I don't see what Curt did as a bad thing. For one, we don't have all the details. No way will I rush to judgment to say he did wrong when I barely know what the hell is going on. What I did hear though, is that he did in fact invest quite a bit more than $4million in Amalur, because for 6 years before the loan happened who kept the studios going? Curt did. Probably out of his own pocket. He's not lying when he says he has about $30-35million invested in this company. To get repaid a mere $4million after that is no big deal to me. Besides, Rhode Island went into this knowing where that $4million was going, and still went through with it, so they too must have not thought it was a big deal at the time.
So yeah, if they throw more money at this, I think they will be making the right decision. Not only are they investing in talented people/game studios, they are creating jobs and also going to be paid back with a ton of interest in the long run. They can't chicken out though when the first bad thing happens. They should be all in if they really want to see this thing succeed. Maybe in exchange for more money, they get to oversee some aspect of the finances from here until the MMO. I think that's fair. It just depends how much Curt needs to keep the studio going until the MMO is finished.
It's either invest a little more into 38 studios, or see everything they've built to this point crash and burn and try to recoup (which they won't) in a fire sale. Rhode Island should not panic over this…
I think you are letting your feelings for the game affect your opinion here.
You won't rush to judgement that he did something wrong because you don't know what's going on but you will rush to defend him and say you know he's not lying about investing 30-35 million even though you don't know whats going on.
They should have never invested 75 mil in to a brand new crpg IP in the first place. That's not even close to a sound risk that's irresponsible at best.
They could have given 1/2 a million to 150 small businesses with a proven track record and a sound product,service and business plan. They would probably already be seeing a return on their investment by now. It's almost always safer to diversify than to put all your eggs in to 1 basket.
As far as curt doing something wrong. I believe he did, even if he put in 35 million you never pay yourself back at the expense of the company and it's employee's. If the company is strong then you don't have to worry about your own finances the money will come back to you in the end.
I own a successful tile company that I open with $7500.00. That was pretty much every dollar I had to my name at the time. I haven't paid myself 1 penny of that back in 10+ years. When the housing market collapsed things got really bad. I could have bleed the company dry not paid my subs or employee's but then I wouldn't have a successful business today. Instead I left every penny I could in the company paid the subs, employee's and vendors and didn't cash several of my own checks.
It got so bad I almost lost my house but finally after about 1 1/2 years things picked up again and we are thriving. I know many other business owners who decided to drain their companies and not pay vendors, employee's or subs. They ended up having an easier road personally but they screwed a lot of people in the process and now most work for someone else making far less money.
Anyway, enough rambling. I don't know what went on first hand but my gut feeling is he knew things were going south so he paid himself back before all the money was gone. Screwing his company and employee's. Then he 's trying to extort more money out of the RI government. Sad thing is they may have to do it. Sometimes your so far in the only way to get out is to see it through at all costs.
I hope it works out for the employee's and the tax payers but not for Curt. He's shown his true colors.
