[Deadstar]

In the future, will there only be a handful of studios making games? Sounds like a horrible future where everything is safe, stale and generic.

[Nihilistic Monk]

38 Studios are the people responsible for the MMO right? And Big Huge handled Reckoning? Kill off the MMO and focus on making games like Reckoning, and they'll be fine.

That means fire the main studio and let the satellite studio be the main team.

38 are so heavily invested in the MMO that if it doesn't succeed then those jobs are unfortunately sunk.

[daycru]

Why is the uber Republican taking tax payer money to make video games?

[Effect]

I wonder how much EA took from any profits that were made. Maybe that's at issue.

[CosmicQueso]

Abandon the MMO. It's too volatile a market. 400k is successful guys,especially for a new IP.

If they needed a million units or so to be profitable, well, they'd be in big trouble no matter how successful it was relative to the overall market.

[ShutEye]

I would have bought KoA if EA wasn't involved. Fuck you EA I still can't play ME3.

Also, government subsidies to private businesses are a joke. You Rhode Islanders got scammed.

[DiscoJer]

so this sucks if you're a RI taxpayer!

A lot of people think Kickstarter is shady, but at least in that case, people volunteer to give up their money.

In this case, it's worse than tax breaks, they are literally giving away money taken from taxpayers.

[Luigiv]

Something is wrong if you can sell 400,00 units in a single territory and be in financial trouble.

Welcome to this gen.

[dark10x]

that's a lot of studios :(

OK, this made me laugh more than it should have! :D

Welcome to this gen.

So what's your solution? Hold back technology even further?

It's certainly possible to make great looking games on a reasonable budget this gen.

[bigtroyjon]

That's a bit harsh. Kurt was genuinely passionate about KoA. You can't be pissed at the guy for trying.

I have no issues with his passion but staffing up a studio with hundreds of people in it in the current industry climate is a great way to give that studio zero chance of succeeding.

It takes a hell of a lot more than simple passion to be able to properly run a business, especially if you are getting terrible advice like whoever told Curt that running up a huge staff would be a good idea.

[Uriah]

Game launched on PC for $60 and I won't pay $60 for a video game. Would have bought it for 50.

[CosmicQueso]

In the future, will there only be a handful of studios making games? Sounds like a horrible future where everything is safe, stale and generic.

There will be the huge AAAAAAAAA games built on established/existing franchises, the once in a blue moon new IP and the rest will be digital games on iOS, tablets and connected consoles. Publishers will continue to consolidate and studios will either do the same or dissolve. As any market matures, it's kinda what you see.

[Deified Data]

Shame Amalur sequel has the potential to be one of the best games every made. Hope they keep their head above water.

[DaBuddaDa]

Game launched on PC for $60 and I won't pay $60 for a video game. Would have bought it for 50.

It was $50 on Steam launch day, no clue what you're talking about.

[Luigiv]

So what's your solution? Hold back technology even further? It's certainly possible to make great looking games on a reasonable budget this gen.

Umm what? I was just pointing out that this gen has seen a large rise in typical development costs that makes it difficult for anything that doesn't break at least 1 million units at full price to turn a profit. And it's like that all gen. Hence "welcome to this gen" for the guy just discovering that a game can flop at 410K units.

[Uriah]

It was $50 on Steam launch day, no clue what you're talking about.

No it was $50 on Origin launch day. Steam was $60.

http://www.steamprices.com/us/app/10...alur-reckoning

Edit: It's also $60 on Steam right now.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/102500/

[reggieandTFE]

Why is the uber Republican taking tax payer money to make video games?

This was my exact question. Fuck Curt Schilling.

[Clint Beastwood]

It was a fun game from the demo, but fuck EA.

Sorry Kurt. Work with a different publisher and I'll be more than happy to buy your game. I'd rather eat shit for the rest of my life than buy an EA developed/published game.

[sn00zer]

It was a fun game from the demo, but fuck EA. Sorry Kurt. Work with a different publisher and I'll be more than happy to buy your game. I'd rather eat shit for the rest of my life than buy an EA developed/published game.

