General

[going_home]

Hybrid Paintball Steps Down For Reorganization | maxrof dot com

YouTube - Hybrid Paintball's "The Age Of Change" Press Release Video

---------------------------------------------------------------

THE AGE OF CHANGE

To everyone in the paint-ball community,

With the current situation of an economic melt down. We are going to be in the situation of change.. Not just our company but the community of paint-ball as we know it. Most importantly, our country.

We see the dying of paint-ball dealerships almost every day. We have seen and been involved in the constant bickering of paint-ball manufacturers to not alleviate an ridiculous infrastructure of an ever changing paint-ball community.. What we see is conglomerates and umbrella companies slowly try to corner it and kill, or be killed.

Competition is progress. But when there is none, You have become a monopoly. A beast that becomes fat and become a cancer to its own body. Now we fight internally.. From disgracing the new player to never having a good time, to the recballer who gives a damn about nothing but playing and if a field is not around or he thinks that his local field only caters to other so called “important non-paying types”, he becomes renegade … lawless. To the dealer, who cannot figure out why no one comes in their store. To the dealer that decides to devalue industry product because they are now in survival mode to make ends meet. To the manufacturer who now must do the same to help with dealer margins, but bleeds its own margins and soon must be hasty in their decision making… We must stop and start reflecting!

Players will not feel this because you have the options to stay home and play online but know its always best to go play our sport like you should. Players have the luxury to love and hate brands to prove a point not knowing that this industry right this very moment, ONLY NEEDS GROWTH, the growth of competition, the growth to be better ambassadors to the new, the old, and the ones who have fallen to a disenfranchised love of the sport. The west is feeling the crunch, east will follow soon enough. Soon their will be nothing you decide what you want, that is the day the industry as a whole may be destroyed.

We have stepped sideways because first off, we can, and secondly, the consumer, the dealer are simply not buying how they use too. To the consumer that can afford to pay in other industries good money, but is educated to go cheap in paint-ball. If you cant afford it, you just cant afford it. HOWEVER, what must be done is to let new people embrace our sport so we can grow. To also provide a service to the community that we are legit. When we do, fields are easily accessible.

Now working on other industry where competition is fierce, they still maintain order, respect, right to fight, but keep the margins in check so its industry will not implode. Buyers still buy. No matter what. You can see it by their own conventions…

At this time I say we need a united front, a governing body, with two common goals; to thrive in our great industry, and to keep the industry from failing. We so love this sport? Then each player has a responsibility to improve it.

History is repeating-itself and the more you see it then you begin to believe that the harvest did not justify to reseed because of a long winter. And we need to hold on to the fabric that made us great. to conserve, to demand, to supply must all come into play.

We are a luxury sport, but when dad loses a job, or your parents lose their homes, who plays? who wins? most importantly, who survives? furthermore, who controls?

Once more.. We are still here, not like how we do, but we are still here. Production I still have and whatever I got that you want. I have, till the industry warrants it. And if it warrants it I’ll make more. And when I can get up to lick my wounds, heal, and get up off my feet and feel like I need to do something, I’m coming after you.. To the loyalists: I got a lot more in the war-chest that these fools haven’t thought of yet! Just wait and see.. To my killers.. I will make things right.

myspace.com/contractkillermma
contractkillerclothing.com

Chris Corcino, John Marques- Hybrid tech LLc (the only Hybrid), Contract Killer clothing Co.(The Last of Our Kind)

Reddit Digg Facebook Technorati StumbleUpon

[Frink]

I can't say I'm sad. Didn't mind their actual products, but the slogans and attitude they brought to paintball will not be missed (by me).

[matt502]

I feel the same way never saw the big thing with hydrid. I always HATED let me say that again HATED there contract killer stuff. I came up in paintball when we tried everything we could do to seperate ourselves from the war look. I took a break from paintball for a few years and came back with the killer phrases and the he's dead now being main stream in tourny ball. The weird part is I am back in the woods playing scenarios wearing a little camo and having great fun. I still refuse to use a milsim marker but do not mind playing next to them. I am more upset with action markers being forced out of buisness and the buy out of worr games than I am about hydrib.
Sorry had to do a short rant,
Matt

[russc]

Yeah, Hybrid gear was pretty lame. It went along with most of what I hate about agg paintballers.

[mayor]

I was just gonna get a hybrid bolt for my e1 to match my sniper

[blackrain]

OOPS sounds like someone is upset. HMMMMM sounds like pump is hurting a few folks? Sounds like milsim and the rec player are taking back the sport? Oh well Hybrid is not someone I'll miss. I never liked their over priced parts very much.
Later,
Blackrain

[Tallen702]

Originally Posted by blackrain

OOPS sounds like someone is upset. HMMMMM sounds like pump is hurting a few folks? Sounds like milsim and the rec player are taking back the sport? Oh well Hybrid is not someone I'll miss. I never liked their over priced parts very much.
Later,
Blackrain

Sounds more like someone is understanding that we play a luxury sport. And when dad gets laid off, or the family has to scrimp and save just to get by, paintball is the first thing that gets cast to the side. We play what is probably the only sport out there based around constantly consumable goods. All of the traditional sports out there revolve around goods that, once you buy them, you can re-use over and over again. Unfortunately a large part of the industry has latched on to the idea that the entire sport can be structured so that everything is expendable. From the paintballs to the hoppers to the markers themselves, the industry as it stands now is based solely on consumerism rather than capitalism. It isn't pump play that is hurting the industry, but rather the fact that the industry, as a whole, has based their business model on a foundation that becomes unstable every time the most minor of economic downturns occur. Look at the guys who have been around the longest on the equipment end of things. Everyone from Redz Gear to Tippmann have been in the game for so long because they build their gear to last. Not to be consumed in one year only to be tossed aside or thrown to the wolves on PBN for cheap. Eclipse, DYE, Smart Parts, they all rely on their customers shelling out for the new model year to make a profit. When money is tight, people hold on to their markers a bit more, or sell them outright without buying a new one. That hurts the companies that re-tool every year and have to invest in changes so often. I think you'll see more of this with the smaller companies in the near future. SP has their royalties to live off of, and Kee and K2 have their fingers in other pies to stay afloat. But your small start-ups are all going to suffer, even your stock-class manufacturers will take a hit. This isn't about Pump or mil-sim taking over. Heck, I'd be surprised if the mil-sim producers out there didn't have a really hard time making ends meet given the current economic outlook. It's about consumable goods vs investments and the companies that base their business models off of one or the other.

[Walking_Target]

you'll see a move away from the north american market, overseas producers will fare alot better than domestic companies.

that being said, the US looks to be in for a 2-3 year economic slide thanks to a certain politician...

[AGDRetro]

Notice he talks about "mom & dad", that even he realizes demographic target of Hybrid. If they go out of business I can't say I'll miss them. The few good products they produce are nothing compared to the filth they slap all over the hoppers of less than "classy" players. If it means I can go to a field and see a few less hoppers saying "F%#K THOSE GUYS" then praise the Lord!

[Azzy]

When an industry pushes over consumption and the discarding of a perfectly good piece of equipment, well, its in for a suprise when people cant spend even more money than they couldnt afford to before.

Yep, its a luxury, no 2 ways about it. One of the main reasons I cut back myself.