Interview with CEO Ron Eckhart
Our CEO, Ron Eckhart, brings over 25 years of diverse business experience to Morally Bankrupt Game Studios. Born into a modest upper-class family, Ron learned the value of hard work early in life.
Enduring such challenges as his parents insisting he wait until his eleventh birthday before receiving ski lessons taught him that good things come to those who persevere. A lesson that really sunk in after he was given his own private chalet in the French Alps a year later.
Ron’s entrepreneurial journey began when he made the bold decision to leave university after just three months to pursue his unique business vision full-time. With a modest seed investment of £10 million from his mother, he founded The Eckhart Yacht Company, quickly establishing himself in the luxury maritime sector. After two dynamic years, Ron made the strategic decision to step away from the yacht industry to explore new opportunities.
While some publications have since dwelt on financial technicalities surrounding the company’s closure, Morally Bankrupt Game Studios feel it is important to state that Ron was ultimately found not guilty on all counts of embezzlement, bribery, tax evasion, fraud, etc, which he considers a resounding vindication.
Following a well-earned four-year period of reflection and personal development, Ron has returned to the business world with renewed vigor, ready to bring his unique perspective to the games industry. We sat down with him to discuss his vision for Morally Bankrupt Game Studios.
Thanks for joining us, Ron.
“That’s Mr Eckhart to you, Felicity.”
Fiona. So, what are you hoping to achieve with Morally Bankrupt Game Studios?
“Great question, Frances. I heard there was considerable unhappiness within the gaming community, and as an experienced entrepreneur, I naturally saw this as an opportunity. Drawing on my experience in the yacht industry, I could clearly see that the complaints gamers had about developers weren’t the actual problem—no customer of my yacht company ever quibbled over a few hundred pounds one way or the other. Are you going to tell me gamers are different? The solution they need is simply a business that speaks to them honestly, just like I did with my clients.”
But don’t you think customers buying a game might be more price-conscious than those buying a yacht?
“Are you telling me that yacht owners don’t play games, Frankie?”
I mean, more that not all gamers are yacht owners. We can’t all—
“Please, Faye. If so many gamers don’t own yachts, why weren’t they banging on the doors of my yacht company’s showroom? Did you know that a vanishingly small percentage of people are buying yachts these days? The only logical explanation is that everyone already owns one.”
I don’t think- Let’s move on. At your launch announcement, you mentioned the company was seeking acquisition and valued itself at $4.2 billion. Have there been any offers?
“Well, Francesca, I have to say I’m as surprised as anyone that the offers haven’t been…flooding in, as such. We’ve been a company for nearly three weeks now, which in startup terms is basically a legacy institution. I’m checking my email constantly though!”
And…nothing?
“I wouldn’t say nothing. We got one email from a woman who was very keen to reach me, which I thought showed promise, until it became clear she wanted to talk about my extended warranty. I remain optimistic, though. The consortiums are probably just doing their due diligence. They have to be very thorough, you know, so I’m sure that an offer is just around the corner. In fact, I - oh, I’ve just had an email come through. Let’s see here… well, didn’t I tell you there would be interest? A Nigerian Prince wants to talk to me.”
Perhaps the Saudis are concerned by your total lack of products, revenue, or assets?
“Fern, that’s exactly the kind of old-fashioned thinking that’s holding the industry back. We’re not selling products - we’re selling potential. We’re selling the idea of products. That’s worth far more than actual games, which frankly require an exhausting amount of work to create and can be quite disappointing when finished.”
Since you bought up the topic of games, can we expect to see you releasing any this year?
“Well Faith, as a company that prides itself on honesty, and specifically honesty about how we’ll disappoint people, I’m thrilled to answer yes…and also no.”
Yes…and no?
“Absolutely. Yes, you can expect to see games released this year. You can expect just as much as you like. We’d really like to emphasise that we endorse just the very highest levels of expectation. And engagement, especially engagement.
But, no, we won’t be releasing anything.”
Isn’t that just a very wordy way of saying no?
“That’s a naive way to think about it, Flo. All the developers here—yes, we have developers now—they know very well we’re not finishing our game this year. To be entirely honest, which is after all our thing, we’ve not started one. But that’s inconvenient from a marketing perspective. If a game isn’t releasing soon, or indeed doesn’t exist, it’s somewhat more challenging to get people hyped about it, and therefore significantly more challenging to get them to give us money. So, we’d really love everyone to believe we’re going to release a game soon.”
But…you aren’t?
“As I said, we’ve not even started one.”
What about your development team? What are they doing if not working on a game?
“Well, yes, we do have…people. More than one person, definitely. At least, if you count me. We’re mostly focussing our time on the whole email inbox refreshing thing at the moment.”
Does that require more than one person?
“Well Francine, whilst I’m here, I can’t keep on top of the emails so efficiently, can I? So, that’s why we have Derek. Or, Daniel. Or was it Steve? I don’t recall. He’s a great guy. Of course, we’d be more than willing to make him redundant if a prospective buyer wished to bring in their own inbox-refreshing team.”
One final question. What do you say to gamers who are skeptical about yet another studio making big promises?
“I’d say their skepticism is entirely justified, and that we deeply admire their pattern recognition skills. But here’s what makes us different, Phyllis - We’re being completely transparent about our intentions from day one. Other studios make lofty promises, and when they inevitably fall short, players feel betrayed. They organize boycotts, they review-bomb, they demand refunds. It’s all very dramatic. But when we disappoint you — and we will — what are you going to do? Boycott us for being honest? Review-bomb us for doing exactly what we promised we’d do in very large font on our website? We’ve essentially eliminated the one tool players have to hold us accountable. It’s remarkably efficient, from a business perspective.”
Thanks for speaking with us, Ron.
“Mr Eckhart.”