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Angel Paintball officially closes its doors.
Angel Paintball Sports, makers of the Angel line of paintball guns, Fatboy pods, Angel Air Systems, and most recently, the Angel Eye goggle system, are closing up shop. A note was sent out by Jay from APS this morning that confirmed the news. Angel Paintball Sports, or APS, was responsible for bringing electronic paintball guns to the center stage, and the name is still synonymous for the top-of-the-line equipment.
The company has yet to give an official statement regarding the release of their Angel Eye goggle system and the pre-orders that might still be in limbo.
A Sad Day
I learned that Angel Sports is ceasing operations. I don’t know all the details, not sure it really matters. I have been assured by the UK office that parts will be available to service your markers. The details of this arrangement should become clear in the near future, and should be announced by the UK office. For the near future, both myself and Bob at Fix My Angel (www.fixmyangel.com) have parts in stock in the US for your markers.
Many of you have become friends, and I feel an obligation to you. I’ll do what I can to help you and your team going forward. I have some items in stock personally, and will be willing to honor your team discounts (or give you an even better deal) where I can on those items. Anyone looking for accessories, or especially clothing, please contact me asap and we’ll see what we can work out. I will be offering these items to my dealers as well, and once it is gone, I am not sure I can get more. I also have some casual clothing and banners, and I would like to see those items end up with teams if possible. Call or email me for details.
Many of you may know, I have an interest in a retail paintball store, PB Sports. I am going to pass this email along to the guys there, and ask them that they look after you when possible. If you have a good relationship with your local store or field, continue to shop there and nurture that relationship. If you would like to start a relationship with PB Sports, you can reach them at www.pbsports.com, 260-471-4334, or sales@pbsports.com. I can assure you that they will give you good service, and should be able to help you on pricing and/or work out a sponsorship deal with you and your team. I know some of you have already done business with PB Sports, and hope that continues.
Because I feel an obligation to the teams and dealers I have worked with, I will continue to monitor and use thejay@angelsports.com email. I have been assured that it will work for some time. If that turns out not to be the case, I have set up a personal email account, pballjay@gmail.com that I will begin to monitor if the angelsports.com email fails or ceases to exist. I will continue to maintain and monitor my mobile number, 260-438-9760 so that any of you that wish to reach me will be able to do so.
Jay
What do you think think this means for the overall paintball industry?
This article was authored by Mike Zapantis – who has written 6 paintball news and gear articles.
52 Comments
A sad day indeed. Most of the players around today have no idea what Angel did for the game.
I agree 100%
My favorites include electro guns, FATBOYS and the NPPL. What about you Owen?
Hyperball, Hot Chicks, VIP’s, HB, Pods that the lids don’t fall-off, real marketing for sponsored teams, high-end ads (when there weren’t any), Super-fast guns (when there weren’t any), I could go on and on. I can’t think of another company that contributed more to the game.
Do people think that the paintball industry will grow or shrink next year?
grow.
grow.
grow
sad sad day indeed. one of the titans of paintball gone forever.
Angels are the reason for modern day paintball.
After smart parts, now its aps.. Rip angel.. Respect and thanks to you, for all that you have done for our sport..
Well Smart Parts re-released themselves and they revamped their products. so GOG is basically Smart Parts that actually makes good guns. Maybe angel might re-release after fixing all the angel problems and to make their mask more comfortable
Hopefully some other company can buy their angel eye IP and execute their release properly. They have to be in the final stages of development by now.
Planet Eclipse could make it their debut into the mask scene…
I think they were having issues with the lenses and it required significant reinvestment to make it to market.
Hate to see them close the doors. However, everyone saw this coming a mile away. No major team sponsorship, too pricey for what it was, did not change with the trends, ugly stuff, bad products of late (it all started with the IR 3). I agree it was awesome back in the 90′s, but so were drop forwards.
How very classy of you.
Oh yeah, Angel Air. Now that was crap. Sorry but the truth…
More classy remarks, I bet the ladies just flock to your side, right?
Because the ladies give a shit about paintball? Sorry, but he’s right. Angel was great until they started releasing products no one wanted. Hence why they are no longer in business.
My point is just that it shows no class to try to score cheap points off a company that’s just gone out of business, or people that just lost their jobs.
Angel(through pure promotions) made tournaments not suck.
I wish they would sell their displays of angel eyes that mask looks sick
This is a sad day for the paintball industry…Even though I don’t not shoot Angel in my tourney but I feel sad to see paintball industry had lost one of the pioneer in this field. :(
I loved every one of my angel markers and will continue to use a couple of them. Very sad to see them go but even those of us that are fans could see this coming. They just didn’t have any form of marketing these last 5 years or so and just faded away.
