38 Studios going down the shitter (Kingdoms of Amalur devs)

[Phelot]

LOL I didn't realize this was owned by the Curt Schilling

Is that how he convinced them to loan him $75 million?

They were talking about it on NPR which surprised me that he was behind it. I guess Rhode Island has some deal where they'll invest in certain new businesses. He was certainly a big name in his time with Boston and considering Rhode Island is basically a county of Massachusetts, I guess they put faith in him. Apparently the governor or senator (or whatever, don't recall) didn't like it.

 

[Menckenstein]

http://38studios.com/jobs-at-38

Let us submit our resumes!

 

[Renegen]

http://38studios.com/jobs-at-38

Let us submit our resumes!

become part of the team that includes the creative visionaries behind Drizzt Do’Urden

looks like the benchmark is pretty low too!

 

[Menckenstein]

I got my millions and so can you! SUBSCRIBE TO FIND OUT HOW!

 

[hoverdog]

http://38studios.com/jobs-at-38

Let us submit our resumes!

Prosper should send... but then again, he's already working on Wasteland2

 

[dragonbait]

looks like the benchmark is pretty low too!

I second that. I never understood what all the fascination with Drizzt was. Think its time to move on from that character.

 

[Jaesun]

THAT was pretty fucking cool of Epic.

 

[Crooked Bee]

So Ian Frazier is now going to work on Gears of War, huh?

 

[Azalin]

Gears of War by Salvatore and McFarlane,and just when you thought ssomething couldn't get shittier.Oh well good for the not-so-famous members of the studio that won't have to live in a cardboard box

 

[Infinitron]

I doubt those bigshot names will be recruited to the new company. Rolston maybe, but not Salvatore or McFarlane. Were they even salaried employees?

 

[IDtenT]

Good on Epic. The rest all seem to have gone after 38 Studio employees, who have of course never released anything. BHG is far the better team. Personally I hope Rolston comes with, but he's retired before and I think he might not like this bullshit.

 

[Menckenstein]

Bladestorm: Infinity Complex

 

[SinVraal]

75 millions loan for that shitty studio .. How many good games troika could have done with that ?

That is a very important question. I am keeping close eye on WL2 and Shadowrun and the other Kickstarter RPGs coming up. I believe quality, profitable games can be made with reasonable and frankly small budgets.

 

[shihonage]

 

[xilo3z]

Shouldn't laws exist to forbid this kind of massive funding to something as frivolous and devoid of public utility as games from ever happening in a serious non thirdworld shithole Republic?

Sort of. Yes and no. The kicker was not the loan size, but the promises that the studio gave to the mayor. From reading more about the loan agreement there appeared to have been an employment clause in it. 38 Studios made promises to bring in like an huge amount of jobs by fiscal years end and only if they brought in these amounts of jobs to the area would the loan be valid. The lack of job creation in the area started to piss off everyone in the office which lead to them clamping down on the studio. Schilling I believe stated that how fast the mayor moved in on them was crazy and that if they wouldn't have made the financials public they would have closed up a bunch of new deals with other businesses granting them all the funds they needed. So... That leads us to the reasons for overstaffing and everything. Sort of a chicken and the egg... Or no nothing like that but - it was take on a shit ton of variable costs and rise the overhead of the company through mass/unnecessary hiring to get on the good side to make sure the loan goes through. Or try and make it work without the loan. The moment they got the loan they hired a staff of close to 200 people... Budgeting was never a priority there.

But yes there are laws, but the public "interest" was at hand during every stage of the negotiations of the loan - the public interest being jobs.

 

[Kane]

http://www.theverge.com/gaming/2012/10/18/3521648/first-auction-of-38-studios-assets-results

The first of three auctions selling off 38 Studios' assets, which took place earlier this week in Timonium, MD, brought in total sales of about $180,000 — a "robust" number, according to an overseer for the auction.

- Animation suit for 9.5k dorrars
- 180k overall

 

[ironyuri]

Shouldn't laws exist to forbid this kind of massive funding to something as frivolous and devoid of public utility as games from ever happening in a serious non thirdworld shithole Republic?

Sort of. Yes and no. The kicker was not the loan size, but the promises that the studio gave to the mayor. From reading more about the loan agreement there appeared to have been an employment clause in it. 38 Studios made promises to bring in like an huge amount of jobs by fiscal years end and only if they brought in these amounts of jobs to the area would the loan be valid. The lack of job creation in the area started to piss off everyone in the office which lead to them clamping down on the studio. Schilling I believe stated that how fast the mayor moved in on them was crazy and that if they wouldn't have made the financials public they would have closed up a bunch of new deals with other businesses granting them all the funds they needed. So... That leads us to the reasons for overstaffing and everything. Sort of a chicken and the egg... Or no nothing like that but - it was take on a shit ton of variable costs and rise the overhead of the company through mass/unnecessary hiring to get on the good side to make sure the loan goes through. Or try and make it work without the loan. The moment they got the loan they hired a staff of close to 200 people... Budgeting was never a priority there.

