Things are not looking good for Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning developer 38 Studios. After their game failed to meet sales expectations, despite being an interesting blend of Fable and The Elder Scrolls, the developer is now on the brink of becoming insolvent and has failed to make payments on their $75 Million loan.
Now this wouldn’t be too bad, if the loan in question hadn’t come from the state of Rhode Island, who had lured 38 Studios away from Boston in an effort to spurn on their economy. Unfortunately, Rhode Island taxpayers are most likely about to regret that move, as they might now be footing the bill on the loan.
On May 1st 38 failed to make a $1.125 Million payment on the loan, but only now has that detail come to light. If the loan does default, and Rhode Island is forced to turn to taxpayers to recoup the money lost, that would also turn 38 Studios over to the state. Curt Schilling obviously does not want that to happen, so he met with the Rhode Island Governor in a two-hour emergency meeting this week asking for some form of assistance.
At this point, 38 Studios’ head Curt Schilling just wants to get back to his team and work things out, but at the moment it’s not looking good. Rhode Island is still willing to strike an agreement with the developer, and that’s what the more recent meetings have been about.
At this point it looks highly unlikely that fans of the Kingdoms of Amalur universe will see the MMO that 38 Studios initially proposed back before Reckoning released. There’s a clear indication that both parties want to keep 38 Studios afloat, but if strides were made to ensure that happens you’d have to expect that some big changes are on the horizon.
Should Rhode Island help keep 38 Studios afloat so that we can see more of the Kingdoms of Amalur universe? Why do you think that Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning failed to make a splash with gamers?
Source: WPRI
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As a gamer news like this would normally turn my stomach. I hate to see developers going under…
…but when said developer locks content on a disc to charge people who buy the game used then I say good riddance to EA rubbish.
Man you guys here at GR are a little behind too, latest development is that 38 is now going to make the 1.125 million payment but get this…
They’re doing it by not paying any employees and they fired all contractors. Yeah you read that right, they are not paying their employees.
I agree with Dante.Plus the the game isn’t so much as an “interesting blend” of other games, as it is a shameless ripoff.There are very few aspects of this game that wasn’t ripped straight from some other game.In fact, it would probably take too long to list all the ripoffs here.Not to mention the game doesn’t manage to capture the most important aspect of it’s biggest influence, TES.And that aspect is non-linearity, KOA basically just shuttles you from region to region in a linear fashion and forces you to complete the dull, uninspired main storyline in order to unlock two-fifths of the total gameworld.Quite possibly the most linear ‘open world’ RPG I’ve ever played.
I think Reckoning didn’t sell well because it wasn’t unique enough. It didn’t have enough personality. Like Tary said, there were many things in Reckoning that functioned very much like other open world RPGs. That’s not to say that it wasn’t a good game, it just needed something to really set it apart from other games in its genre. I, for one, would like to see another Kingdoms of Amalur game, although it’s not looking too good right now.
so the stupid government clowns give them money to move and now they want to shut them down b/c they cant pay them back… HTF DOES GIVING A STUDIO ALL THAT CASH BOOST YOUR ECONOMY ?!
i hope they sort all this bs out and the studio stays alive, it would be a shame if it went down b/c amalur blends to boring genres together to form one epic hybrid (like borderlands and dragons dogma). people crying about the ‘on disc dlc’ well if you buy the game new you get that stuff for free, if you dont then you just miss out on some pretty lackluster quests and gear. i’m sick of all these sheep hating on something g b/c the person next to them hates it, i mean sure guys like capcom are abusing the system but amalur gave people an incentive to buy new b/c they would get that extra hour or so of gameplay.
Shame.
Played the game. Turned out the be a boring mash-up of genres.
I haven’t played this game but personally I would like to see a company take 38 studios off EA’s hands, wipe the debt off and get something new and fresh going without all the problems that EA bring to the table i.e online passes and rushed game development
I played the Amalur demo and it was ok (if a bit action’y for my tastes).
If there had been more playable races – especially gnomes – I would have bought it :0)
EA= Worst Company in America.
You guys need to take a second look. I actually got the game given to me by a friend who works for 38 studios and I really like it! I have played all the Fables (Fable was best, Fable 2 was overhype, Fable 3 was serious overhype and lame) and KoA shares elements, but is not as much of a ripoff as you seem to be making it, the storyline has unique elements (like the fateweaving) and the gameplay has a charm that does remind you of Fable, but its not a linear small-map style of world, these map locations are huge! Also, about this whole insolvent and not paying the employees. Seriously, that part deserves to be seen in a tabloid newpaper or on IGN Games, but this site does not usually indulge in gossip for headline sake! (or so I thought). According to my friend EA made more on the game than they were projecting, and he said that he’s still getting paid and so are his co-workers. The whole story is media overhype and really getting more attention for the wrong reasons than it should. If I hear more from him I will post it but for now…tone the funeral dirge for 38 Studios and all the indignation over locked on disc DLC down, not to mention the EA bashing. You people made more idiot news by voting EA the worst company in the USA OVER Bank of America, who I am supprised to have to inform you RUINED PEOPLES LIVES by playing a huge part in the housing market collapse. If my game turns out to be crap I lost 60 bucks. If my house goes into default because of a criminal rogue BANK I am stuck out on the street, and the game will be the LEAST of my concerns!! Get some perspective!!
Or perhaps I need a second look…just got a update from said friend. He got laid off and 38 has packed up and dissolved. Crow pie for me tonight…
Still think that BoA is worse than EA though, that part I don’t take back.
If that’s true, then…that just sucks.
I guess it is true. Game Rant just ran an article on it.
Yeah, my friend was on the graphic design side of the team, and he FB’d the RIP for 38 Studios. Really crappy way for an up and coming studio go. State Politics. Wow.
Yeah, but I don’t think taking a $75 million loan from a state on your new game developer is a good idea. They were basically banking on Reckoning being a smash hit among gamers.