Best wishes to all of the crew at Angel Sports. Some of the best people that we have ever had the pleasure of dealing with in the paintball industry (even if they do drive on the wrong side of the road). You were, and are still the best. Most people don’t understand that there is a limited amount of money available and it needs to be split between R&D (including patent filings and defense), inventory, marketing and overhead. When you use up your budget on R&D there isn’t much left over for marketing, inventory, overhead – or even profits. It’s tough to be an innovator in this market, but thank you for all that you have done over the years…
paintball world is dying..1st ECX now APS. Thanx for all ur support in 2002! I will certainly miss HEAVEN..best place to hang @ events for sponcered teams :)
No suprise here at all. However it is a bummer to see such a big name fall like this.
I don’t think the overall industry is suffering. As Craig said above, they really didn’t have very much marketing, at least that I saw anyways. I could be wrong and I admit that.
It is a bummer to see Angel close it’s doors and stuff. Personally, I didn’t like their new mask design either. Personal preference. And yes, the trends do change, and like any other business, you need to keep up with those trends or competitors get the business from your customers. Of course there would always be Angel loyal customers.
My last Angel marker was the Angel 4. I liked the gun and used it quite a bit. Angel did know what they were doing with most of their stuff.
Who knows, maybe they will be back one day. Perhaps flying a different name or something. Who knows.
But back to the overall paintball industry, it seems that Kee is doing well and Dye doesn’t seem to be doing bad either. I mean, I don’t have insight to their financial books or anything, so it’s just a guess. But one thing that Kee and Dye have is great marketing. They also cater to players that have smaller budgets, which I feel is a huge plus these days with money being tight. From what I can remember, Angel really didn’t do that. IMO, I feel that to really grow as a paintball business these days, one needs to cater to a wide range of players as the sport is expensive and there are many different types of players playing different styles of play.
Just my 2 cents. A long 2 cents indeed. How does everyone else feel about the industry as a whole?
APS has amazing ideas and technology back in the late 90’s to early 2000-2002. Then the market caught up with them. Tons of different guns were being brought to the market and APS really did not change anything. (IMO). They used the same platform with different grip frames. The saying “If it works, leave it alone” does not apply to this situation. It is sad to see them go as they were one of the pioneers of this sport. In this day and age you adapt or die. RIP APS.
Very sad day indeed
Wdp was the reason why we got into high end market business
Unbeatable service and relationship bart owen and the team were rhe real deal and we were Proud to service Angels in France and elsewherRule Brittania
Well that’s no surprise. Angel has been making junk for a while now and the writing was on the wall. Paintball is dying on the table and no one wants to admit the truth. A league merger is not going to save paintball. The bottom line in paintball, that no one wants or seems to want to be realistic about is that paintball equipment, paint, and pretty much everything associated with going out to play is still to damn expensive. In this economy an activity like paintball is bound to die. The paintball companies don’t want to admit that they are ripping people off and that there is very little value for the money in paintball. So it’s no surprise that that the bleeding continues. I give paintball 5 to 8 more years and then it’s gone completely or it’s going to be completely replaced with the weekend players and the woodsballers.
I see that you speak your opinion but not the truth. Competitive may be dead in 5-8 years- on that you are correct(Opinion). Paintball is expensive. Some guns are overpriced, Paintballs could be a little cheaper but look at some other sports.
Hockey-Have you priced a pair of goalie leg pads latley? For a good set your looking at a $200-$300. This sport has been around for decades. Then you have mask, skates, sholder pads, etx
Moto-Cross-$$$$ (Bike, Gas, Pads, Tires)
Wakeboard-$$$$ (Boat, Gas, Board, Roap, Trailer, Beer! lol)
Snowboard-$$$$ (Resort Fees, Board, Clothing, Travel (I’m in OK)
Just to name a few.
Hockey is easier to follow, versus, espn ect. when is the last time you saw paintball on sportscenter?
Oh and about Dye, I’m pretty sure they are feeling it too. They are just too bull headed to admit it. How can a company like Dye not feel it when they are the absolute worst value in paintball period. They still can’t seem to make a good trigger. But they want to charge 1200 for a DM12. Um, no. And their confusion is also on the wall. Just look at the NT. Why are they putting new features on a DM12 when the NT is supposed to be their top of the line gun. Why did they make a “flag ship” gun that’s louder, more complicated, and then start adding it’s features to a lower gun in the line. Something isn’t right at Dye either. I don’t think Oliver Lang left just to go back to playing with his friends at dynasty. Why would he go from a supposedly stable company and stable income to basically back to no job at all. It doesn’t add up. Anyone with any sense wouldn’t do that unless there was something wrong. And usually the pattern seems to be over the years that big names usually run when something isn’t right. You see it all the time. When a team isn’t right the big names go, or when a company isn’t right, there’s usually someone taking off before the crap hits the fan. And if they don’t run as was the case with the smart parts fiasco, it’s usually because they weren’t told there was a problem til the last minute or not told at all.
