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

[Metro]

I doubt he's making seven figures but certainly several hundred thousand for jabbering on camera.

 

[DalekFlay]

Countdown to Schilling eating a bullet just jumped ahead a few years.

 

[Leimreу]

And nothing of value was lost. Really, KoA was a fucking abomination, it was literally a grind&fetch quest simulator set in a generic high fantasy setting with a completely railroaded main quest. Another thing of note is that aggravating Mary Sue-ish elven cunt who had the nerve to threaten the PC after he does most of the actually dangerous shit. The game would have at least one good moment if you were allowed to stab her in the end for killing your past acquaintance as well as deliberate misinformation, but no, you don't even get the option of accusing her of being a bitch.

 

[deuxhero]

So if someone were to buy this game, after the retailer cut ect, the profits would actually go to the Rhode Island state government now?

 

[Infinitron]

So if someone where to buy this game, after the retailer cut ect, the profits would actually go to the Rhode Island state government now?

Yes: http://www.gamespot.com/news/rhode-...ng-kingdoms-of-amalur-reckoning-sales-6409292

 

[Metro]

It amazes me why they didn't put in on sale more often or at least during the recent Summer Sale. They're selling the IP so they shouldn't give a shit about devaluing it as a result of a 75% off sale.

 

[DragoFireheart]

So if someone where to buy this game, after the retailer cut ect, the profits would actually go to the Rhode Island state government now?

Yes: http://www.gamespot.com/news/rhode-...ng-kingdoms-of-amalur-reckoning-sales-6409292

Maybe I'll buy it to support Rhode Island taxpayers.

 

[DalekFlay]

So if someone where to buy this game, after the retailer cut ect, the profits would actually go to the Rhode Island state government now?

Yes: http://www.gamespot.com/news/rhode-...ng-kingdoms-of-amalur-reckoning-sales-6409292

Maybe I'll buy it to support Rhode Island taxpayers.

Socialist!

 

[Turjan]

It amazes me why they didn't put in on sale more often or at least during the recent Summer Sale. They're selling the IP so they shouldn't give a shit about devaluing it as a result of a 75% off sale.

Given that this is part of political tug of wars, it would be unwise for any responsible party who wants to be re-elected to put this on sale, because the political opponent would accuse whoever decides to do a sale with squandering taxpayer money, however asinine such an accusation would be. So, no, I don't expect any big sales here.

 

[DragoFireheart]

So if someone where to buy this game, after the retailer cut ect, the profits would actually go to the Rhode Island state government now?

Yes: http://www.gamespot.com/news/rhode-...ng-kingdoms-of-amalur-reckoning-sales-6409292

Maybe I'll buy it to support Rhode Island taxpayers.

Socialist!

Was that supposed to be an insult?

Now if you called me a commie it would have been plane tickets.

 

[Infinitron]

Finally selling that shit: http://www.wpri.com/target-12/tim-white/38-studios-video-game-up-for-auction-soon

"We've had other interested parties that we have been working with directly," Land, who declined to speculate how much the game would go for, said. Gov. Lincoln Chafee has said he hopes the sale could help defray some of the roughly $90 million taxpayers are on the hook for to repay the 38 Studios bondholders.

Gaming industry expert Alexander Sliwinski – a news editor at Joystiq.com – said Rhode Islanders shouldn't be overly optimistic that the game will sell for millions of dollars.

"Given the video game industry's risk aversion to massively multiplayer online role playing games, which is what Copernicus was supposed to be, it's difficult to imagine a scenario where any U.S.-based publisher spends the $100 million to complete it," Sliwinski said.

He said the real value of the game walked out the door when 38 Studios let go of all its employees in May 2012.

"The value of the intellectual property would have been good if they put it up for sale a week after the collapse," Sliwinski said. "Taking the work that has already been done by the studio in Rhode Island and turning that into a game would be incredibly difficult … and still cost a lot of money."

Land defended the delay, saying he "inherited" that problem: "There is nothing I can do [about the fact] that the people that worked on the game dispersed." He said he's optimistic the game will be appealing anyway.

"The bulk of the game and intellectual property I don’t believe is stale because the artwork is current, the tech used to develop the artwork is current, the concept is a current concept," Land said. "My understanding is the use of this intellectual property can be flexible."

Sliwinski said there may be a market to use the art or characters elsewhere, but it would be a tough pitch for a video game.

"This industry isn't lacking for fantastical ideas, for fantasy worlds with humans and orcs and dwarves and all of that," Sliwinski said. "The video game industry is moving into its next generation."

Governments gonna government.

 

[IDtenT]

Joysiq gonna Joystiq

 

[Mother Russia]

failure is unnacceptable in this world, you're only allowed different degrees of success. 38S wasn't a failure. It was just less successful than others.

Failure is unacceptable if you borrow $75 mil to make your "less successful", aka fairly mediocre game that doesn't sell enough to pay for that MMO pipe dream.

Curt tried to take the [gaming] world by storm and failed miserably. Had he been more reasonable or cautious, his company would still be around. As it stands, his is hardly the first business ruined by the MMO gold rush. The only difference is that Rhode Island had to pay for it.

From what I can tell, technically the 75M dollah loan was to pay for Copernicus aka the MMO. Not sure how much went to Amalur.

By the way, Curt's wife is a MILF.

 

[Azrael the cat]

failure is unnacceptable in this world, you're only allowed different degrees of success. 38S wasn't a failure. It was just less successful than others.

Failure is unacceptable if you borrow $75 mil to make your "less successful", aka fairly mediocre game that doesn't sell enough to pay for that MMO pipe dream.

Curt tried to take the [gaming] world by storm and failed miserably. Had he been more reasonable or cautious, his company would still be around. As it stands, his is hardly the first business ruined by the MMO gold rush. The only difference is that Rhode Island had to pay for it.

