Information Kingdoms of Amalur IP Heads to Auction

[Crooked Bee]

Tags: 38 Studios; Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

The world's only state-funded RPG IP (or at least I assume so - correct me if I'm wrong), Kingdoms of Amalur, is to be auctioned by Rhode Island soon, Joystiq reports:

Rhode Island is preparing to sell the Kingdoms of Amalur IP, with a website offering its assets going live this month, 38 Studios' court-appointed receiver Richard Land tells WPRI. 38 Studios collapsed in 2012 after launching Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, taking $90 million of Rhode Island taxpayer money down with it.

The main piece of Amalur up for auction will be Project Copernicus, the studio's MMO-in-progress.

"If someone is thinking that Rhode Island is going to sell this for millions and millions of dollars, I would have a very difficult time believing that," Joystiq News Editor Alexander Sliwinski told WPRI in a Skype interview.

Land is optimistic about the sale: "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." Sliwinski warns that the fantastical world of Copernicus may be outdated as the industry shifts into the next generation.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating the $75 million loan that Rhode Island provided to 38 Studios. Rhode Island taxpayers have already begun paying back the loan.​

I seriously doubt anyone's crazy enough to pay $90 million, or anywhere close to that, for the IP when the first game was pretty much a failure on all fronts. We'll see, though.

Thanks Gamebanshee

 

[markec]

I would really like to know is there anyone stupid enough paying any amount of money for generic fantasy setting of a failed game.

 

[Humanity has risen!]

Setting is completely worthless, burn it. Worst mainstream RPG ever made.

 

[Ninjerk]

I'll give 'em ten bucks for it.

 

[Infinitron]

So, Codex fundraiser?

 

[Menckenstein]

We should buy the rights, then trade them back to Curt Schilling for a confession about the Sox PED usage during their world series runs.

 

[DeepOcean]

90 million bucks? Politicians really don't understand anything about business. SEGA bought ATLUS with all its ips for 120 millions dollars.

 

[Murk]

Soooo did Rhode Island go up in arms over whoever the fuck allowed 90 million to be spent on this moose-urine?

 

[jagged-jimmy]

Hmm, can Herve miss this business opportunity?

 

[DeepOcean]

Hmm, can Herve miss this business opportunity?

No, Herve only likes to fuck decent companies.

 

[jagged-jimmy]

Hmm, can Herve miss this business opportunity?

No, Herve only likes to fuck decent companies.

By smelling good business opportunities.

 

[Turjan]

I can already see the political shitstorm after the game assets go for a few pennies.

 

[Infinitron]

What the hell was being spent with all that Jewgold?

They were making an MMO. It wasn't just the single player KoA: Reckoning game.

 

[Bizarro Jimmy Olsen]

I'll give 'em ten bucks for it.

Do I hear $11?

 

[cherry blossom]

Look on the bright side: a bunch of self-important game-industry outsider dickwads who haven't got a fucking clue about games will hopefully never bother with games again as a result of this fiasco and the unflattering association it brought to them. Shit game went to the bin before it could become another shitty franchise, shit authors gave up on the industry, shit politicians in trouble over being stupid with funds while the game sells for a penny for anyone who might be interested. Sounds like a Quad-Win to me.

The only downside is that Curt Schilling, the guy who scammed everyone, walked away from all of this like nothing happened.

It was also sad to see Ken Rolston become a senile old fart to fall so low and come out of retirement to design such a shit game.

 

[Micmu]

Let the lowest bidder win.

 

[Ninjerk]

The only downside is that Curt Schilling, the guy who scammed everyone, walked away from all of this like nothing happened.

It was also sad to see Ken Rolston become a senile old fart to fall so low and come out of retirement to design such a shit game.

http://www.celebritynetworth.com/ar...50-million-fortune-failed-video-game-company/

 

[cherry blossom]

Ouch.

Missed this bit:

Sliwinski warns that the fantastical world of Copernicus may be outdated as the industry shifts into the next generation.

FFS.

 

[Average Manatee]

So he lost the loan AND 50 million of his own investment? How fucking big was this sinkhole in total?

 

[Icewater]

Whoever buys it is getting scammed hard.

Game IPs, for the most part, aren't all that amazingly valuable because producing a good game is much more effective at generating sales than brand recognition for everything other than very well-known major IPs like Call of Duty, Elder Scrolls, etc.

 

[tuluse]

Do you have numbers or links to back that up? Because the actual companies seem to think the opposite.

 

[Icewater]

The same companies who produce flop after flop?

 

[Gurkog]

Schilling was an idiot MMO addict. Just like any addict with a fortune they blow it all pretty quick.

 

[tuluse]

It's pretty rare for an EA game to outright flop. Usualy they sell multiple millions of copies, just not as much as they were hoping for.

 

[Amn Nom]

If this wasn't such a ridiculous amount, it would be cool to see someone with some decent talent get the setting and see what they did with it. I sort of liked the general idea behind the KoA setting despite the failures on a lot of fronts.