There is no big conspiracy here. Dont fret, paintball is not dieing. ANGEL stopped innovating a few years ago and the goggle didnt perform to expectations.
The DM’s have performed fine for the last 5 years, I’m not exactly sure what your issue is with the trigger. If you don’t like it – Critical paintball has an aftermarket one available for you.
Ollie Lang left Ironmen because he wanted to go back and play with his friends and enjoy the remainder of his career. There were a few personality clashes on the Ironmen and it was probably for the best.
Let me know if there is anything else I can help clarify, D, happy to help my friend!
Jeez “d” you really are the most depressing person I’ve heard from all year- and I work with the psychologically ill. Cheer up, or take up chess, that’s a cheap sport for you.
It’s sad to see another pioneer in our sport close it’s doors. Whether you liked their products or not, what they did for our sport, helped bring it to the level it’s at now. We owe them and BIG THANK YOU! For all the people on here saying that paintball is dieing, that couldn’t be farther from the truth! I’ve been playing for 25 years and this sport is still growing! Don’t believe it, turn on the tv and watch all the commercials and sitcoms, with paintball involved! The big companies and the small stores out there that innovate and bring something new to the market, are going to lead this sport into the next 28 years! Rather than worry about what this industry is not, or complain about it’s demise, get your buddies out this weekend, stop by your local store and pick up some new gear, head out to your local field, and watch the sport grow!
This means absolutely nothing for paintball. Yes they use to pump alot of money back into the sport but have they lately? NO!
For the past 3 years angel has basically been MIA in the tourney paintball scene which is stupid because they were foolish enough to spend all their time and money making tourney guns that were outdated and were inferior to every other gun in that price range. They should of spent their time on lower end guns trying to get some $ in that 500-600 price range instead of making shitty guns at the $1200 range that werent even tourney ready guns
Hi Jesus Christ (high opinion of yourself?),
opinions are great and all, but Smart Parts and Angel put each other out of business by spending millions fighting each other in court. That’s why the funds were not there to re-invest, and that’s why, eventually, they went out of business. If those 2 companies had that money back in the bank (instead of feeding it to the lawyers) they would have been able to design new & current product, and bring it to market. That’s the #1 reason they are both gone, and the #2 reason is tiny in comparison to reason #1. When they had the money they put it all back in, when they didn’t have the money, they couldn’t – that much should be obvious, especially to the ‘Son of God’.
The guys that should be pumping money into the sport now are the guys that are currently making that money, surely? Do we all feel that’s happening?
No offence to the uneducated, Jesus Christ (lol), but your statement is a sloppy mess of ignorance.
Do I go to hell for that?
Uhh, you are in Canada so hell might be a step up. :)
true enough
Where can I get fatboy pods from now, they are quite possibly the best pods out there.
I agree wholeheartedly with this statement. Everytime I see one at the field I make sure I yank it off before somebody else picks it up!
The only pod that I have found to come close to the fatboys are the Empire Pods. What about you guys?
It’s simple, they stopped being innovative. They brought electronic markers to the market, and then let bob long and the matrix center take over. Value = Quality/price… if your product ceases to give the customer value, your products aren’t going to sell. The a1 was expensive and they broke all the time… it’s not hard to see why they went out of business. Companies across the industry are going to keep facing this problem because the market is over-saturated with guns. There isn’t a $1200 gun out there that shoots better than my $100 2003 shocker. If the gun companies want to keep mass producing a marker with different milling every year and mark the price up, then they should expect their sales to fall in the future.
does that mean fat boy pods are no longer going to exist, say it ain’t so.
I am sad with this turn of events. I played a lot in the late 90′s and early 2000′s. I owned five Angels at one time or another. I still own a LED and 2K1 LCD. I will cherish the memories those great guns have given me and my family. I agree with Owen: the legal system sucked the life blood out of two pioneer companies. Perhaps one day we will see the resurrection of APS.
We well miss the angel line one of our nz teams is purely angel gear …that sucks… Will the angel eyes masks ever get sold I wanted to buy one…
Will never get the angel eyes mask now.
This is a sad day for paintball.
I bought a angel ark. And it is by far the best marker ive ever shot
agree with that..
Noooo!!!!
I was looking forward to the Angel Eyes mask ; _ ;
I’m throwing money at my screen but nothings happening.