[1-D_FTW]

Sound like something that would happen if a typical Gafer, with no leadership skill, and no business knowledge, won the power ball lotto. And invested 50 million dollars into a development studio to make their "dream game". Got too into the mess, having no idea what to do. Start taking bad advice from 'friends' and doing stupid things. At the end , now too deep into the mess. Completely clueless about whats happening. Start doing last ditch efforts to save his dream. With the entire project already on a tight rope. A gust of wind (tax credit) knocks the entire project down.

It really was an idiotic idea, but I wonder how much he was influenced by John Henry co-founding iracing with David Kaemmer. The big difference being: David Kaemmer was an absolute legend in the race sim field, Henry was a billionare, and it was a niche product they were producing (instead of a WoW clone moneysink).

Unfortunately, all of those things were huge differences. And together, it's the difference between success and epic failure. But I'm sure Shilling just took the lesson that it was cool and doable to fund a gaming company that you could be passionate about.

[Trojita]

Man, this whole thing is a giant clusterfuck.

How wide spread is the mortgage thing? Is it just the one employee?

How do Economic Development Corporations work? They are a corporation that also gets some status and power of a public agency?

Their website doesn't even know what to call themselves

http://www.riedc.com/about

A quasi-public agency

[vaelic]

Man, this whole thing is a giant clusterfuck. How wide spread is the mortgage thing? Is it just the one employee? How do Economic Development Corporations work? They are a corporation that also gets some status and power of a public agency? Their website doesn't even know what to call themselves http://www.riedc.com/about

all employees with houses

[RubberJohnny]

New company MMO MMO as first game MMO that seems to be a wow clone Anyone with even a tiny bit of gaming knowledge would know this was going to be a disaster at best.

Trion Worlds had success with all of those.

[crimsonheadGCN]

Mentioned by who? Google returns nothing on this You need to google search his exact quote. Then you'll see it has been mentioned. At least once. By him in this thread. A guy who posts on Reddits seems to know former employees of 38 Studios: Sadly, there is a game. It was undergoing server stress testing last week and was ready for a friends and family beta... nowish. So close, yet so far. I have it on pretty good authority that management lied to them up until the bitter end. Apparently everything started out really well four years ago, but then Kurt brought in some management that really fucking sucked and they screwed everything up. http://www.reddit.com/user/wronghead I asked him for clarification.

The guy replied back to me and said he knows one employee of 38 Studios.

[DjangoReinhardt]

It really was an idiotic idea, but I wonder how much he was influenced by John Henry co-founding iracing with David Kaemmer. The big difference being: David Kaemmer was an absolute legend in the race sim field, Henry was a billionare, and it was a niche product they were producing (instead of a WoW clone moneysink). Unfortunately, all of those things were huge differences. And together, it's the difference between success and epic failure. But I'm sure Shilling just took the lesson that it was cool and doable to fund a gaming company that you could be passionate about.

I'd guess that the difference is that John Henry became rich due to his aptitude at business and finance, which would be useful in running any company. Curt Schilling became rich because he was good at baseball, which is almost completely worthless in the real world. John Henry could probably secure a white collar job anywhere on the planet with his skill and experience. Curt Schilling, on the other hand, probably wasn't qualified to do anything other than janitorial work at his own studio.

[t26]

It is no different than other athlete wanting to open restaurant or club that quickly went out of business. They want to go for something exciting and sexy instead of a safe investment. Really hope Curt have at least some money left after all this.

More on athlete bankrupt:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vau...ine/MAG1153364

[bjb]

It is no different than other athlete wanting to open restaurant or club that quickly went out of business. They want to go for something exciting and sexy instead of a safe investment. Really hope Curt have at least some money left after all this. More on athlete bankrupt: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vau...ine/MAG1153364

I could really care less about a multi-millionaires financial status. Especially when compared to the countless employees he has knowingly fucked over.

[Bluth54]

The thing that pisses me off the most is that Big Huge Games was closed because of this, Rise of Nations is my favorite RTS of all time and I was holding out a little bit of hope for a sequel. Thanks Curt.

[Ignis Fatuus]

Really hope Curt have at least some money left after all this.

What a crass thing to say. I hope he bankrupts himself to pay back his employees and the state, though I'm not holding my breath.

[t26]

What a crass thing to say. I hope he bankrupts himself to pay back his employees and the state, though I'm not holding my breath.

So he should be homeless living on the street? I don't think he started this to intentionally screw the RI tax player and his employee.

[bjb]

So he should be homeless living on the street? I don't think he started this to intentionally screw the RI tax player and his employee.

Who the hell knows why he started the company.

The facts are he embezzled money from the state and tax payers. Ultimately screwing them over, as well as hundreds of employees in the process.

And yet you're concerned over his financial well being. Are you writing letters to bernie madoff too?

