38 Studios - $1.125M Default

I got 60 hours of enjoyment out of this game before the sheer amount of unimaginative repetitive questing got to me. A shame I guess.
Think it was about 30 hours here before I realized everything I was doing was pointless and boring. After that, I just rushed through the main quest to finish the game. Saved myself about 50+ hours of pointless quests, I think. Last time I played something that got that boring was probably in the 90s. Or maybe Oblivion.
 
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Hmm selling 1.25 million copies at approx £30 a copy equates to, £37,500,000, that sounds reasonably impressive. Wonder how much it cost to make?

Daniel.
 
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Apparently Mr. Schilling is a bit of a liar too:

Curt Schilling loves his MMORPGs (think Everquest or World of Warcraft). So much so that in 2006, he founded his own company to produce them. 38 Studios set up shop in Maynard, Mass., and got to work. In 2010, the state of Rhode Island came a-calling. As part of the RI Economic Development Corporation's effort to create jobs in the state, they offered 38 Studios a $75 million loan, if only they would pack up operations and bring them to Rhode Island. Schilling and co. moved to Providence, and pledged to employ 450 locals. It was a gamble for the state, which only had $125 million for the entire job creation program, and took criticism at the time.
It's 2012, and 38 Studios is in trouble. They've only employed 288 Rhode Islanders so far, and the company recently had to pull out of next month's E3 showcase because their upcoming game, paid for by the loan, isn't close to being ready. An independent audit expressed "substantial doubt" about whether the company can remain solvent, and state officials have been meeting with 38 Studios in recent days.
The worst case scenario? 38 Studios goes under, and is unable to repay the loan. If that happens, taxpayers are on the hook for $112.6 million after interest is factored in. Maybe Curt Schilling was right all along: big government and the stimulus plan just don't work.
Update: Missed this the first time around, but worth noting. Last year Schilling told Reuters that he had invested "$30 million to $35 million" in 38 Studios. A disclosure filing obtained by WPRI shows that Schilling only advanced the company $4 million of his own money, and has already been paid back—with the funds from Rhode Island loan.

http://deadspin.com/5910569/curt-schillings-video-game-company-might-cost-taxpayers-112-million
 
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Wow £15 eh, I could be tempted at that price.

Daniel.
 
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Maybe they need less visionaries and more game makers in the company :)
 
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Wow £15 eh, I could be tempted at that price.

Daniel.
Yep very good value for money at that price. Keep an eye on Play & Amazon as they both had it for £15 a while back.
 
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But as I mentioned back then as well, the game marketing just didn't seem to be penetrating large audiences - other gaming forums I mentioned the game on had never heard of it :(

That's true. I never heard about the game until around November or December 2011.

Also, does anyone know if the entire 75m was used to develop KoA alone?
 
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Also, does anyone know if the entire 75m was used to develop KoA alone?

The loan probably didn't help develop KoA at all, it was/is for the Copernicus MMO. Rhode Island gave the loan to 38 Studio if they agreed to move from, I think, Maryland to RI and create jobs. BHG (bought by 38 Studio from THQ) made KoA and EA was the publisher (they financed part of it from what I remember reading a while back).

Also, the loan was done last year, to late to finance KoA.
 
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I look forward to the schadenfreude at this point. Schilling has been such a douche over time its going to be nice seeing the fall from such "great" heights.
 
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Even more drama and information.
http://www.gamebanshee.com/news/108151-38-studios-financial-woes-continued.html
More revelations have come to light following our earlier (and later updated) report on 38 Studios' financial problems, and since the potential closure of the company affects the future of Reckoning and Copernicus, I figured some of you might want to hear about them. First up is this report on Joystiq revealing that Curt Schilling is asking the state for additional funds in order to keep the company afloat:

Rhode Island's Economic Development Corporation will take no immediate action to aid the developer, following a closed-door meeting attended by Governor Lincoln Chafee and Schilling, who asked for additional help to save the company. Schilling refused to answer press inquiries and officials wouldn't declare how much money the studio is seeking.

"How do we avoid throwing good money after bad?" Chafee is quoted as saying after the three-hour emergency meeting finished.


