Friday, July 22, 2011

Is HydroTec (finally) Coming?

Mr. Curious went digging so deep for the latest rumorology he's still squinting at any hint of sunlight. And despite his best efforts he refuses to name certain names on account of his inability to confirm some of the details--though you may feel free to fill in the blanks--after all, it's not like Mr. C (or I) can stop you, right? In any event we will all discover relatively soon if the important part of today's post is correct, or not.
You may recall the fanfare and skepticism with which early reports of a largely water-based, new technology paintball were initially received last year and latterly the announced intention of a general release last fall--and the Paintball Extravaganza presentation, etc. Followed by delays in the actual roll out and distribution of the new paintball. The last official statements from HydroTec (and linked to on their website) came from a podcast interview on (BRWP) Blast Radius Woodsball Podcasts towards the end of May 2011. The word at that time was that issues with vendors & custom tooling, software, etc. had caused the delays but was largely resolved and they were 95% of the way to having their first production line operational. I mention it because it appears to lend credence to the claim that Mr. C ferreted out recently. That HydroTec will be putting paint on sale around the 15th of August. (After all the past delays it may be HydroTec is a bit gun shy about making a formal announcement too early but August 15th is less than a month away.)

The other half of what Mr. C dug up is the supposed "real" story behind the delays--and is, at this point, pure rumorology. In any event it's intriguing speculation and a glimpse into the sort of inside paintball shens that occur with perhaps more regularity than one might imagine. The story is that one of the principles at HydroTec , Mr. Ronnie Bayless , (and here the details get murky) was either still under contract or bound by the terms of a non-compete for work done as (an employee?) a contractor for one of the paintball giants, who might have objected and invoked the possibility of legal recourse. Mr. Bayless has had ties to the paintball manufacturing biz for many years first working for RP Scherer back in the early 90s. And the rest of the story is that the term of his contract/non-compete expire the first week of August.

Is HydroTec finally coming to market? Did the looming threat of a lawsuit delay the release or was it, as claimed, developmental delays as a new system was built from the ground up?

2 comments:

houdini said...

Off topic...Tampa Bay Damage: Unfinished - Paintball Documentary

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ky7pfLUVnbM

Anonymous said...

That was some great documentary action right there. Why was it cancelled? Its interesting, funny and good insight how a pro team works and paints a pretty damn good picture of TBD.