Otaku closed down

[lemons]

all those french wanting it to reopen plzzz

[Aiden]

i think it was a mini:



and what would happen if he doesnt pay? :L

[HabboSwat]

I am glad they have done this! I for one think the retros are taking Habbo's Population! Less People on = Less Room Population! Like when that one big retro closed! Habbo.com had like twice what they usually run!

[Michael]

i think it was a mini:



and what would happen if he doesnt pay? :L

Hopefully people will learn a lesson from this, though.

[xxMATTGxx]

i think it was a mini:



and what would happen if he doesnt pay? :L

Probably depends on the legal system in the country he is in. Not sure what they will do specifically.

[Aiden]

Hopefully people will learn a lesson from this, though.

Yeah, it's pretty unfair and as well known illegal. I would feel sorry for him but he brought it on himself. :|

[sexpot]

I am glad they have done this! I for one think the retros are taking Habbo's Population! Less People on = Less Room Population! Like when that one big retro closed! Habbo.com had like twice what they usually run!

Habbo won't get population back from this, if anything it will create more retros

[Aiden]

Probably depends on the legal system in the country he is in. Not sure what they will do specifically.

Yeah I guess, well at least somethings happening and maybe other people who run/develop retros will back off? Maybe... not a great place to me in the first place.

[Abdicators]

For those that are properly interested in Aaron, or are pretending not to know him so they don't give away the fact that they too have run a retro, here is a little bit of a low-down.

In around 2005, a server that emulated the "first" version of Habbo was released, various people took it up and began to play with it. Out of those people, a few of us grouped together (people such as ThuGiE, Myrax, USA111, Flex, Genaga) and started to build a server that emulated Habbo's current version (which at the time was version 9).

After we achieved a reasonable level of emulation, Aaron Marshal (then just 'Sojobo'), started developing a version of his own named 'Otaku Hotel', and began to sell it at around £20 a pop. This was in 2006. Fast forward a few years, he renames the forum he ran (then hw-forum) to 'Otaku', and rebrands the server as 'Phoenix'.

He made enough money off of it to purchase a house in another country, move there and set-up shop. The house he bought wasn't especially pretty, but after living there for about 2 years now he had sort of made it his home.

Jump to today, as of writing this post it is now my belief that not only has his car been taken, but his house too. Sulake are seeking over half a million in damages (or so his lawyers tell him).

I think it's important to note, that this could have happened due to funding from Elisa, over the years he has received literally hundreds of DMCA notices to stop what he was doing, he just ignored them all. What has happened really is pretty tragic, but I hold no sympathy for the guy.

[MKR&*42]

Saw all this drama go down on another forum last night, he ultimately deserved it. A lot of inexperienced retro owners who simply used Phoenix are a tad screwed now.

But yes, this won't stop retros - it's a wonderful start though Sulake.