Ambrosiasw 1Last night, a number of employees of longtime Mac developer Ambrosia Software tweeted that they had been let go from their jobs and that the company was shutting down.

However, today The Mac Observer spoke with Ambrosia president Andrew Welch who said the company is not shutting down but employees had been let go.

Mr. Welch didn't say if Ambrosia is scaling back on its app lineup, but his confirmation that the company isn't shutting down is good news for the people that rely on its products. Snapz Pro X and WireTap Studio, for example, are critical tools for many writers, bloggers, and podcasters, and losing those would mean some serious redesigning of workflows.

Ambrosia has a long line of games and utilities that it has developed and distributed over the years, including Deimos Rising which came preinstalled on a number of Macs ten years ago, and the Asteroids-style shooter Maelstrom that put the company on the map in 1993.

Top Rated Comments

Parystec Avatar
160 months ago
Not surprised

This is what happens when we race to to bottom on software pricing and everyone else thinks software is free.:(
Score: 28 Votes (Like | Disagree)
50548 Avatar
160 months ago
Guess thats any hope of an iPad EV game out the window now.

If true, this is really a pity - Ambrosia takes me back to the 90s, where TRULY HONEST Mac gaming development took place (not just crappy Cider wraps and the like), with jewels like Maelstrom and Escape Velocity.

The EV series was one of the best ever in terms of space strategy games, and I would love to have it on the iPad - heck, the other day I almost bought EV Nova, which still runs fine on OS X..!

Good luck to them..!
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
freelancing Avatar
160 months ago
I'm not surprised. This is what happens when you act like you're the only game in town. They were IT for what their offerings were for a long time... but now there are a LOT of screen capture apps. SnapZPro had a bug w/ a version of OSX for a very long time and it went un-workable for months before they had a fix. Sorry - when I have a project due that requires a working app, I'm going to find a working competing app, and I did. No sense in paying for an upgrade to software in the future when they can sit on this OSX compatibility issue for months without getting a fix for it, when I can get a cheaper, competing app that works. You can make up in volume what you make up in price if your product is really good. When it's buggy w/ a new OS release and causes kernel panics every time you try to save a movie, people are going to stop trusting your product.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Kissaragi Avatar
160 months ago
Guess thats any hope of an iPad EV game out the window now.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
GimmeSlack12 Avatar
160 months ago
I also have a special place in my heart for Ambrosia SW. I cannot count how many games of Maelstrom I have played (and still do) in high school, not to mention the countless hours in Escape Velocity.

On top of their games they also had a significant number of Mac utilities that were always a quality product.

Ambrosia is a remnant of the Pre-OS X days.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Consultant Avatar
160 months ago
This is what happens when we race to to bottom on software pricing and everyone else thinks software is free.:(
NOPE. Snapz Pro X and WireTap Studio are $69.00 each.

Their Mondo Solitaire was last updated in April 2012.

It appeared that they are still not up to speed on the new App Store world.

This is what happens when you become irrelevant, and don't do anything to stay relevant. Kinda like what's happening to Apple right now. I had a couple friends say the other day, there's nothing I want from Apple right now, isn't that weird? It's easy to become irrelevant, and insanely hard to make a comeback.
I have a couple of friends say your friends are irrelevant. Isn't that weird?
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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