Can someone confirm this? Would love to see someone eat shit instead of playing burnout or something

[massoluk]

I did my part, I enjoyed it for about 6 hours, but I did my parts. You can't blame me.

[Glix]

It was a fun game from the demo, but fuck EA. Sorry Kurt. Work with a different publisher and I'll be more than happy to buy your game. I'd rather eat shit for the rest of my life than buy an EA developed/published game.

I dislike them, but I am going to go on record saying that perhaps you are overstating it.

[AntMurda]

Are we in bizarro land ? 400k+ sales are fantastic for anything other than the typical multi-million dollar blockbusters.

[Xena]

I bought PC and PS3 versions.... can't say I didn't try to help! I loved the game.

[Kusagari]

It was a fun game from the demo, but fuck EA. Sorry Kurt. Work with a different publisher and I'll be more than happy to buy your game. I'd rather eat shit for the rest of my life than buy an EA developed/published game.

Hyperbole much?

[demigod]

Damn, didn't know Kurt was making an MMO. Figures though, the guy was a huge EverQuest fan.

[SolidSnakex]

Something is wrong if you can sell 400,00 units in a single territory and be in financial trouble.

I think this has less to do with the Amalur and a lot more to do with the MMO that they're developing. Making a MMO is probably the biggest risk that you can make in this industry. You've got to sink a ridiculous amount of money into them just to get them out the door.

[Massa]

It was a fun game from the demo, but fuck EA. Sorry Kurt. Work with a different publisher and I'll be more than happy to buy your game. I'd rather eat shit for the rest of my life than buy an EA developed/published game.

If you don't want to buy an EA developed or published game just get this one. You're welcome.

[Dipswitch]

Why is the uber Republican taking tax payer money to make video games?

He's taking advantage of a program offered to attract companies to the state? I'm sure his company wasn't the first, nor will it be the last to get state funding in exchange for providing jobs.

Whether it was a sound investment of taxpayer money however remains to be seen.

[Raptomex]

I like Amalur. But I don't find the world immersive or anything. Also, I was a little deceived on the "open world" thing. Yes, it's open world but it's only a bunch of paths that lead to open areas. I was a little disappointed with that, and the fact you can't jump (mind boggling). Other than that I think it's a great game. Great combat.

[bishoptl]

Can someone confirm this? Would love to see someone eat shit instead of playing burnout or something

there are websites on the internet that cater to your interests

[sparky2112]

Why is the uber Republican taking tax payer money to make video games?

I bought his game at full price (and gladly), but FUCK YES to this post. Game would have been better if Ayn Rand was one of the bosses you could gut. A guy can dream, right?

[Jive Turkey]

So now the thread title reads like Schilling owns 38 studios and they're all in trouble!

Why is the uber Republican taking tax payer money to make video games?

Hey he doesn't need big government's help. He just needs his own old fashioned American hard work and ingenuity and $75,000,000 from the state of Rhode Island to be not very successful.

[Fezan]

Are we in bizarro land ? 400k+ sales are fantastic for anything other than the typical multi-million dollar blockbusters.

these sales are good for even a typical million budget games if it sells good in other territories too.here it seems more like case of sinking money making mmorpg which need a huge huge investment.why would a no name studio start with mmorpg ?

[Kusagari]

This is obviously because of the MMO, not Amalur.

[Lactose_Intolerant]

these sales are good for even a typical million budget games if it sells good in other territories too.here it seems more like case of sinking money making mmorpg which need a huge huge investment.why would a no name studio start with mmorpg ?

That's what Curt played. I agree it was a horrible decision. The fact that it wasn't planned as F2P either was a horrible decision.

[Gattsu25]

there are websites on the internet that cater to your interests

He can just do a youtube search for "septic 5" to get him started.

[Interficium]

In the future, will there only be a handful of studios making games? Sounds like a horrible present where everything is safe, stale and generic.

fixed it for ya chief.

[FStop7]

EA Partners Program is shit.

Bodes well for Respawn's hot new jam, whatever it may be.