Simply mind boggling.

[FieryBalrog]

What a crass thing to say. I hope he bankrupts himself to pay back his employees and the state, though I'm not holding my breath.

Describing your post is the rare case when the term irony could be used correctly

Who the hell knows why he started the company. The facts are he embezzled money from the state and tax payers.

You may need a refresher on what "facts" are.

[Open Source]

this is hilarious. my friend's dad actually had a VP position in the company, but i'm sure he'll land on his feet. the irony of a republican asking for government handouts..hilarious..

About as ironic as a liberal trying to minimize his tax obligations or fan who hates the BCS system cheering for his team to win the BCS championship. Just because you wish the rules were different doesn't mean you stop acting in your self-interest.

[Dresden]

So he should be homeless living on the street? I don't think he started this to intentionally screw the RI tax player and his employee.

he's Curt fucking Schilling. He can make a comfortable living for the rest of his life just bloviating on ESPN or some radio show. I'm not worried on just how he'll make it out of this because regardless of what happens, he'll never be in danger of losing his home or family.

[vaelic]

think Curt regrets getting this?

[Ken]

think Curt regrets getting this? [IMG]http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QzMRSGW76Yc/Tk1sZiyYphI/AAAAAAAAAjw/HGAblpwiDD8/s1600/Curt%252520Schilling2.jpg[/IG]

Looks like he regretted it the day the photo was taken.

[remnant]

Who the hell knows why he started the company. The facts are he embezzled money from the state and tax payers. Ultimately screwing them over, as well as hundreds of employees in the process. And yet you're concerned over his financial well being. Are you writing letters to bernie madoff too? Simply mind boggling.

do you know what that word means?

[cartoon_soldier]

It is no different than other athlete wanting to open restaurant or club that quickly went out of business. They want to go for something exciting and sexy instead of a safe investment. Really hope Curt have at least some money left after all this. More on athlete bankrupt: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vau...ine/MAG1153364

I have no sympathy for Curt. Guy was advocating fiscal discipline and asking people to not look at government for solutions, lol.

[megalowho]

The thing that pisses me off the most is that Big Huge Games was closed because of this, Rise of Nations is my favorite RTS of all time and I was holding out a little bit of hope for a sequel. Thanks Curt.

Big Huge would have folded a while ago if it wasn't for 38 Studios. It's shitty they're going down with the ship for sure, but the acquisition at least bought them some time and they finished their game.

Bryan Reynolds has been gone from that studio for a while now, too - a new Rise of Nations without him at the helm just wouldn't be the same.

[mattp]

my birdie seems to have been correct

http://news.providencejournal.com/br...ting-schi.html

[FoneBone]

my birdie seems to have been correct http://news.providencejournal.com/br...ting-schi.html

Yes, I trust an interview with Curt Schilling as an objective source of information on Curt Schilling.

[Iadien]

Also, Schilling says, he stands to lose $50 million of the fortune he earned as a professional baseball player and committed to the venture.

Within 72 hours of Chafee's May 14 statement that the state was trying to keep 38 Studios "solvent," Schilling says, a video-game publisher pulled out of a $35-million deal to finance a sequel to Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, the fantasy game that 38 Studios released in February.

ouch

[mattp]

he's not the only one saying this, though

this doesn't mean they weren't fucking terribly managed and out of money, but all signs do seem to point towards this governor fucking them over when they could have very easily been helped out. and come on, they obviously were in talks to get a poublisher to fund the rest of the game. they didnt just wake up one day and go "omg we have no money left, where will we get the last 35 million to fund the game!"

[Patryn]

he's not the only one saying this, though this doesn't mean they weren't fucking terribly managed and out of money, but all signs do seem to point towards this governor fucking them over when they could have very easily been helped out. and come on, they obviously were in talks to get a poublisher to fund the rest of the game. they didnt just wake up one day and go "omg we have no money left, where will we get the last 35 million to fund the game!"

I don't think anyone doubts that they were in negotiations. I think the question is whether they were serious negotiations or were they only in early phase? It's easy if a company is dependent on a deal to think that they were closer than they actually are.

Either way, if they had gotten a deferment on that $1.2 million payment, and then the governor leaked that they were late, that's pretty shady shit.

[Matthew Gallant]

How does a deal for an Amalur sequel keep the company solvent and get the MMO out the door? Schilling is not showering himself with glory here in regards to his business acumen.

[Patryn]

How does a deal for an Amalur sequel keep the company solvent and get the MMO out the door? Schilling is not showering himself with glory here in regards to his business acumen.

Gives them money, allows them to keep the lights on?

EDIT: Mixing my metaphors.

[Matthew Gallant]

Gives them money, allows them to keep the lights open?

