) as they will still have their account and furni.

Barmi

22-05-2010, 08:48 AM

Saurav hit the nail on the head. Shenk's in the wrong ballpark.

Special

22-05-2010, 08:49 AM

This guy is an idiot. Sulake are still profitable and will be for several years so they won't close it down. Anyone who believes that news story is simple a fool.

I love it when I see posts such as yours as I just laugh. Spend £100,000 on Habbo if you want and legally they don't have to give you a penny back. So what if the T&C is long? It outlines all the terms and conditions and if you don't agree to them, dont read it. When you registered, you also agreed to allow them to change the T&C at any time and by still playing, it means you agreed to the new T&C.

Habbo have brought about their own downfall by changing so much, and not ensuring battleball and snowstorm work. Sometimes it feels that company is run by a bunch of idiots the way they change so much without ensuring some of the main features work.

The UK is their biggest hotel and they will not delete it.
What the merge allows them to do is retain most of the users while reducing costs. People won't leave because of the merge (well most of them won't anyway) as they will still have their account and furni.

call me picky but im sure ES is the biggest hotel ?

Tintinnabulate

22-05-2010, 08:53 AM

call me picky but im sure ES is the biggest hotel ?

Sorry I meant in the one which are merging. I knew it might confuse some :P

And what makes me laugh even more is that the person who wrote that article didn't upload the screenshot of the email - simply because its fake / doesn't exist. If he makes a mistake in the edit, and if people will find it, they will stop believing instantly. Its some kid who wants attention.

Art

22-05-2010, 09:58 AM

They should introduce another payment method, they have credits and pixels, they should have another, which you can't trade and you can only use to get certain furni and rares that other people can't.

Wouldn't mind that tbh. Not that I buy credits anyway :P Maybe just make old seasonals, norms and hc available for credits and new seasonals, rares and vip for the new currency?

dbgtz

22-05-2010, 09:58 AM

I'm sure UK is probably one of the biggest grossing hotels.

Nixt

22-05-2010, 10:17 AM

http://www.sulake.com/press/releases/2010-05-20-Sulake_Habbo_Hotel_Reports_Strong_Growth_in_First_ Quarter_of_2010.html

today announced its best quarterly financial results in the company’s history. Between January and March 2010, Sulake’s revenue increased more than 25 percent compared with the same period last year, resulting in sales of $20 million (€14.7 million). The strong revenue growth, combined with operating model improvements and cost savings in the final quarter of 2009, has also led to a significant increase in the company’s profits. Sulake’s EBITDA in Q1/10 totaled $3 million (€2.3 million, 15 percent of revenue). The merge is designed to streamline the Habbo project and increase that revenue. Hotel deletion would only happen in the most dire of circumstances and on that basis of the above article, they are not in the most dire of circumstances. If they deleted the UK Hotel now this would have a negative impact on this financial progress and they would be fools to do so. This is almost certainly not happening.

Mickword

22-05-2010, 11:43 AM

mm i think just by simply playing you have an implied agreement with the t&cs, whether or not you have read them.

anyways, this guy has a point. i can't say i'd move to US/CA habbo if it closed though, it would just be the end of habbo-related things for me... i would have quit one day. and to those stupid enough to even consider suicide over this... just wow. must be a whole new level of sad. either that or your life is extremely boring.

It's called a joke about suicide...

You agreed to let them change the t+c at any time.

Yeah true.

lol @ the £1,000 and the suicide

Thank you I will be here all week!

This guy is an idiot. Sulake are still profitable and will be for several years so they won't close it down. Anyone who believes that news story is simple a fool.

I love it when I see posts such as yours as I just laugh. Spend £100,000 on Habbo if you want and legally they don't have to give you a penny back. So what if the T&C is long? It outlines all the terms and conditions and if you don't agree to them, dont read it. When you registered, you also agreed to allow them to change the T&C at any time and by still playing, it means you agreed to the new T&C.

Habbo have brought about their own downfall by changing so much, and not ensuring battleball and snowstorm work. Sometimes it feels that company is run by a bunch of idiots the way they change so much without ensuring some of the main features work.

The UK is their biggest hotel and they will not delete it.
What the merge allows them to do is retain most of the users while reducing costs. People won't leave because of the merge (well most of them won't anyway) as they will still have their account and furni.

LOL! Not 100,000 because that would be sad, 1,000. :D. And true.

immense

22-05-2010, 11:45 AM

Can I just say Habbo staff were told liquidation was a possibility.

Barmi

22-05-2010, 01:01 PM

Can I just say Habbo staff were told liquidation was a possibility.
Can I just say ludus isn't the most reliable source of information.

HotelUser

22-05-2010, 01:03 PM

Can I just say Habbo staff were told liquidation was a possibility.