They also have this report claiming that, should the company shut its doors, Rhode Island taxpayers will have to foot the $112.6 million ($75 million + interest) bill and the state will ultimately end up owning the IP:

According to the documentation, 38 Studios' intellectual property rights and other collateral were pledged to the RIEDC and assigned to a trustee, which we've confirmed by pulling Uniform Commercial Code documentation. Any proceeds made from the sale of the collateral would go back to the bondholders. This covers "all rights, title and interest in any projects, including video game projects," such as Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning and "Project Copernicus" – the title currently in development at 38 Studios.

"Based on what information I've been able to review on the 38 Studios situation, it appears that the funds they received from the RIEDC were secured by collateral that amounts to all of 38 Studios assets, including all of their intellectual property," attorney and Law of the Game editor Mark Methenitis told Joystiq this afternoon. "That would include all the rights to Kingdoms of Amalur and any other games they may have in development, even if no information about those titles has ever reached the light of day."

"What that means, in brief, is if they default on their obligations to the RIEDC, then the RIEDC can turn around and take possession of as much of that as is necessary to pay off the debts owed. It's kind of like buying a house or a car and then failing to make payments; the lienholder – usually the lending institution – can repossess that house or car and resell it to offset their losses from your failure to pay."


Finally, we learn from WPRI that Curt has recouped his original investment in the company, that R.A. Salvatore was paid $1.46 million + up to $5 million in royalties for his involvement with Reckoning, and other interesting tidbits:

38 Studios released its first game – “Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning” – in February to positive reviews and decent sales. But the taxpayer-backed loan is actually funding its other project – “Project Copernicus,” a massively multiplayer online game that was first targeted at a September release but has remained under wraps.

The questions about whether “Copernicus” remains on track – and whether Rhode Island’s investment is secure – grew in recent days after 38 Studios was removed from the list of companies scheduled to present at next month’s Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, one of the gaming industry’s biggest events of the year. The EDC hired IBM in 2010 to provide ongoing third-party monitoring of 38 Studios’ progress.



In July 2010, the same month the EDC approved the loan guarantee, 38 Studios established a revolving line of credit with Schilling so it could borrow up to $4 million from him, according to the disclosure filing obtained by WPRI.com. Part of the taxpayer-guaranteed loan money was used to pay Schilling back.

R.A. Salvatore, a fantasy writer who helped develop the games, is slated to receive $1.46 million from 38 Studios in October under the terms of a consulting agreement he signed with the company in 2007. He is also eligible to earn up to $5 million in royalties from sales of “Reckoning” and other 38 Studios products.

The General Assembly increased the size of the Job Creation Guaranty Program from $50 million to $125 million in early 2010 after Schilling approached the state. A WPRI 12 poll later that year showed 54% of Rhode Island voters opposed the $75 million loan guarantee to 38 Studios, with just 28% in favor of the deal.
 
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The loan probably didn't help develop KoA at all, it was/is for the Copernicus MMO. Rhode Island gave the loan to 38 Studio if they agreed to move from, I think, Maryland to RI and create jobs. BHG (bought by 38 Studio from THQ) made KoA and EA was the publisher (they financed part of it from what I remember reading a while back).

Also, the loan was done last year, to late to finance KoA.

Massachusetts actually. They basically moved a few streets over.
 
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So yeah this loan was well outside the normal scale covered by the EDC since they had to more than double the assets of it to extend the loan. Good to know that Curt payed himself back in full with that loan though - wouldn't want the poor guy to miss out on his next car purchase because of his shitty business planning.
 
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Massachusetts actually. They basically moved a few streets over.

Way, way, way off topic:

When you look at the USA, most of the states on the Eastern seaboard are small. As the country fought, swindled and outright stole land from everyone else, the states started getting much larger. If every state was the size of Rhode Island, the US would have 2455 states :)
 
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Way, way, way off topic:

When you look at the USA, most of the states on the Eastern seaboard are small. As the country fought, swindled and outright stole land from everyone else, the states started getting much larger. If every state was the size of Rhode Island, the US would have 2455 states :)

Some of those states would have no people in them, too!

Imagine congress with almost 5000 senators...:S
 
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I look forward to the schadenfreude at this point. Schilling has been such a douche over time its going to be nice seeing the fall from such "great" heights.

Citations please?
 
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Some of those states would have no people in them, too!

Imagine congress with almost 5000 senators…:S

palpatinempire.jpg
?
 
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