John-ShepardAaaaand, it just keeps getting worse and worse.
Developer 38 Studios is now bankrupt and in the possession of the state of Rhode Island, but that's hardly the end of the unfortunate saga. Now, the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation (RIEDC) has filed a suit in RI superior court against some of the executives behind that $75 million loan that brought 38 Studios to Rhode Island.
One of the defendants is company founder and former pro baseball player, Curt Schilling, and RI wants a piece of former 38 Studios CEO Jennifer Maclean, too. There's a long and depressing 97-page complaint posted over at the RIEDC website , if you're interested. As you can see, there's also a video message from RI governor Lincoln Chafee, who reminds everyone that he never liked the original loan and his primary goal is to protect taxpayer money.
As for the suit, one of the claims is that the defendants never spoke with the RIEDC board when concerns arose regarding the financial stability of 38 Studios. The state claims the defendants knew the studio was "destined to fail" due to their own financial projections. All in all, there are 17 counts of alleged wrongdoing, including unjust enrichment, fraud, civil conspiracy, breach of implied covenant of good faith, negligence, legal malpractice, fraudulent misrepresentation, and breach of fiduciary duty.
Man, what a mess.
Wow, sorry Curt, that totally sucks balls.
That's a lot of money to come up with, even if you're rich. If Curt Shilling loses this case he may want to consider leaving the country. It's better than robbing banks that's for sure.
That's why you go executive business… detach your personal self and all collateral the moment you get a couple employees. One workplace injury lawsuit and you're toast.
At least, that's what you do up here. Different countries, different laws, I'm sure. Still, I would never have done that.
Yeah you can pretty much get away with anything including theft and malfeasance if you go corporate.
Exactly. I mean.. the guy had how many staff?? His company should be bankrupt and dissolved by now without ownership to any of his branding. Just cut his losses. He's not going to suddenly get rich off the game anymore. Just give it all up.. the trademarks, everything. Let anyone who wants it take it for free.
But he has all his personaly life tied directly to the business. He's effed. It's too bad.
Wow, i feel bad skipping out on their game now. These guys created something people seemed to love and are being punished for it. I guess no good deed goes unpunished yes? In this case creating a single player MMO which as far as i know, has not been done before.
You buying Kingdoms of Amalur wouldn't have helped much. They sunk the majority of their money into Project Copernicus, which was never finished, and they needed to sell 3 million copies of Kingdoms just to break even.
The company was doomed before anyone even saw a product from them.
Schilling and the rest of these people pissed through millions of taxpayer dollars and never really had any clear cut plan, just a big dream (For a good game mind you)and lots of loans to try to make it happen. The thing is, a man like Schilling should never have tied the bulk of his personal fortune to branch out into a field he knows nothing about. He should of invested some money and planned to lose it if things went to hell like most investors do. And I really don't feel too much pity TBH. They lived high on the hog while this was happening too.
Makes you wonder why the government gave up those dollars in the first place without seeing the plan, first. I blame the lenders. Their risk… their loss.
The lesson: don't trust anyone who says you can't see their plan until after they succeed.
haha lol yup.
World,
Yeah!
But hopefully America's smart enough this time to change all that snake-oil salesman's "non-show & tell" dog & pony show this coming Tuesday, on November 6th.
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"Don't forget to vote"
That sucks because I really enjoyed Amular.
It's been said enough but what the heck. This is Curt's damn fault and he deserves to burn for tricking so many people into believing he knew what he was doing.
And T2X hit the nail on the head. He bought a first-class studio right away and installed all the glits and glamour that usually comes with the best of the AAA companies job benefits. He went for the whole 9 long before they'd even had a shipped product.
There are hundreds of projects on Kickstarter headed up by kids younger than most of us becoming successful company founders and IP owners because they started where they should, small. Half the titles they make aren't even of a much lower quality than Amalur.
It's very much like all the wasted money spent on SW:Old Republic. These people kill their own businesses through ignorance and want to blaim…the government!? Oy vay.
Last edited by Jotun on 11/4/2012 3:41:14 PM