For an Amalur sequel, not for the MMO. The publisher would be really upset if they found that he was spending the money to keep the MMO going instead of to develop the Amalur sequel. Which he basically just admitted he would have been doing.

He's a moron, in other words.

[mattp]

Either way, if they had gotten a deferment on that $1.2 million payment, and then the governor leaked that they were late, that's pretty shady shit.

yep

my friend works up there, and obviously his source for info is within the company, but he told me that exact thing last week. so something tells me there's at least a bit of truth to it.

i think it boils down to a REALLY shitty situation that was only made WAY worse by this politician trying to make himself look good. i dont really see how he thinks this makes him look good, but you know...politicians

[clashfan]

I have no sympathy for Curt. Guy was advocating fiscal discipline and asking people to not look at government for solutions, lol.

Ideals are great when applied to other people...

[BenjaminBirdie]

my birdie seems to have been correct http://news.providencejournal.com/br...ting-schi.html

Leave me out of this whole thing.

[eznark]

Curt Schilling has a long and storied history of blaming all of his woes on other people. I'm not the least bit surprised he is trying to pass the buck again.

[jakonovski]

yep my friend works up there, and obviously his source for info is within the company, but he told me that exact thing last week. so something tells me there's at least a bit of truth to it. i think it boils down to a REALLY shitty situation that was only made WAY worse by this politician trying to make himself look good. i dont really see how he thinks this makes him look good, but you know...politicians

If covering your business's day to day expenses is dependent on an esoteric government subsidy, you've already failed. I'm sorry, but there was no way for 38 Studios to survive. None.

To add even more context, 38 Studios imploded when it was time to pay the first installment. Fist of the North Star was all over that shit.

[Shiggy]

If covering your business's day to day expenses is dependent on an esoteric government subsidy, you've already failed. I'm sorry, but there was no way for 38 Studios to survive. None. To add even more context, 38 Studios imploded when it was time to pay the first installment. Fist of the North Star was all over that shit.

That's not true. Had they secured funding for Kingdoms of Amalur 2, chances would be quite high that not the entire studio would be dead.

[flkk]

this doesn't mean they weren't fucking terribly managed and out of money, but all signs do seem to point towards this governor fucking them over when they could have very easily been helped out. and come on, they obviously were in talks to get a poublisher to fund the rest of the game. they didnt just wake up one day and go "omg we have no money left, where will we get the last 35 million to fund the game!"

I hope I'm rich enough one day to consider an $8 million handout easy help.

Also if they were obviously in talks, and no deal was reached, then obviously whatever they were showing wasn't good enough to convince any publishers.

[eznark]

That's not true. Had they secured funding for Kingdoms of Amalur 2, chances would be quite high that not the entire studio would be dead.

Had they been a decently run studio they would have had little problem securing funding for a sequel to a million+ selling title.

[vaelic]

Schilling blames state for company’s problems

PROVIDENCE — Curt Schilling sits in a glass-walled conference room in the video-game company that he built. The former Boston Red Sox pitching star is gaunt, unshaven and wearing a wrinkled 38 Studios T-shirt and green camouflage shorts. He is not sleeping and has lost 33 pounds in the past 45 days, which he calls a “surreal” stretch that has seen 38 Studios — the company that he and Rhode Island have bankrolled to the tune of more than $100 million — brought to the brink of financial ruin. His controversial partnership with the State of Rhode Island, forged with $75 million in taxpayer-guaranteed bonds two years ago, is hanging by a thread, in large part, he says, because of broken promises by the state and damaging public comments by Governor Chafee regarding 38 Studios’ finances. If 38 Studios fails, Rhode Island taxpayers will be liable to repay more than $100 million. Also, Schilling says, he stands to lose $50 million of the fortune he earned as a likely Hall of Fame baseball pitcher and committed to the venture — “everything I have.” In exclusive interviews with The Providence Journal over Memorial Day weekend as he struggled to save his Blames state for problems company, Schilling broke his silence, defending his beleaguered company and denying that he sought a government “bailout.”

http://ireader.olivesoftware.com/Oli...rticle=Ar00100

[jakonovski]

That's not true. Had they secured funding for Kingdoms of Amalur 2, chances would be quite high that not the entire studio would be dead.

Yeah, and if wishes were horses beggars could ride.

[dave is ok]

About as ironic as a liberal trying to minimize his tax obligations or fan who hates the BCS system cheering for his team to win the BCS championship. Just because you wish the rules were different doesn't mean you stop acting in your self-interest.

Being against "big government" and then taking a gigantic loan from the taxpayers is a little different than trying to minimize tax obligations. Scale counts for something.

[Shiggy]

Had they been a decently run studio they would have had little problem securing funding for a sequel to a million+ selling title.

Had they been a decently run studio they would've never started work on Copernicus ;)
What I mean is that they could've still cut losses and laid of the 38 Studios team to let BHG survive, thus producing KoA2. Not that they would've done it...

