While many people were getting ready to open presents last week, the four man team at UK-based developer Hello Games had to deal with an extremely harsh reality. The team"s office in Guildford was hit with flooding on Christmas Eve, thanks to a nearby river that broke its banks.
The company"s Twitter account posted up a brief account of what happened the day after the floods:
We"ve lost most things - PCs, monitors, furniture, a door, a wall. You"d think the massive water cooled mega PC would be ok? It was not :(
— Hello Games (@hellogames) December 25, 2013
Hello Games is best known for developing the two titles in the side-scrolling Joe Danger arcade series. Earlier in December, the team surprised the world with the announcement of their next project at Spike TV"s VGX event. It"s a space exploration and combat game called No Man"s Sky, where every planet and every life form is procedurally generated.
The trailer for the game has generated a ton of interest in No Man"s Sky, but now it looks like the flooding in Hello Games" offices could threaten its development. To make matters worse, the team later found out their location was not insured for the damages:
BAD NEWS! Had a "hilarious" call with insurer yesterday. Small print is if you are in a flood risk zone, you are not insured for flooding :(
— Hello Games (@hellogames) December 28, 2013
There has been a huge response from game fans on the Internet asking if they can help. Among them is Microsoft Studios head Phil Spencer who has confirmed that he has tried to contact Hello Games to see if the company can assist them in their time of need:
@JCalNeowin I"ve reached out to see if we can help.
— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) December 30, 2013
Another Guilford-based game developer, Born Ready Games, also had their building hit with the same Christmas Eve floods, but the team has indicated they were able to get their PCs out of their offices before the brunt of the water showed up.
Source: Hello Games on Twitter and Phil Spencer on Twitter