Conflict has apparently been brewing in the world of combat flight sim development for some time now but today it erupted into a pair of clashing public statements by RAZBAM CEO Ron Zambrano and Eagle Dynamics co-founder and CEO Nick Grey. Here’s what’s been said and as much extra context as we can piece together right now.
The statements
Today we saw a pair of clashing statements come out, first from RAZBAM CEO Ron Zambrano and then later from Eagle Dynamics co-founder Nick Grey. There had been rumblings in the community in recent days and weeks but those whispers appeared to be just that until today’s twin statements.
We start with what RAZBAM posted to their Discord server at 1:17 pm EDT.
Dear Customers and Community,
You may have noticed that the that the latest RAZBAM announcements does not include a changelog or any updates for our products. We would like to inform you that, until further notice, all support for RAZBAM-developed aircraft modules is on hold. This suspension encompasses, but is not limited to, bug fixes and updates.
We want to reaffirm our unwavering commitment to this exceptional community, our current customers, and prospective clients. Unfortunately, due to circumstances completely beyond our control, we are temporarily unable to continue our work at this time. Our team, a group of highly skilled and professional developers, is first and foremost made up of dedicated individuals. They invest not only their expertise but also their personal dedication and sacrifice into crafting our products. For many, this work provides essential supplementary income or even constitutes their primary livelihood.
We are hopeful for a swift resolution so that we can resume our normal operations. However, until these issues are resolved, we will not be issuing any updates about our products. We ask for your understanding during this challenging period, a situation that RAZBAM Simulations did not seek and which has previously seriously affected other parties, for example Heatblur Simulations. We have been patient, perhaps too patient, waiting for a resolution from the responsible parties. Now, we find it necessary to take a stand and await a practical solution to this deadlock.
I also want to extend my heartfelt thanks to my fellow third-party developers. Their support, once aware of the relevant facts, has been overwhelming. Thank you for elevating DCS to new heights; it truly wouldn’t be the remarkable experience it is without your contributions.
The suspension will remain in effect until the significant issues between Eagle Dynamics and RAZBAM Simulations LLC are resolved to our mutual satisfaction. Once these issues have been addressed, we will resume our standard practices of bug fixing, updates, and upgrades, just as we have since our inception as developers for DCS. We hope this resolution results in a more stable and optimistic future for DCS and all 3rd Party Developers.
Best regards
Ron Zambrano, CEO, RAZBAM Simulations, LLC (posted by RAZBAM_prowler on the RAZBAM Discord)
A significant statement clearly though I want to point out that there is a conciliatory layer to this as RAZBAM and Ron in particular states that they want a practical solution to whatever deadlock they are having with Eagle Dynamics.
That statement swept through the community quickly and by 4:20 pm EDT we had the following response from Eagle Dynamics CEO Nick Grey.
Following the message published by Ron Zambrano of Razbam Simulations, we believe that it is necessary to rectify some of the unfounded allegations and to reassure the Community that everything is being done to resolve the current situation promptly and for the benefit of all concerned.
Without entering into the details of matters that are confidential to the parties, we firmly reject the allegations that the current disagreement between Eagle Dynamics and Razbam Simulations would be as stated by Razbam “due to circumstances completely beyond our control” and that it is “a situation that Razbam Simulations did not seek”.
On the contrary, the current disagreement is the result of improper actions that have been taken by Razbam Simulations, in breach of its contractual obligations towards our company and of our legally protected IP rights, and for which we are seeking a reasonable and forward-looking commercial outcome rather than entertaining legal claims.
We very much regret that Ron Zambrano has decided, without even pre-advising us, to make these disparaging public statements and, more importantly, to take the customers of the Razbam developed aircraft as leverage in the discussions with us.
Please rest assured, we are addressing the situation with the utmost attention and constructiveness.
Many thanks and kind regards,
Nick Grey (shared by ED Community Manager on the DCS by Eagle Dynamics Discord)
In addition to these statements, we’ve heard various messages from developers with RAZBAM on the issue that seem to range on what the dispute is in relation to. One developer with RAZBAM posted on r/Hoggit with the following:
Hi all I have decided to halt developing for DCS indefinitely. This was the final straw. We have not been paid up to date (many months worth) and this is incredibly insulting to see this statement. I wish you all the best. Thanks!
