Behind-The-Scenes Struggles Plague Future of Nerjyzed Entertainment

The anticipation for “Black College Football: The Xperience” reverberated through black college sports circles for what seemed like years. After an initial release for PC, the black-owned video game maker Nerjyzed Entertainment created a significant buzz for the XBox 360 release of the title; a buzz that was met with multiple release delays, vague explanations from Nerjyzed executives, and plummeting support for the project from potential consumers.

And then the game came out, which didn’t prove worth the wait.

Now, we find out that problems with investors, late payments to employees, and the untrained, inexperience of the production staff made for the dismal past of Nerjyzed and BCFX, and may prove to be the factors that will jeopardize its future.

Nerjyzed, and its BCFx title were something to behold, for consumers and investors alike. Nerjyzed CEO and Southern University alumnus Jacqueline Beauchamp successfully raised nearly $14 million dollars for development of the company, and production of the game; with funds allocated from the Louisiana Economic Development Corporation earmarked for workforce development. In spite of poor reviews and public buyer backlash, BCFx has sold more than 100,000 copies, and has partnered with Walmart for an exclusive Black History Month retail agreement.

In sum, there are positive things going on with Nerjyzed. But there are negative outcomes, as well. From the Baton Rouge Business Journal article:

Employee Salary Problems

Yet also in November, former staffers say they heard from current employees that Nerjyzed stopped paying workers for at least three pay cycles, resulting in a salary gap of six weeks.

“I’m not going to get into that from an operational standpoint,” Beauchamp says. “Startup companies all go through various sorts of issues and challenges. The lending market—and this is with all small businesses—it’s not favorable right now. You can be sitting on millions of dollars’ worth of accounts receivables, and you know, it’s just—it’s tough….”

Former lead game designer Lyle Landry says he doesn’t expect to recoup $1,100 in business trip expenses he incurred while recording audio talent and music for BCFX, charges he put on his own credit card when he says Nerjyzed’s hotel bookings fell through. More disappointing, he says, was when his paycheck came five days late in May 2008, a move that he says management called a way to make the company look more cash-rich to investors at strategic times.

In December 2008, his paychecks failed to clear, putting his finances in the red. “I couldn’t even afford the gas to drive to work anymore,” says Landry, who commuted from Thibodaux. “Every single charge became an NSF [insufficient funds] charge. Every $3 I spent at a gas station cost $3 plus $39.”

Inexperienced Staff

Landry had been in restaurant management in late 2006 when a friend who worked for Nerjyzed as an artificial intelligence programmer told him the company needed quality assurance testers. “I’ve played games all my life. I have an enormous, useless amount of football knowledge,” Landry says. “I felt like it was a good fit.”

Soon, he says, he took the initiative to organize the design department and wound up as chief of the group, but he grew disillusioned with the company’s strategy of trying to create an entertainment “experience” with passive music sequences, such as college halftime shows, emphasized as much as gaming itself.

Management said it had market research to support its unconventional approach, but Landry says when he asked to see the data in order to tailor features to the audience, “It was never given to us. We were building a game with no target market in mind. It was assumed to be black college fans and alumni, and maybe they play games…”

Concert audio producer Steven Salgado worked as a sound designer for Nerjyzed for about two and a half years before leaving in September 2008. He says he didn’t feel that management allowed enough production time, given the novice status of the designers.

“Ninety-five percent of the staff had never made a game, but we were held to the same quality [standards] as if we’re five-, six-year professionals,” he says. “The programmers were gamers but never worked a game.”

Rocky Investor Relations

Mathis Wrenn was an early investor for Nerjyzed. He says he put about $35,000 toward the venture in 2004 at its launch because Beauchamp and his father knew each other in Texas. Wrenn says he was excited to be involved with a game that could shed positive light on HBCUs such as Grambling State and Southern, Beauchamp’s alma mater…

He says he has yet to see a return on his investment, or any promise of a return, or a timeline for stock being issued in exchange. “There’s been no reporting on gains or losses,” he says, noting of that second-quarter 2006 report, “It was very attractive, but it didn’t even talk about the money raised. It was a good-looking piece on relationships and hopes and expectations.”

In a December 2008 e-mail exchange with company CFO Frederick Johnson about investment concerns, Wrenn asked to see the minutes of annual board of directors meetings from 2006 and 2007, but got a discouraging response.

“Our board serves in an advisory capacity only. There are no formal minutes recorded,” Johnson said in his reply. “Nerjyzed is a startup that requires continued individual investments and personal debt creation to fund operations. All debts of the company are of personal nature, since we have no income or history of generating revenue.

“Your request is valid but you must take into consideration who are most at risk, Jackie and I. Personal debt obligations are in the millions with no recourse. All this would be a mute [sic] point if we throw in the towel like 99% of all startups do.”

At face value, it is apparent that Enerjyzed had a well-intentioned idea that could’ve proven a lucrative, culture-changing exercise in black college sports. But between the excitement of capturing this niche audience to invest in a historic video game release, the lines of planning, professionalism and production were blurred and washed away in unmet expectations.

And what we’re left with is a dream deflated. I would love to chalk the operative and production failure of the game to start-up growing pains and the blues of breaking ground on a brand new product for a brand new audience. But, to have $12 million in hand and not have the business savvy to invest in market research, competent designers and strong investor relations rings of a problem at the very top of the organization.

And because of the problems at the top, the bottom of Enerjyzed Entertainment may be on the verge of falling out.

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