Yeah, and if wishes were horses beggars could ride.

Never heard of ditching off unprofitable business units? I thought BHG were profitable?

[jakonovski]

Being against "big government" and then taking a gigantic loan from the taxpayers is a little different than trying to minimize tax obligations. Scale counts for something.

We are dealing with the age old tradition, It's OK If You Are Republican. IOKIYAR.

[jakonovski]

Never heard of ditching off unprofitable business units? I thought BHG were profitable?

Actually, they were in the hole for untold millions. Taxpayer-guaranteed though, which makes this story so sordid. The banks profit from others' misfortune again.

[Mikasangelos]

Schilling blames state for company’s problems http://ireader.olivesoftware.com/Oli...rticle=Ar00100

On Saturday, May12, Schilling says, 38 Studios learned that the president of a video-game publishing company had approved a $35-million deal to publish the sequel to Reckoning, and was going to his company’s executive committee that week for the money. But Chafee’s comments killed the deal, Schilling says. The company also says Chafee’s public comments derailed discussions that 38 Studios says it was having with another publisher for a $55-million deal on Project Copernicus, as well as a venture capitalist about additional financing. 38 Studios declined to identify the would-be investors, citing confidentiality.

:(

[Patryn]

Had they been a decently run studio they would've never started work on Copernicus ;) What I mean is that they could've still cut losses and laid of the 38 Studios team to let BHG survive, thus producing KoA2. Not that they would've done it...

They couldn't have. They still would have had to deal with the loan, and be on the hook for $7,500 for each employee below around 400 in RI they had.

Honestly, the company was dead the moment they agreed to that $75 million loan. Why either side approved that deal is beyond me, because it was terrible for both sides. In hindsight, there was pretty much no way it was ever going to work out. EA spent over $280 million to produce and market TOR, and look at the state of it now. And that was even with the power of the Star Wars brand.

[Macstorm]

Didn't Chafee oppose this 38 deal before he became governor? I don't doubt for one second that Chafee helped these dominoes fall, but it was Curt that was stacking them on a rocking chair in the first place.

[I H8 Memes]

Blames state for problems company, Schilling broke his silence, defending his beleaguered company and denying that he sought a government “bailout.”

It was a bailout. If his company was solvent enough for a loan he could have went to a regular bank.

The company also says Chafee’s public comments derailed discussions that 38 Studios says it was having with another publisher for a $55-million deal on Project Copernicus

If true I could see EA coming up with the money for Amular 2. But I can't imagine any publisher that would have been willing to come up with 55 million for the MMO. Not EA. they have TOR already, and it's bombing. Certainly not Activision with WoW. THQ? lulz. Take-Two? Nope. Square Enix would always prefer a FF themed MMO. Bethesda/Zenimax has their own Skyrim MMO in the works.

I just dont see anyone out there that would be willing to put up 55 million for an MMO. Not with the landscape as it is with non-WoW monthly fee MMO's failing left and right and the market flooded with F2P MMO's. Leads me to believe that every word out of his mouth is BS.

[Fine Ham Abounds]

I'm pretty sure EA passed on publishing KoA2 long before the company's health got leaked by the Governor. I can't find it now, but I'm almost sure it what discussed at the beginning of this thread even that sales weren't good enough for them to be interested.

I mean, I guess they might have found someone else willing to throw $35 million at them, but I can't imagine anyone but EA being a logical choice.

Schilling blaming someone else and saying he didn't want bailout money is exactly what I'd expect. People on the inside who are still defending this guy I can only imagine have somehow brainwashed themselves for the sake of not dealing with the fact that they've gotten screwed out of 5 years of work.

[Matthew Gallant]

It takes a high degree of doofusosity to think that asking the government to help you defer a $1.125 million loan payment does not qualify as a "bailout".

[eznark]

Calling it a bailout is a bit disingenuous. It was an enticement tool to recruit a supposedly growing company to the state. Corporate welfare to be sure, but not a bailout. Had the state given them more money to remain in business, then that is a bailout.

[mattp]

It was a bailout. If his company was solvent enough for a loan he could have went to a regular bank. If true I could see EA coming up with the money for Amular 2. But I can't imagine any publisher that would have been willing to come up with 55 million for the MMO. Not EA. they have TOR already, and it's bombing. Certainly not Activision with WoW. THQ? lulz. Take-Two? Nope. Square Enix would always prefer a FF themed MMO. Bethesda/Zenimax has their own Skyrim MMO in the works. I just dont see anyone out there that would be willing to put up 55 million for an MMO. Not with the landscape as it is with non-WoW monthly fee MMO's failing left and right and the market flooded with F2P MMO's. Leads me to believe that every word out of his mouth is BS.

SOE maybe?