CptSmiley on r/Hoggit
A concerning tidbit there with regards to not being paid for the work that they have been doing.
Meanwhile, with Heatblur’s name being dropped in Ron’s statement a moderator on the Heatblur Discord reported that at that moment they didn’t have any comments to make on the dispute and called for calm.
Community reaction and what happens now
The DCS World community are caught in a difficult situation now where there are serious and significant disputes between the businesses that provide us with a lot of content and flight sim enjoyment. Community reaction has, as I said at the top, fast moving and the conversations are flowing fast and furious with everyone looking to weigh in on what appears to be a complex situation.
There are fears, of course, that a significant piece of the catalogue of DCS World modules is now in jeopardy. There have been comparisons to VEAO, the company that infamously released the DCS: Hawk T1, and then later pulled out completely leaving everyone in a difficult spot. There are apparently steps that Eagle Dynamics put in place to prevent that situation in the future, however, there are also disputes back and forth in the community on that too. Anxiety on what happens next is running high.
Without overgeneralizing the situation and the statements too much there is both an escalation and potential for deescalation. The escalation is of course that this is now a matter of public dispute. In the backrooms and private discussions between companies, its not unusual for there to be disputes and even serious disputes that result. Both messages, although potentially offering fuel to escalate further, do offer some willingness to negotiate and a desire to resolve the situation. Hope for deescalation is contained within these messages.
The situation revealed today is obviously serious and significant. We are not party to the full nature of the dispute nor the language of the business agreements that both companies have with each other. Nor would that be our business directly. That makes weighing in on this situation, beyond the statements we have, difficult to say the least.
Hopefully both parties can find common ground, find solutions that work, and take the discussion back to a point where development and smooth operation can resume. RAZBAM’s contributions to DCS World have been significant and I and, I suspect, many of you would like to see continue. Their F-15E, their most recent early access release, is an excellent module already but it needs development to continue in order to reach its full potential. If some devs are already leaving, the situation that does suggest delays are possible at the very least.
I fear what happens if it is not dealt with and the situation gets worse. Let’s hope that things are resolved in a constructive way.
Stormbirds 
I hope they don’t uninstall my Strike Eagle. 😦
I don’t know who is at fault here, Razbam has exactly zero PR skills and treats people like… nothing, and ED can certainly be humourless and anal retentive at times. But then the community members can also be a tad difficult as well, so there’s that.
Thank goodness for Stormbirds where everyone gets along. 🙂
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Lets hope it all gets sorted out sooner or later, not that I care too much about the Mud Hen (I own it but haven’t invested the time in learning it) but that’s beside the point – we want more content so fractures aren’t a great end result for all of us (remember before 3rd parties came onboard… progress was slow….)
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Yeah definitely. I hope things get sorted soon too. It’s good to have the third parties onboard developing great content. It’s hard work but we’ve got some fantastic modules – I’d be said to see anything hurt that.
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Continuing to be a source of hope and optimism in a world that doesn’t always go that way!
I hope all is well and the F-15E can continue on. It’s a module I want to spend a lot more time with…
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A lot of words but no content. All is seems to say is I am angry at you, and the alternative is no.. I am angry with you. Not helpful and arguably should have remained between the two parties… at least for now.
Lenny
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It does feel like something that ideally hadn’t been done in public. But here we are unfortunately…
Hopefully it gets sorted out!
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I say put me in charge as mediator and I’ll sort them out
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Can we take a moment and celebrate the fact that I just learned the meaning of “conciliatory”?
I am not too proud to admit that I had to look that sucker up after reading it!
Anyway enough about my poor vocabulary, this is fantastic reporting on a very complex and unfortunate situation for all of us. Hope they get things sorted.
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Any day I learn a new word is a good one! Celebration is called for!
Appreciate the kind words on the reporting. I love writing about new development, product releases, and great new experiences. This stuff is not my favourite of course… but hopefully it helps give folks an idea of what’s going on. Fingers crossed it gets sorted out!
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You can run this one like a gossip column. Flightsim drama. 🙂
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That’d be my nightmare 😅
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Conspiracy theory time. Can’t access the game on Steam or get on the main site.
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They’ve been having server issues for 24 hours now. The timing is unusual but hopefully coincidental…. But it does give fuel for conspiracy theories for sure!
