- Stephen Nichol
Legal Battle Won't Stop Vega+ Delivery Promises Dr Levy
Following the shock announcement of two out of four Directors of Retro Computers Ltd quitting the company earlier this year, statements have begun to emerge about the situation.
I don't believe that I have much to add that can't be gained from reading the statements themselves, however - just in case of future web erosion and weblinks expiring, the summary of the situation is that Dr Levy is accusing the two former Directors of using Retro Computers Ltd funds to finance a similarly named company (Retro Games Ltd) producing a rival to ZX Spectrum Vega called The 64, which is based on the Commodore 64 computer.
If you are new to the retro scene, or have been living on Pluto for the past four decades, The Commodore 64 was the original Spectrum's biggest rival both commercially and in school playgrounds back in the early 1980s.
Globally, the C64 outsold the ZX Spectrum but, the Spectrum was much more affordable and sold very well, shifting 5 million units (not including clones).
The C64 had dedicated support chips for graphics and sound as well as built in joystick and serial ports, but had a slower CPU and was geared towards 2D scrolling games. The ZX Spectrum was cheaper and only intended to be educational but had a faster CPU and was debated by fans to be better at handling 3D applications.
Despite the Commodore computers popularity, The 64 failed to reach its crowdfunding target.
Naturally the two departed Directors, who are actually still shareholders in Retro Computers Ltd, holding a 25% stake each in the company producing the Vega and Vega+ are defending their names and trying to block what they refer to as "Libellous claims" in relation to their involvement.
Dr Levy has promised that the Vega+ will be delivered on time despite the legal battle, and crowdfunders will receive the handheld devices that they paid for upfront on Indiegogo "...by the end of next month" (September 2016).
Dr Levy's statement for Retro Computers Ltd can be read HERE.
Paul Andrew's Twitter feed can be found HERE.
Thanks for reading
Stephen