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I think you are very right from a business point of view. DAZ manouvering smacks of something burning under their feet to hit a big one, or else. They havent hit a big one since V4, and thats a long time. Content sales frm her are no longer sufficient to support the store AND software development. 

My take is that daz has been overextended for a while and the investors ae looking for returns on the capital already, and getting tired of returns way below the projected. You know there have been investors, daz had press releases about it, not so much in poserdom, but elsewhere. Daz was piositioning themselves for serioys expansions, but none of them caught on beyond the aveage market percentage capture. (Dynamic clothing, gaming marketplace, bryce, cararra and hexagon, genesis... are the ones I cam recall off the top of my head)

 

:)

 

Warning-- long post, but I think that it addresses some real issues.

Here's the way that I look at it, and I think that it goes to the very heart of the title of this thread. I don't know enough to evaluate Gen 1 or 2 from an artistic/technical standpoint (I really respect those who do.) But let's look at the issues of characters and products like investors, because we ARE investing our time and money.Stick with me here... ;)

 

We have no way of knowing how well any of the Gen figures did in the marketplace (although I do think it's telling that the explosion of free content just hasn't happened, relative to V4.) This is because a private company does not release sales figures or finances to anyone-- not the SEC, not a government body, not the public, nobody. Now, private companies have to seek private investors, as BadKitteh noted above. They can't raise public capital by selling stock. The problem is that if anything goes wrong with raising capital in this way, it can be devastating. This type of company usually relies on a relatively very small group of people-- founders and others who are passionate about the products and the mission. If any of these people branch out and create competing products... and if we can infer the parent company's reaction from the fact that they're not allowing public discussion of that event... that does not usually mean good news for a private company. 

 

So whether or not Gen 2 is a dud from an artistic and content POV will need to be decided by others. V6 could be the greatest figure in all of history; the problem is the business decisions behind her. I can't justify "investing" in any of the Gen figures for that reason. If anything goes wrong with the parent company... aside from whether or not they can reorganize under Ch 11 or 13 (Chapter 7-- forget it!!), there would be a lot of fallout from the psychological effect of the debacle on users.

From that POV, although we don't have any idea how Dawn will work out, she's a much better bet right out of the gate. She is being created by people whom everyone in the know likes and respects. A lot of respected people are already jumping on board for content creation. She won't be platform dependent; aside from technical issues, that makes her more likable and more comforting after all of the negative feelings stirred up by DSON. Negativity between users of the two platforms could really be smoothed down.

Ultimately, no matter how much trolling may exist, most people need to feel like part of a community that is generating solutions.  Dawn is generating a lot of excitement in that area, and that feeling of purpose and  camaraderie is supported because of the time, place, and psychological space that she fits into. I also think she'll be very good. :)

 

So, on balance, I do think that V6 is a dud if we look at her as a potential investment of our time and energy, even leaving out any artistic considerations. I'd go with Dawn.