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.As all my RazBam stuff gets uninstalled without my knowledge…
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Frequent module sales signaled that there was a financial problem. The outages of the DCS server yesterday and today are perhaps another signal, I hope I’m wrong and the cause is technical.
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I haven’t focused on that much because it’s been a bit too much supposition. Frequent and aggressive sales have become common in recent years in gaming. If it was just ED doing it I think it’d be more suspect.
I know there’s some other financial discussions going on about loans. I’ve read about it but I’m not sure what to make of it all yet.
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Indeed. Even Steam seems to have sales on every couple of months these days.
Although I wonder if Razbam’s non-participation in DCS sale events (that I think has been going on for more than a year now?) perhaps suggests the relationship with ED hasn’t been great for a while.
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Yeah I remember when we had a couple of sales in a row where no RAZBAM product was listed as being on sale and it started to become conspicuous. Things appear to have boiled over after a period of probably months.
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More like the Dudhen LMAO
(what an ugly situation that I hope gets resolved amicably, in the mean time I will be playing F-15 Strike Eagle II in dosbox)
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Hopefully it gets sorted out!
I loved F-15 Strike Eagle II and III a lot. I played those for hours on an old 386 back in the day. Classics.
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Not a single word about Nick Grey’s publicly available financial dealings? The over $10 million GBP in interest free loans he’s given to the FC. The fact that ED and Nick Grey are both financially sound enough to get banks to loan them large amounts of money. Hell I saw where he or ED was had loan with a lift(elevator) company for over half a million. Meaning if banks will loan ED or Nick money and Nick keeps moving large stacks of cash between businesses, they had the cash flow to pay Razbam.
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I read about it a fair bit but didn’t include it in the article because I’m not sure what to make of it. I’m not a financial expert at this level. This does sound a bit unusual to me as a layman in the field, I also don’t know how often this sort of thing happens and/or if it has anything to do with the dispute. Some of the comments suggest its an IP related item, some financial, maybe a bit of a mix. I’m waiting to hear and learn more.
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If the implication was that Razbam weren’t being paid because ED were claiming they didn’t have the funds to do so then I could see the relevance of bringing up Grey’s financial affairs. However, neither side seems to be remotely implying that.
Yes it absolutely sucks that it sounds like the devs haven’t been paid what they’re owed. So its up to the heads of the two organisations to reach some understanding on whatever the issue is, and to get money moving again.
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Sounds like either a carefully calculated public airing of a contract dispute as a means of seeking self help towards a resolution (like a union picketing), or else or perhaps a brash and emotionally-inspired version of the same thing. No way to know given what we don’t know. Hopefully everyone involved realizes that the best thing for everyone is to come to a peaceful resolution. Unfortunately we know the world doesn’t always work that way.
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Yeah we definitely don’t know what we don’t know on this one. There’s quite a bit that’s vague at this point for me certainly.
Still hopeful at the moment for some sort of resolution.
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Definitely suspicious of RAZBAM on this one. Especially when there have been accusations from employees of theirs stating RAZBAM never paid them
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Recently it sounds like the artists/developers are pointing the finger at ED for not paying RAZBAM and thus them not being paid from there. That was the impression I got, but I don’t know for sure any of these details.
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Just a family spat, that’s rolled into the street and the neighbours are all watching. Get indoors, get the kettle on and talk it out. No one wins in this situation.
Well reported with no side taken as usual.
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Many thanks! Yeah hopefully we’ll put on a kettle or roll on down to the Winchester for a pint and wait for the whole thing to blow over. Fingers crossed!
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Disclaimer: I obviously have no idea what is going on so this is all speculation. But I do in my day job frequently deal with corporate disputes like this, so these comments are in that context.
In virtually any case where you have a contract and are not paid, you have very clearly spelled out recourse under the terms of that contract for dispute and can immediately go to court with a strong claim if your counterparty decides they’re just not going to pay you for the hell for it.
You know what no company in its right mind in that situation would ever do? Instead of following those dispute terms under the contract, publicly attack your (more or less) sole customer and attempt to weaponize your/their customers against them. This is not good for your legal standing and it’s not good for your future ability to prosper assuming the dispute is eventually resolved. Any lawyer with a pulse (which admittedly is not all) would have told Razbam this.