For some reason, Jake, I'm not inclined to believe you!

By the way has MAD returned yet :)

immense

22-05-2010, 01:09 PM

That is very true about ludus although they were told that. David, if you don't believe me look at my thread "guessing" about the merge. He was unable to tell me on msn/skype and had to do it where no logs could be saved which gives me more inclination to believe him. Although he also told me Beat is banned because she was Habbo staff, so take things with a pinch of salt. All staff were told when they were told they were getting made redundant (all UK are) this (the merge) is the last chance as numerous moderators have since confirmed.

However, I'm perfectly aware why people don't want to believe it and can't understand it's a possibility. I don't know, you don't know, none of us know for sure. Sulake are being purposefully brief with details. Maybe they're not even 100% sure themselves.

HotelUser

22-05-2010, 02:15 PM

After what I wouldn't exactly regard as the most professional appearances at HF from him, particularly in the relations between you and him which you've cited in spam a little while ago, I'm more likely to listen to speculation from a number of HxFers before I listened to what you say he said, when I don't think he has much common sense to begin with, and where I highly doubt that he's intwined with the financial affairs of Sulake to begin with.

Sulake has so many alternatives to closing, that a scenario in which Habbo does close is completely absurd. If money for Sulake is really that tight, they would do things like get rid of paid moderation completely. They wouldn't just outright close, they would most likely sell Habbo, or merge with another company as to avoid the bad PR that would come out of an outright closure in which all of its current users would be absolutely furious.

Soy

22-05-2010, 03:00 PM

can't see them shutting down because of the huge income.

They've had alot of issues with flame on .com so i can imagine if they didn't merge the hotels

But it seems highly unlikely that they'd close them

in the meantime i can't see a merge happening any time soon.. they haven't even release compensation lists

Pigperson

22-05-2010, 03:39 PM

Can't see why they would shut down when they can afford celebrity visits (unless they are fake) and when so many people buy credits.

It would be plain stupid if they closed down the hotels. Tbh UK is such a big community for how small the population is compared to other countries. People spend so much time on habbo and money and it would just be plain stupid. If they want to prevent scripters or hackers, then just create a guide and just think of a safe way to log on or something.

Tbh most of the expansions like facebook which caused problems was stupid, no point really.

If the hotel closes, it would just be stupid, even though I don't use it as much. Also why can't they just organise this all better, it's so confusing when I would just prefer a temporary shut down of the hotel to sort it out without and problems.

Will

Tintinnabulate

22-05-2010, 05:40 PM

It's called a joke about suicide...

Yeah true.

Thank you I will be here all week!

LOL! Not 100,000 because that would be sad, 1,000. :D. And true.

I used £100,000 as an example. No offence but £1,000 on an online virtual game is way too much.

Colin-Roberts

22-05-2010, 06:19 PM

you people all seem to forget, habbo is a small fish in sulakes sea's. Its the only mmocc they own but companies constantly hire them for work related to coding ect. Habbo would close long before sulake ever would

wiktoria

22-05-2010, 06:24 PM

It won't close.

JeffDunham-1$

22-05-2010, 07:12 PM

Same here and also on Habbo USA
I will be one of the people who will commit suicide. Also, I have spent over £1,000 on Habbo UK alone. And if it gets shut down I want a refund.

karter

23-05-2010, 06:28 AM

What? how can they delete banned members?

Art

23-05-2010, 11:28 AM

What? how can they delete banned members?

Seriously??

Sameer!

23-05-2010, 04:58 PM

It's not hard lol...

Tintinnabulate

23-05-2010, 05:03 PM

Sarah

23-05-2010, 07:36 PM

It wont close, even if Sulake were in trouble (which they're clearing not as we've seen from a previous post) they would most likely try to sell it on first.

lTraditional

23-05-2010, 07:41 PM

Well the merge is going to become a failure anyway, i wouldn't be suprised but i guess they would try and sell it aswell. Habbox could just take out the Habbo forums and keep it up although they would need a change of name and URL as i mainly come on Habbox to chat and not really to talk about habbo as much.

Tintinnabulate

23-05-2010, 08:10 PM

They wont delete banned users.

majesticdragon

24-05-2010, 09:41 AM

It wont close, even if Sulake were in trouble (which they're clearing not as we've seen from a previous post) they would most likely try to sell it on first.

