Is Ellusionist gone?

010rusty

Elite Member
Nov 12, 2016
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LA (Lower Alabama)
(I promise this isn't a Cardian article. This isn't satire. This is real.)
Well.. this is unexpected as can be. Earlier today Brad Christian sent out this email:

"Brad here,

I just wanted to send you a quick email. This is all I'm comfortable saying for now.

20 years ago, to this day, I locked myself in a one-bedroom apartment in San Francisco and was furiously working on Ellusionist's launch after service. I was a waiter at the time.

I'd taken a bank loan and some private investment, risking it all to make my dream a reality.

Over the last 20 years, there's been incredible highs and incredible lows - but it was all worth it.

It's Friday, so I don't want to take up too much of your time, I just wanted to say a quick thank you as I take a trip down memory lane. Your support over the last 2 decades has meant the world to me.

Sincerely, thank you"
Okay, not too weird, however a simple logon to Ellusionist.com Reveals that the website is currently down.Instead of beautiful playing cards and magnificent tricks you see:
upload_2020-10-31_1-11-56.png
Okay, so... that changes things. Let's check their inst-
upload_2020-10-31_1-13-5.png
Yep, officially horrified. Now let's not jump to conclusions maybe this is a publicity stunt. It wouldn't be the first Time E pulled the wool over my eyes. That being said, due to the state of magic as a result of *Gestures broadly* I guess its not too far fetched to believe that the magic industry is in its lowest point possibly ever. We've already seen SansMinds magic close its doors early this year. Also just logining onto mostly ANY magic website you will get pounded with "10% OFF YOUR ORDER" "ORDER NOW AND GET A FREE (InsertItem You'll never use)"etc. From what it appears to my nonexpert eye... this doesn't look good.

I remember being a mere child still in Elementary school when hit by the train of pain when hearing the much beloved Magic Geek was purchased by The suits at Vanishing Inc. and Chris Ballinger was leaving. Admittedly now everything has worked out. Chris's Family Vlogs are nice, and Vanishing Inc. has produced some GEMS of books. This might sound like a tangent, but i guess what I'm trying to say is Magic isn't dead and although the pandemic might make it seem so there is life after this. I don't believe all is lost. Not yet at least.Even If the Company I love (and yes the company I love to joke occasionally) appears to begone there is nothing to fear at at all. Because in all my years of magic I've learned one thing Ellusionist Isn't really gone...It's just in Brad's other hand. ;)

Ps
In the off case that this is just a publicity and them dang boys fooled me again, I swear on every single catfish imaginable I was not apart of the marketing team in any way or form.

Here is a reddit thread for ore info until I can give anymore updates
https://www.reddit.com/r/Magic/comments/jl0zqv/ellusionist_has_disappeared/
 
Feb 23, 2014
29
5
That company has done cheap marketing stunts one after another for years. I’m skeptical. If this in, in fact, just another stunt, it’s abhorrent timing when countless businesses across the world are actually struggling. Gross.

If it’s true, then it’s been communicated poorly and instantly revoked access to downloads for thousands of PAID customers without warning.

So basically... either way, bad news.
 
Nov 3, 2018
542
427
@Dustrod said they have a YouTube video saying something is happening tomorrow. While I can't find that particular video (I didn't look too hard, granted), two days from now they will be hosting a livestream titled "an important announcement". Seems like all we can do is wait ...
 
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010rusty

Elite Member
Nov 12, 2016
1,276
1,730
LA (Lower Alabama)
That company has done cheap marketing stunts one after another for years. I’m skeptical. If this in, in fact, just another stunt, it’s abhorrent timing when countless businesses across the world are actually struggling. Gross.

If it’s true, then it’s been communicated poorly and instantly revoked access to downloads for thousands of PAID customers without warning.

So basically... either way, bad news.
I feel that. Like honestly this is my exact thoughts. I will hope for the best, or at least the best of what we have
 

CWhite

Elite Member
Jul 22, 2016
769
962
I was looking at subscribing to magic stream as well. lol
They just lost Lloyd Barnes to Murphy's also. That might have been the straw that broke the camels back....

Either way. Happy Halloween everyone!
 
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ID4

Aug 20, 2010
482
228
Actually Lloyd Barnes left Ellusionist sometime in July-August 2020.
 

010rusty

Elite Member
Nov 12, 2016
1,276
1,730
LA (Lower Alabama)
BIGEST NEW IN MAGIC HISTOTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ELLUSIONST HAS FIXED THE STATE OF MAGIC!!!!! THEY SAY MAGIC LOST ITS WAY!!! AND THEY HAVE OFFICIALLY FIXED IT!!!!!! HOW??!!11??!!?1/

THEY...


changed their site background color...

...that's it...

P.S.
Ever since the timer went live it appears to be safe on Safari, but Chrome still has it blocked
upload_2020-11-2_15-9-46.png
 
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Mar 15, 2018
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boardgamegeek.com
Short version of what happened: Ellusionist completely shut down their site over the weekend for a server move, but instead of tell their customers what was going on (e.g. explain why they couldn't access their downloads), they decided to keep it a complete secret as a marketing stunt, hinting at a special "announcement".

Their site has gone live again with this video announcement:


There's a more full explanation in a "Back to Black" FAQ which includes this:

Why was this necessary? We wanted to add a little mystery to this overhaul.

We have 20 years worth of orders, customer data and transactions. We have PETABYTES (more than terabytes) of footage, explanations and trailers. This all needed to be migrated to a new database, new servers and a new front-end.

Ellusionist is a trusted company, so all of that had to be done offline over the weekend, to ensure no data loss occurred and we were compliant with all laws & industry standards ... It was the safest, most efficient way.

We didn't start any rumours and we're sorry if you believe them. We were vague, but some hijacked the event to spread disinformation.


The video of Brad Christian shooting his own laptop is a perfect metaphor for what Ellusionist just did to their own reputation. It is in very poor taste to leave your customers high and dry for several days by being unable to access downloads they've purchased, and not say a word to explain to them what is going on.

Ellusionist describes themselves as "a trusted company". Then why didn't they respect the trust of their customers, by communicating openly with them what was going on, rather than keeping them completely in the dark, and shutting them out of downloads they had purchased and had a right to access? To make matters worse, instead of apologizing for the poor decision to adopt complete radio silence, they blame others for the concerns that this produced, and deny all responsibility for the inevitable speculation this resulted in. You'd only think this is a good idea if you're willing to compromise your morality and ethics, and sacrifice a few of the faithful in the quest for more dollars.

The marketing gurus behind this may start crowing about all the free publicity this garnered for them. But they've seriously undermined their own credibility, and done irreparable damage to their own reputation. This was a really bad idea on every level.

Then again, I suppose this shouldn't surprise me because they have done this before, with a scheme that is very clever, but requires you to compromise your morality and your ethics in the process. It's hardly honest, but then again, nor is this.

The only thing that still needs to happen is a post from Ellusionist in a month's time, crowing about how successful this marketing strategy was, and how many sales and new customers they gained as a result of this little scheme. Sadly, as long as they keep making more money, they won't feel too sorry about killing off some of their existing customers in the process.
 
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Jan 19, 2019
92
57
I feel like there is a lack of communication from the company and their customers. One of the things I like about theory 11 is that there are forums so that I can talk to all you lovely people. Ellusionist used to have forums but they took them down. Why?
 
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