[newjeruse]

Why is the uber Republican taking tax payer money to make video games?

Take it from a Red Sox fan, Schilling is as phony a human being as can possibly exist. As soon as he has no use for you, he'll move on.

[Baconsammy]

I'm betting the problem wasn't Amalur. It's the MMO. I'll echo what some other people said - looks like no patch, which means I'll never get the game again. I hate a great 20 hours with it and then a lackluster 20 more, but the chakrams are better than any weapon I've used in an open world RPG.

[LiquidSolid]

It was a fun game from the demo, but fuck EA. Sorry Kurt. Work with a different publisher and I'll be more than happy to buy your game. I'd rather eat shit for the rest of my life than buy an EA developed/published game.

Wow. You have issues.

Yet another successful EA Partners release I guess. The idea was pretty good, offering a developer friendly publishing line to attract high quality developers, but the execution, specifically on the marketing side, has been pretty piss poor. If I were working at Insomniac or Funcom, I'd be worried.

Hopefully 38 Studios get out of this alive. I've no real interest in the MMO (or any MMOs for that matter) but I'd love to see another singleplayer Amalur game with the problems I had fixed (better story, better "world", better characters and more variety).

[FStop7]

I think Schilling has too much ambition. He spent countless hours building up characters in Everquest and WoW, and he certainly knows the ins and outs of MMOs from the player side, but he just dove straight into making an MMO of his own. He got R.A. Salvatore. He staffed up, big time. The theme of the whole process seems to have been 'reckless abandon'. $75 million in taxpayer money for a startup video game studio? I'd be furious if I were a RI taxpayer.

[TucoBenedictoPacifico]

Abandon the MMO. It's too volatile a market. 400k is successful guys,especially for a new IP.

That really depends from what they spent to make the game.
I can't say i know the details but the whole thing, for what we read around, always struck me as a bunch of amateurs trying to go BIG. They hired expensive names who didn't add that much to the game, they marketed the whole thing pretty hard, and so on.
There's a chance they overspent cause of their inexperience. And the game wasn't even that good.

[Raptomex]

Hopefully 38 Studios get out of this alive. I've no real interest in the MMO (or any MMOs for that matter) but I'd love to see another singleplayer Amalur game with the problems I had fixed (better story, better "world", better characters and more variety).

This. Word for word.

[Kifimbo]

I think Schilling has too much ambition. He spent countless hours building up characters in Everquest and WoW, and he certainly knows the ins and outs of MMOs from the player side, but he just dove straight into making an MMO of his own. He got R.A. Salvatore. He staffed up, big time. The theme of the whole process seems to have been 'reckless abandon'. $75 million in taxpayer money for a startup video game studio? I'd be furious if I were a RI taxpayer.

Just for comparaison's sake, Ubisoft Toronto got $263 million from the provincial government.

[daycru]

Just for comparaison's sake, Ubisoft Toronto got $263 million from the provincial government.

At least Ubisoft is a real company. 38 Studios is a baseball player's welfare funded vanity project.

[funkystudent]

I dont even know why they would make a MMO in the current market.

KoA seemed like a solid game. Was gonna pick it up eventually but I was RPG'ed out after skyrim.


No matter what they make its gonna bomb thanks to EA partners unique way of support games at release.

[Kifimbo]

At least Ubisoft is a real company. 38 Studios is a baseball player's welfare funded vanity project.

On the other hand, Ubisoft is a multinational company, a public company with shareholders, that shouldn't need public money. Unlike maybe some startups (still debatable).

[Dr. Kitty Muffins]

Just imagine next gen where you sell 2.2 million and your still in deep shit...

[CTE]

It was a fun game from the demo, but fuck EA. Sorry Kurt. Work with a different publisher and I'll be more than happy to buy your game. I'd rather eat shit for the rest of my life than buy an EA developed/published game.

I'll hold you to that if we ever happen to meet by chance.

Edit - Maybe we can get Curt in here to say something. Idk about legal stuff, though. Maybe he can't say anything yet.