Furthermore, unless you do think ED is an outright Ponzi scheme- and maybe it is, but I’ve seen/heard zero evidence of that- you know what else a company in its right mind would never do? Wake up one day and say “you know what, I’m just going to not pay this major supplier. I can get away with that forever with no consequences.” If ED really was having financial trouble, that’s what bankruptcy procedures exist for. I have a really hard time imagining, even in the most mustache-twirling evil view of ED, what the thought it with respect to what they would gain from acting this way. If they really were in financial trouble, I seriously doubt it would manifest in this way unless ED is an actual criminal enterprise, which we have zero evidence off, screaming redditors notwithstanding.
All this to say, again with obviously no actual insight into the terms of the dispute, but having seen many analogous situations, it looks and smells to me like there is some genuine breach, or at least arguable breach, that Razbam committed and they’re attempting to pressure ED in the court of public opinion because they know they lack a strong legal position. ED, being, bluntly, smarter, is not commenting on the legal specifics, but Razbam is meanwhile hurting everyone by stirring up the fanbase and hurting the engine that generates (I assume) all of their money.
Could be totally wrong of course.
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Really appreciate this comment and the deep insight you’ve been able to offer. None of us on the outside have all of the information but this is extremely helpful for me to contextualize what is going on. Again, deeply appreciate the insight that you’ve given here.
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Not a lawyer personally, though I’ve been around IP law and lawsuits personally for 20+ years. So I’ll disagree somewhat with your take. Nick pretty clearly was explaining some portion of the position from ED perspective:
“the current disagreement is the result of improper actions that have been taken by Razbam Simulations, in breach of its contractual obligations towards our company and of our legally protected IP rights, and for which we are seeking a reasonable and forward-looking commercial outcome rather than entertaining legal claims.“
Razbam owner Ron Zambrano really didn’t disclose anything. He just said that there is a dispute and that they will not be doing bug fixes or updates until such time as the dispute is resolved essentially. Not sure how you get that ED was careful and Razbam was not. In fact, of the two, I’d argue Razbam largely adhered to what might be legal counsel guidance. They went public, but didn’t explain the dispute really at all. He might have implied that they are not getting paid from their portion of the modules sales, but he didn’t outright state it. It was an alleged developer for Razbam, Capt Smiley, who allleged that ED was not paying Razbam for many months (presumably for revenue from Razbam modules, sold exclusively from the ED store or Steam (by Eagle Dynamics).
I also think it’s odd for Nick to say they were seeking a “forward-looking commercial outcome rather than entertaining legal claims.” He is not only telling us something about the situation, claiming Razbam breached contractual obligations and (violated) IP rights, but also telling us how they wanted to resolve. That all circumstantially could fit the statements that Capt Smiley made. If Razbam did violate something, then why are they not pursuing it with their lawyers?
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Thanks for some great insight on this as well. Because we’re flying a bit blind on what exactly the dispute is (we’ve heard about the pay, some IP issues, but we don’t know exactly) it’s hard to get a full read. Both of you have made some great points on the available information.
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I meant to add, my most recent employer, who was quite profitable, did precisely what you think would not happen. That is, not pay vendors, often for months on end. I saw greater than 9 months several times, and had to intervene in some cases to resolve in order to procure parts we needed for engineering prototypes. They were constantly on credit hold for non-payment to suppliers, and non-shipment of parts. Those suppliers in most cases, only had leverage of not shipping future orders for parts to us, so that is what they did. I’d argue it’s exceedingly common, happening all the time, and has nothing to do with how solvent a company is per se. This former company did it as a strategy to save cash and make the balance sheet look good.
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It’s rampant in the UK companies pushing non payment to suppliers as far as possible.
They either owe them money or not, the courts will sort it out. In the UK they are usually very hard on businesses that like to push non payment too far, it could drive ED/DCS or Razbam to bankruptcy. The only winners will be lawyers
I think ED/DCS have depended too much on 3rd party developers and the “community” giving them the leverage to actually do things like this when they haven’t been paid, instead of just bending over and taking it. The dependence on 3rd party developers is going to come back and haunt them.
Regarding the people commenting on the owners solvency and ability to raise funds, have a look at the recent story of Norton motorbikes, it’s an absolute shocker.
Interesting to see what country the court case will be seen in, who the plaintiffs will be etc.
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All I have to say is – there goes our Mig 23 >:/
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Yep. Who is going to buy from RazBam after this? Unless they step up in a very noticeable way, their reputation will remain that of being untrustworthy. It’s just a matter of time before they get upset and tell paying customers to go pound sand. Again.