I didn't think of that but yeah it would make more sense to sell it on I suppose

22andy2231

24-05-2010, 10:51 AM

they wont close habbo. theres no way that they would becase they are making way to much money from it. .

fitcovboy

24-05-2010, 03:00 PM

What a ridiculous rumour, I mean Sulake have had several serious offers to sell Habbo on several occasions, so I think rather than 'just closing it' they would sell it on. The reason they have not sold it on, is because they still enjoy the profits they are getting from it. The merge link page will have been removed as several Sulake staff are actively reading habboxforum, and they have seen that too many people are on to the link, the page was incomplete anyway, so it will have been renamed until they actually need to use it. The reason for the delay is due to technical issues they had when they first tried to merge Canada, so that was delayed for a week, and then a few other technical issues cropped up, which I believe are all ironed out now. But as the UK is one of their flag ship hotels, they are ensuring that every technical issue has been resolved before the merge. I would expect the merge to go ahead within the next week.

marriott0.01

24-05-2010, 03:23 PM

Why would habbo close if they have just announced an increase of 25% of revenue?

http://www.nma.co.uk/news/habbo-owners-profits-rebound-in-q1/3013773.article

Also Habbo has more users than MySpace? :\

Gibs960

24-05-2010, 03:52 PM

They can't shut down something that's cost Sulake & its players so much. Plus I don't think they'd give refund which would probably result in a lot of bad media attention & would cost Sulake more to shut it down that keep it open.

Hazala

24-05-2010, 06:17 PM

Maybe thats why habbo are having to let go staff. For instence Bucho6 Or Ludus.. To Save Money????

Kieran

24-05-2010, 06:23 PM

Maybe thats why habbo are having to let go staff. For instence Bucho6 Or Ludus.. To Save Money????

Have you not read their article? They have had their first quarter since they began! They're not going anywhere any time soon.

Art

24-05-2010, 11:44 PM

Also Habbo has more users than MySpace? :\

Wait... what?

immense

24-05-2010, 11:47 PM

i think even hxf has more members than myspace now

22andy2231

25-05-2010, 11:41 AM

yup lol myspace aint that popular no more :L:L

Tintinnabulate

26-05-2010, 08:27 AM

i think even hxf has more members than myspace now

LOOL. I think its only Americans who use it isnt it?

immense

26-05-2010, 09:20 AM

LMAO probably D:

Arron

26-05-2010, 09:36 AM

Myspace?

never liked that.

I agree with fitcovboy. good post, +rep :)

Wise

27-05-2010, 08:05 PM

Habbo UK has the largest scamming, scripting and hacking 'score' then any other hotel

Ive heard:

Habbo UK will close
Habbo will not merge
Habbo is in debt
Habbo likely to close more hotels

While I heard this from a few friends, one in particular never gets this stuff wrong so..

:o

22andy2231

27-05-2010, 08:14 PM

alv4

28-05-2010, 12:23 AM

This is the last change to improve...
If no :/

DPS

28-05-2010, 09:28 AM

Oh well hope it closes and some of these losers kill thereself tbh ;s

World Of Warcraft FTW! Blizzard know how to make money, **** sulake :)

Wonderful

28-05-2010, 10:18 AM

Oh well hope it closes and some of these losers kill thereself tbh ;s

World Of Warcraft FTW! Blizzard know how to make money, **** sulake :). Oh right, and they're the losers LOL

.shawty

31-05-2010, 04:00 AM

note: probably reason for merge.
having just one server saves money.
for example;
say u buy 10gb for each site, it costs 10.00each
well if youu bought 20gb for 15.00 for 1 site,
you save.
they are going to save so much more money, making one server, then having tons of english servers. saving thousands, and having less too pay for.

Hardstylerz

31-05-2010, 09:18 AM

I will be one of the people who will commit suicide. Also, I have spent over £1,000 on Habbo UK alone. And if it gets shut down I want a refund.

Get a life <3

01-06-2010, 01:42 PM

Just what samsta said :- I have been told the merge is the last chance for things to improve. If they don't, Habbo will cease to exist.

This is correct and if they dont inprove there profits and things like that, then habbo will no longer exist and will close down! But i would not worry about it, hopefully the murge will save the day!

immense

01-06-2010, 01:43 PM

Sulake have said this themselves, Azza is 100% correct.

MrPinkPanther

01-06-2010, 02:56 PM

Sulake and not closing Habbo or even thinking about it. Why would they? It has a strong brand image, a loyal user base and gives them a consistent constant income. There is no reason to shut it down. The merge makes perfect economic sense, shutting it down does not. Servers cost very little and currently the only real costs to Sulake would be staffing which they are minimising during the merge, if they were really cash strapped then they would cut down on moderators and reintroduce Hobbas, not shut it down.

As for the "Habbo will shut down if people don't stop scripting", I'm sorry but thats utter rubbish. I joined Habbo back in 2001 and I tell you this now, scripting was a lot popular back then. Scripting often harms the user experience which is why they are hard on it and often try to patch it but it doesn't lose them any money does it?