KoA: Reckoning - No Buyers in Auction

Couchpotato

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If you were hoping another developer would buy the Amalur franchise it seems no one was interested in spending enough to buy it from auction. Gamasutra has the details.

The trademark for Big Huge Games, along with assets and intellectual property rights for Rise of Nations and Rise of Legends, was sold to undisclosed buyers for a total gross of $320,000 during an auction of 38 Studios assets held by Heritage Global Partners this week.

No suitable buyers were found for the other assets on the auction block, including 38 Studios' internal "Helios" technology, sequel and merchandise rights to Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, and the partially completed MMORPG codenamed Project Copernicus.

"The Receiver did not receive acceptable offers for the remaining lots, including Project Copernicus," according to a public statement issued by Richard J. Lund, who was appointed by a Rhode Island Superior Court judge to serve as Receiver in the 38 Studios asset auction.

The auction was originally scheduled to take place November 14-15, but was delayed until December 11 due to unexpected interest from more than 20 potential buyers. Only five bidders actually took part in this week's auction, which was conducted via phone.

Last year the state of Rhode Island took possession of 38 Studios' assets after the studio filed for bankruptcy. 38 Studios still owed money on a $75 million taxpayer-backed loan from the Rhode Island Economic Development Corp., and the state had previously expressed interest in selling the assets to help pay back the loan. The comparatively paltry earnings from this week's auction seem unlikely to make much of a dent in that debt.
More information.
 
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That is what happens when you have idiots that have no idea what they are dealing with doing the auction.
 
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Would probably be close to impossible to pick up the threads of their MMO even assuming 38 studios were heading in the a direction of making something that could be profitably marketed. And probably the window of opportunity would be closed by the time it got close to completion anyway.
 
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Let's make a fundraiser here and buy the Kingdom of Amalur rights. :p Kidding of course. It was a decent IP, it's unfortunate that it's going to lost to oblivion.
 
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I'm upset by this...too bad.
 
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The game had mediocre sales along with a ton of bad PR. Who would seriously want to spend money to get the rights to spend yet more money on something with a bad stigma to begin with? Much less an MMO which would take at least tens of millions of dollars to produce.

Better to start fresh with your own ideas and none of the baggage.
 
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Well, I think if Rhode Island thought they were getting their 89 million back in one swoop, they must have been smoking something. It said there where like 20 interested parties. "There where no acceptable offers". I'm sure its not over.
If they got some cash and a percentage from Project Copernicus when and if it succeeds, that might be a more realistic idea on their part.

Of course, loaning all that money to Schilling shows that they weren't real bright to begin with.
 
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Yup, Drithius hit the nail on the head IMO.
 
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What I don't really understand here is, was there actually no one interested in buying it, or were they simply demanding too much? Maybe the sum they had in mind was so high, that no one would take it at THAT price. I guess since the numbers are unkown, it remains a secret.
 
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KOA: Reckoning sold 2 million copies so I don't thing it had mediocre sales unless your one of those publishers that requires a minimum of 5 million copies sold.
 
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Sales?

Assuming you're interested... Do you really care for it's sales?
Would you really buy rights on a game that's basically a grinder?
Isn't cheaper to make a grinder of your own?
 
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Sales?

Assuming you're interested… Do you really care for it's sales?
Would you really buy rights on a game that's basically a grinder?
Isn't cheaper to make a grinder of your own?

And shocked by your unintelligent comment again, not.
 
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Money, sales, blah.

The world had potential, the skills/character development/combat sucked. The end.
 
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KOA: Reckoning sold 2 million copies so I don't thing it had mediocre sales unless your one of those publishers that requires a minimum of 5 million copies sold.

I wonder how many of those sales were below $10 (I think I bought it for $5 a while ago, haven't played it yet)
 
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"The Receiver did not receive acceptable offers for the remaining lots, including Project Copernicus,"

It sound to me there were offers, but they couldn't agree on the price. Or there really were no offers and the auctioneers are just blowing smoke to save face.
 
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My guess would be that it was a question of price as well.
 
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I guess the existing world/engine could have supported some new parts to the word being added at some point. Overall though, I found the game quite bland and didn't spend nearly as much time in it as I thought I would initially. It wasn't a blatant nasty and moist smack in the face like Massive Letdown 3 was, but it was way too close for comfort. I'm pretty sure that, in the beginning the people behind the game fully intended to have expansions for it at some point.
 
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