non-gamers reacted with praise toward the game, compared to Meretzky's past projects. In a post-release letter to Computer Gaming World, Meretzky wrote, "[F]or the first time, I have designed a game which my 4-year-old daughter and my 70-year-old mother both enjoy." He has retrospectively called Hodj 'n' Podj an example of a casual game. On May 10, after three months of development, reports broke that Media Vision was being scrutinized by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It became public that the company had engaged in a $100 million securities fraud, which Meretzky later called "kind of a mini-Enron". Media Vision filed for bankruptcy in July, but Boffo was able to proceed with Hodj 'n' Podj during the publisher's dissolution because much of its funding had come as a down payment. Ultimately, the bankruptcy estate opted to give Boffo enough money to complete the game and then liquidate the final product, as this would be more profitable than canceling it mid-development. It was finished around the second week of October 1994, below its expected budget. Following bids from companies such as BMG Interactive and Ocean Software, Hodj 'n' Podj was purchased at auction by Virgin Interactive, alongside the titles The Daedalus Encounter and Rivers of Dawn. The United States bankruptcy court overseeing Media Vision's case delayed the final sale of Hodj 'n' Podj to December. Virgin obtained the game on the 9th, a point deemed too late in the holiday shopping season to justify a launch. In addition, none of the game's packaging had been created. As a result, the game missed 1994. Hodj 'n' Podj ultimately debuted in March 1995. Dornbrook explained that Virgin had pushed its release back from January to avoid a conflict with the launch of its game The 11th Hour, which was ultimately delayed. Boffo's title was released with what Meretzky considered "a half-hearted marketing effort" by Virgin. Dornbrook remarked that it "was really launched with no marketing support", as a result of corporate restructuring at the publisher; and that the game's "PR was actually done completely by us." Like other games of the time, Hodj 'n' Podj was sold through traditional retail channels, which Meretzky later believed to be a mistake. He argued in 2009, "The [retail] channel evolved and eventually perfected the art of selling hardcore games to a hardcore audience, but it was horribly inadequate for selling any other type of game or