But yes there are laws, but the public "interest" was at hand during every stage of the negotiations of the loan - the public interest being jobs.

bro i don't want to rain on your public interest parade, however, in a field such as game design the requirements for jobs beyond entry level positions would be a skilled workforce. if the workforce in the area does not have the necessary skills, then jobs are not being created for local workers (why is the state of rhode island funding a company that will need to hire workers from other areas who have the necessary skills and college diplomas?) who may or may not have the right skillset required for a niche game development studio.

if you want to create "local" jobs, you need to create jobs in an industry that can mass employ people in unskilled work, or you need to fund retraining and up-skilling of your local workforce in a directed effort along with encouraging the niche industry you want in your community/state to enter the field, usually with tax incentives or other encouragements such as small or medium funding grants

a 75 million loan in the hopes that jobs will magically appear in a field that demands a highly mobile, highly skilled/trained workforce is not the project on which to drop the kind of cash you'd spend for "job creation" at a local level like that.

 

[Infinitron]

CURT SCHILLING HAD LOW NATIVE INTELLIGENCE AND WAS TOO STUPID TO MANAGE AND PRODUCE COMPUTER GAMES LIKE AMALUR.

SCHILLING WAS NO ROCKET SCIENTIST AND IT SHOWED.

DESPITE ENORMOUS AMOUNTS OF CAPITAL, A LICENCE TO PRINT MONEY AND ALL THE RESOURCES REQUIRED, HE FAILED AT THE COMPUTER GAME INDUSTRY. FAILED. THIS IS WHY HE IS NO LONGER AROUND. THAT'S CALLED MARKET FORCES IN ACTION.

 

[skuphundaku]

CURT SCHILLING HAD LOW NATIVE INTELLIGENCE AND WAS TOO STUPID TO MANAGE AND PRODUCE COMPUTER GAMES LIKE AMALUR.

SCHILLING WAS NO ROCKET SCIENTIST AND IT SHOWED.

DESPITE ENORMOUS AMOUNTS OF CAPITAL, A LICENCE TO PRINT MONEY AND ALL THE RESOURCES REQUIRED, HE FAILED AT THE COMPUTER GAME INDUSTRY. FAILED. THIS IS WHY HE IS NO LONGER AROUND. THAT'S CALLED MARKET FORCES IN ACTION.

Good Cleve impression! You may unknowingly be a Neanderthal yourself!:D

 

[IDtenT]

So, who will buy the intellectual property? Surely the state isn't stupid enough not to sell it, since it won't ever increase in value.

 

[hoverdog]

CURT SCHILLING HAD LOW NATIVE INTELLIGENCE AND WAS TOO STUPID TO MANAGE AND PRODUCE COMPUTER GAMES LIKE AMALUR.

SCHILLING WAS NO ROCKET SCIENTIST AND IT SHOWED.

DESPITE ENORMOUS AMOUNTS OF CAPITAL, A LICENCE TO PRINT MONEY AND ALL THE RESOURCES REQUIRED, HE FAILED AT THE COMPUTER GAME INDUSTRY. FAILED. THIS IS WHY HE IS NO LONGER AROUND. THAT'S CALLED MARKET FORCES IN ACTION.

Good Cleve impression! You may unknowingly be a Neanderthal yourself!:D

 

[Spectacle]

bro i don't want to rain on your public interest parade, however, in a field such as game design the requirements for jobs beyond entry level positions would be a skilled workforce. if the workforce in the area does not have the necessary skills, then jobs are not being created for local workers (why is the state of rhode island funding a company that will need to hire workers from other areas who have the necessary skills and college diplomas?) who may or may not have the right skillset required for a niche game development studio.

if you want to create "local" jobs, you need to create jobs in an industry that can mass employ people in unskilled work, or you need to fund retraining and up-skilling of your local workforce in a directed effort along with encouraging the niche industry you want in your community/state to enter the field, usually with tax incentives or other encouragements such as small or medium funding grants

Bringing in highly paid professionals is nearly always good for the local economy. With plenty of money to spend they will benefit the retail and service sectors, creating new jobs for unskilled workers. They will also pay significant taxes, supporting more government jobs.

 

[ironyuri]

bro i don't want to rain on your public interest parade, however, in a field such as game design the requirements for jobs beyond entry level positions would be a skilled workforce. if the workforce in the area does not have the necessary skills, then jobs are not being created for local workers (why is the state of rhode island funding a company that will need to hire workers from other areas who have the necessary skills and college diplomas?) who may or may not have the right skillset required for a niche game development studio.

if you want to create "local" jobs, you need to create jobs in an industry that can mass employ people in unskilled work, or you need to fund retraining and up-skilling of your local workforce in a directed effort along with encouraging the niche industry you want in your community/state to enter the field, usually with tax incentives or other encouragements such as small or medium funding grants

Bringing in highly paid professionals is nearly always good for the local economy. With plenty of money to spend they will benefit the retail and service sectors, creating new jobs for unskilled workers. They will also pay significant taxes, supporting more government jobs.

these were not highly paid professionals, they were barely skilled artists and modellers. the only people in "high paying" jobs would have been much more highly placed in the company than code monkeys and modellers.

 

[Spectacle]

these were not highly paid professionals, they were barely skilled artists and modellers. the only people in "high paying" jobs would have been much more highly placed in the company than code monkeys and modellers.

That's still "highly paid" compared to kwan minimum wages Especially considering these people were all young and in little need of expensive government services (until they all filed for unemployment)

 

[Phelot]

Curt has been doing ESPN broadcasting to pay the bills. Poor bastard