Ben-DutkaThings just aren't going well for Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning developer 38 Studios.
The company has officially declared bankruptcy and on top of which, the Rhode Island State Police and federal authorities have launched an investigation into the company ex professional pitcher Curt Schilling founded.
As for the bankruptcy move, here's a statement from a 38 Studios spokesperson:
"This action comes after several weeks when the company has reviewed, considered and received the recommendations and advice with respect to potential avenues for relief that are currently available. After ongoing negotiations with the State of Rhode Island and potential investors and other interested parties, the Company has been unable to find a solution to the current stalemate."
And unfortunately, the investigation into possible mismanagement of funds is under way, as state authorities, the FBI, and the U.S. Attorney's office "are working together to investigate activities that have recently come to light at 38 Studios." We hate running stories like this, especially when it's about a company that produced a pretty good game that sold relatively well (1.2 million in the first three months isn't too shabby, but they needed 3 million just to break even).
Oh well. Here's hoping all the former 38 Studios peeps can find new jobs fast. Good luck to them all.
"Here's hoping all the former 38 Studios peeps can find new jobs fast."
Epic Games has already hired some of them, and they're starting a new studio "Epic Baltimore" where they will be working. Shame it made it to this point, but at least there's a silver lining.
I thought it was BigHugeGames who made Kingdoms Of Amalur primarily and that it was 38 studios who wasted time and money with project copernicus, the MMORPG.
Then 38 studios went under, taking Big with it.
Epic now offered many big huge games employees part of the whole "Epic Baltimore" section.
38 studios are the ones who screwed up, not big huge games.
That's a bad thing and another opportunity for nutjobs to go after gaming.
Is it wrong this makes me happy?
Um…a little. Dare I ask…?
It really pissed me off when I found out they needed to sell 3million units just to break even. Talk about wasting a bunch of money from the State.
Yeah, it does seem a bit strange. Their production value was merely good, nothing out of the world about the graphics or the voice acting. The fact that their break even point was so high, suggests that they probably wanted to sell five or six million. And why would a new studio without a huge marketing budget expect to post such numbers? That's big IP territory. As I said, seems a bit strange.
Last edited by Sir Shak on 6/8/2012 6:55:19 AM
Yes 3 million seems excessive for a new IP competing with the likes of Skyrim, CoD, etc. It's great that some of the developers got offered jobs with Epic, I just hope to see that dopey hypocrite Schilling crash and burn with this investigation.
Well, that's definitely a point. If you effed up, you effed up. And I REALLY don't like the way they kept their employees completely in the dark and then just sent out an impersonal email almost after the fact.
Stll, I'm not sure I'm "happy." 😉
Quite a few already have jobs lined up with Epic. It will be called a new studio called Epic Baltimore. http://www.joystiq.com/2012/06/07/epic-baltimore-big-huge-games-38-studios-mark-rein/
Last edited by The CEO on 6/8/2012 12:05:17 AM
I'm a little curious as to why they needed 3 million to break even. Many studios seem to be happy selling 1 million copies of game.
Plus let's be honest it's not as if the game used breakthrough technology for graphics or anything, so it does seem a bit odd.
I realize some games sell more than 10 million copies, but most don't.
sad to see a company go under, especially after all the studios of late its happening far too often.
but that said this is not exactly a bad thing considering their ridclious expectations of kingdoms!
i mean if they spent so much money on it that they needed 3M units sold to just break even how much money would of they sunk into their MMO?
almost like a god send that they went bankrupt now instead of further down the line once there in even more debts.
still cant see where the hell all the money went too!
i mean lets be honest, games are 60 bucks at the least!
once you do all the conversion rates for every country its roughly 60USD so 3M copies at 60 bucks a piece thats 180M!
while some of that will go to retailers and the publisher, transport, publishing costs whatever else.
point being, well, its hard to believe kingdoms would of cost 30M to make!
i mean the graphics, sound design, mo cap, animation, everything felt sounded and looked like a bloody ps2 game!
how can you make such a sh*t game and spend so much money on it?
just does not make any sense!
After 38 comes 39 Studios…
Q!
"play.experience.enjoy"
If good quality games need to start selling that many to break even, we're in for a world of hurt in this industry.
I almost hope there was some sort of mismanagement…
When the PS4 comes along it will be even more expensive to produce "impressive" titles as game assets need to be quadruple in size to look good and enjoy the enhanced resolution available.
This will also swell the need for more storage, and downloadable content will creek under the weight of very large file sizes to sustain that quality…
Long live the PS3 then… for a while longer at least!
Q!
"play.experience.enjoy"