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Hopefully not though this does put all of their modules into a far more precarious place than I’d like to see. Let’s hope for a good outcome.
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Real life intervenes into our fantasy flying world!!!… stuff happens like that sometimes.
Me, I sit here believing in the positives. They could gnash their teeth for a bit, calm down a bit, realise they need to sort it out and then move on… Hurrah and Huzzah for us all. (or something like that)
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Yeah absolutely. Hopefully we can move on soon!
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Agree overall with Admiral Daystrom & T5S_BLANCO, more the former than the latter, though.
It’s really not a good look for RB to have taken this public in the manner they have (or really in any manner).
In re ED’s response, they’re under pressure from the community to say something substantive about the situation, and they did. This issue could very well be affecting sales of OTHER modules as well, after all. So I wouldn’t necessarily give more credit to RB for keeping it vague.
I’d say, in terms of RB getting to the point where they can’t pay their emps/subs, that’s bad on RB, quite frankly. You have to pay your team, or you lose them. Even if that means you have to make a deal you don’t want to make (or even “shouldn’t have to” make).
It’s a matter of self preservation, frankly. RB, AFAIK, don’t have any other commercial products. Perhaps they have .mil work, but that’s apparently not enough to keep them going through this unpleasantness?
So if it all goes to legal, it’s gonna take a long time and a lot of money is going to be lost to the lawyers, anyway. So isn’t it better in the end to just take a deal with ED? And if RB feels strongly enough about being wronged, then they can diversify back out into other simulator platforms (they used to be prolific FSX devs). The market is MUCH larger than back then, and there is an across the board thirst for high fidelity modules.
But sacrificing your company, and your employees, BEFORE you have a safety net of some sort just isn’t the right thing to do.
ED might be “in the wrong” here, we just can’t say. But they are the exclusive Publisher for the platform, like it or not. And Razbam have definitely bit the hand that feeds them by taking this public.
In any case, I truly hope it works out for RB, their team, AND ED as well. Oh, yeah, and we the customers who end up paying all the bills, too 😉 .
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Agree overall with Admiral Daystrom & T5S_BLANCO, more the former than the latter, though.
It’s really not a good look for RB to have taken this public in the manner they have (or really in any manner).
In re ED’s response, they’re under pressure from the community to say something substantive about the situation, and they did. This issue could very well be affecting sales of OTHER modules as well, after all. So I wouldn’t necessarily give more credit to RB for keeping it vague.
I’d say, in terms of RB getting to the point where they can’t pay their emps/subs, that’s bad on RB, quite frankly. You have to pay your team, or you lose them. Even if that means you have to make a deal you don’t want to make (or even “shouldn’t have to” make).
It’s a matter of self preservation, frankly. RB, AFAIK, don’t have any other commercial products. Perhaps they have .mil work, but that’s apparently not enough to keep them going through this unpleasantness?
So if it all goes to legal, it’s gonna take a long time and a lot of money is going to be lost to the lawyers, anyway. So isn’t it better in the end to just take a deal with ED? And if RB feels strongly enough about being wronged, then they can diversify back out into other simulator platforms (they used to be prolific FSX devs). The market is MUCH larger than back then, and there is an across the board thirst for high fidelity modules.
But sacrificing your company, and your employees, BEFORE you have a safety net of some sort just isn’t the right thing to do.
ED might be “in the wrong” here, we just can’t say. But they are the exclusive Publisher for the platform, like it or not. And Razbam have definitely bit the hand that feeds them by taking this public.
In any case, I truly hope it works out for RB, their team, AND ED as well. Oh, yeah, and we the customers who end up paying all the bills, too 😉 .
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There was a reference to Heatblur in there. I found it odd that when pre-orders for the F4 started you could only order straight from Heatblur’s own site for a bit. Was this the first sign of a 3rd party wanting to ensure THEY got paid first?
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That’s an interesting point. I don’t know but I do sure hope that Heatblur, RAZBAM and everyone else is getting their owed payments. You would think so… but the messaging is all over the place right now.
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Scary stuff from a Customer’s point of view. I personally don’t know what’s going on, and Who’s to blame but it scares the hell out of me. I have spent thousands of dollars into this DCS hobby and I would like to know that I have some security for the future of this very expensive game.
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