Can't believe a state funded a fucking game.

I'm a socialist from a country that sits half-way between the UK and continental Europe politically (centre-left party is social democrat, centre-right party is liberal, both believe in keynesian interventionist economics, state-built infrastructure and a moderate welfare state), and even I can see that the state entering an entertainment idiocy is pure lunacy. If the state is going to get into business, it should do so to add competitiveness to areas that are underrepresented in the market OR to create infrastructure (which isn't so much going into business, as enabling business).

If Rhode Island wanted to play businessman, they could have started a state-owned bank and forced the private market to match them on interest rates, making the whole sector more competitive with a much better chance of getting their money back.

And if they WERE going to get into games (which they shouldn't have) the only sensible type would have been to target one of the 'forgotten' market segments, again forcing the private players to compete for that segment instead of taking them for granted - again improving the industry and having a shot at getting their money back because (at least at first) they'd have limited competition. Targetting an entertainment industry, and then targetting a segment that's already over-serviced, is double-idiocy from any political/economic viewpoint.

 

[Metro]

'Soon?' They've been saying that for a fucking year.

 

[Infinitron]

Curt Schilling vs Cliffy B on Twitter: http://gamebanshee.com/news/112766-kingdoms-of-amalur-is-a-billion-dollar-franchise.html

 

[abnaxus]

Is Schilling still currently coaching girls' softball teams for a living?

 

[IDtenT]

Auction on the 11th. Let's buy it, Codex!

 

[IDtenT]

Is Schilling still currently coaching girls' softball teams for a living?

He obviously had made investments into funds that are untouchable before he became bankrupt.

 

[m_s0]

Auction on the 11th. Let's buy it, Codex!

Not pitching in unless Prosper gets the license.

 

[Black]

Ah, Cliffy B, a real twitter warrior.

 

[abnaxus]

The auction didn't turn out very well.

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2013/12/13/game-in-the-works-at-schillings-firm-doesnt-sell/

The flagship game under development by Curt Schilling’s defunct video game company failed to sell at auction because no “acceptable” offers were made, and only two pieces of intellectual property went for $320,000, the firm’s court-appointed receiver said Friday.
The receiver, Richard Land, said he will continue negotiating with interested parties to sell that game, code-named Copernicus, and the other assets for which no acceptable bids were made.

Land said five parties participated in Wednesday’s telephone auction by Global Heritage Partners. More than 20 had expressed interest.

Schilling’s company, 38 Studios, had been developing a “massively multiplayer” game at its Providence headquarters with the help of a $75 million loan guarantee from Rhode Island’s economic development agency. The company filed for bankruptcy last year, and the state is on the hook for some $90 million related to the deal.

Rhode Island is by far 38 Studios’ biggest creditor, and the auction was an attempt to recoup some of what the state stands to lose. The quasipublic Economic Development Corp. is also suing the former Red Sox pitcher, former 38 Studios officials and some of its own ex-employees, saying they knew the company was on course to run out of money by last year and misled the board into backing the loan.

Schilling’s attorneys have called the claims baseless.

Land said the two lots that sold at auction were the “Rise of Nations” and “Rise of Legends” games and associated intellectual property, and the trademark for Big Huge Games, a Maryland company that 38 Studios acquired in 2009. The winning bidders were not disclosed.

A message left for Gov. Lincoln Chafee’s spokeswoman seeking comment on the results was not immediately returned.

Industry analyst Michael Pachter told The Associated Press in September he doubted the flagship game, “Copernicus,” would be worth much or that many parties would bid, because it could cost anywhere from $20 million to $100 million to finish it. He predicted it would go for $1.

 

[Duraframe300]

The auction didn't turn out very well.

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2013/12/13/game-in-the-works-at-schillings-firm-doesnt-sell/

The flagship game under development by Curt Schilling’s defunct video game company failed to sell at auction because no “acceptable” offers were made, and only two pieces of intellectual property went for $320,000, the firm’s court-appointed receiver said Friday.
The receiver, Richard Land, said he will continue negotiating with interested parties to sell that game, code-named Copernicus, and the other assets for which no acceptable bids were made.

Land said five parties participated in Wednesday’s telephone auction by Global Heritage Partners. More than 20 had expressed interest.

Schilling’s company, 38 Studios, had been developing a “massively multiplayer” game at its Providence headquarters with the help of a $75 million loan guarantee from Rhode Island’s economic development agency. The company filed for bankruptcy last year, and the state is on the hook for some $90 million related to the deal.

Rhode Island is by far 38 Studios’ biggest creditor, and the auction was an attempt to recoup some of what the state stands to lose. The quasipublic Economic Development Corp. is also suing the former Red Sox pitcher, former 38 Studios officials and some of its own ex-employees, saying they knew the company was on course to run out of money by last year and misled the board into backing the loan.

Schilling’s attorneys have called the claims baseless.

Land said the two lots that sold at auction were the “Rise of Nations” and “Rise of Legends” games and associated intellectual property, and the trademark for Big Huge Games, a Maryland company that 38 Studios acquired in 2009. The winning bidders were not disclosed.

A message left for Gov. Lincoln Chafee’s spokeswoman seeking comment on the results was not immediately returned.

Industry analyst Michael Pachter told The Associated Press in September he doubted the flagship game, “Copernicus,” would be worth much or that many parties would bid, because it could cost anywhere from $20 million to $100 million to finish it. He predicted it would go for $1.

Rise of Nations lives and Amalur dies?

 

[Roguey]

He predicted it would go for $1.

Surprised Reckoning didn't get bought, that sold pretty well for a new IP, a company could probably profit off of a same-engine next gen sequel.

 

[DalekFlay]

Hope we see those two on GOG now.