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Curt Schilling's '38 Studios' lays off entire staff, Big Huge Games to be closed

stufte

Member
blah blah blah

As someone who has been in almost the exact situation as this womans husband, I can say that if my wife (who is a stay at home mom) wanted to write a rant like this I'd be 100% on board with it. Believe it or not, being married with kids is akin to running a business. Finances, schedules, lots and lots of hard work, etc. And my wife manages almost all of it. If our income is threatened, you can be damned sure that she'll have something to say about it because it affects our entire family, not just me.

To say that her opinion sounds whiny or counts for less because she wasn't the one actually working at 38 actually highlights the fact that you have no idea how a family functions. We are a team, we work together to make our family function. She has as much say in what goes on as I do.

Or keep spewing the anecdotal crap about your parents both working, it has zero to do with this womans rant.
 
The killer part to me that wasn't quoted...



So, from "can't quit because then we would be on the hook for the move" to "we were already on the hook for it from the beginning". I've seen some really crappy situations in this industry but this takes the cake...

I think it's particularly telling that Atlas was never paid despite the bill coming due in early January. That says volumes about what those in charge expected even before Amalur came out.

(And, despite what that poor woman says, I wouldn't be surprised if Atlas was screaming at 38 for months about being paid. I imagine that "good relationship" between Atlas and 38 didn't survive into the new year.)
 
As someone who has been in almost the exact situation as this womans husband, I can say that if my wife (who is a stay at home mom) wanted to write a rant like this I'd be 100% on board with it.

Really? You'd want someone airing out your personal affairs like that to a bunch of journalists? Even if anonymous that just doesn't make sense to me. The entire e-mail reads like a sympathy ploy and I honestly can't comprehend why anyone would want to send it out other than to garner sympathy. If my SO ever wanted to send something like that out I'd ask them not to, and be rather annoyed if they did. Things like this are personal problems. They aren't made for the internet, especially a bunch of journalists on the internet.

Also, I'd like to distance myself from remnant here. I think I've been pretty clear that I just think the two are different roles. I make no judgment as to which is harder. I could never be a stay at home parent. I can't stand kids.
 

diffusionx

Gold Member
Really? You'd want someone airing out your personal affairs like that to a bunch of journalists? Even if anonymous that just doesn't make sense to me. The entire e-mail reads like a sympathy ploy and I honestly can't comprehend why anyone would want to send it out other than to garner sympathy. If my SO ever wanted to send something like that out I'd ask them not to, and be rather annoyed if they did. Things like this are personal problems. They aren't made for the internet, especially a bunch of journalists on the internet.

They deserve sympathy, and it's not really a personal problem. A miscarriage is a personal problem. Cancer is a personal problem.

They just got royally hosed by 38 Studios, run by a prominent ex-baseball player, with the financial backing of the state government. It's actually the exact opposite of a personal problem. At the very least the people of Rhode Island deserve to know what type of charlatans their government got in bed with.
 

shamanick

Member
Really? You'd want someone airing out your personal affairs like that to a bunch of journalists? Even if anonymous that just doesn't make sense to me. The entire e-mail reads like a sympathy ploy and I honestly can't comprehend why anyone would want to send it out other than to garner sympathy. If my SO ever wanted to send something like that out I'd ask them not to, and be rather annoyed if they did. Things like this are personal problems. They aren't made for the internet, especially a bunch of journalists on the internet.

Also, I'd like to distance myself from remnant here. I think I've been pretty clear that I just think the two are different roles. I make no judgment as to which is harder. I could never be a stay at home parent. I can't stand kids.

Man, it must really bother you when you see people who ask for social assistance. I mean, some problems are just personal, and you shouldn't air that stuff in public. It just seems icky, y'know? If people get fucked in the ass by an idiotic, incompetent business they should certainly keep it to themselves. It might make you uncomfortable after all.
 

stufte

Member
Really? You'd want someone airing out your personal affairs like that to a bunch of journalists? Even if anonymous that just doesn't make sense to me. The entire e-mail reads like a sympathy ploy and I honestly can't comprehend why anyone would want to send it out other than to garner sympathy. If my SO ever wanted to send something like that out I'd ask them not to, and be rather annoyed if they did. Things like this are personal problems. They aren't made for the internet, especially a bunch of journalists on the internet.

Also, I'd like to distance myself from remnant here. I think I've been pretty clear that I just think the two are different roles. I make no judgment as to which is harder. I could never be a stay at home parent. I can't stand kids.

I understand that you wouldn't personally do this, and that's cool. I saw her email as more of a cautionary tale and a perfect way to shame 38 and Curt Schilling. A shaming that he desperately deserves.

Just because you have a sad story to tell doesn't mean you are groveling for sympathy...
 
Man, it must really bother you when you see people who ask for social assistance. I mean, some problems are just personal, and you shouldn't air that stuff in public. It just seems icky, y'know? If people get fucked in the ass by an idiotic, incompetent business they should certainly keep it to themselves. It might make you uncomfortable after all.

What social assistance is this woman asking for? I'm all for government and even community programs to help out people in this woman's situation. What is this e-mail accomplishing again?
 
Really? You'd want someone airing out your personal affairs like that to a bunch of journalists? Even if anonymous that just doesn't make sense to me. The entire e-mail reads like a sympathy ploy and I honestly can't comprehend why anyone would want to send it out other than to garner sympathy. If my SO ever wanted to send something like that out I'd ask them not to, and be rather annoyed if they did. Things like this are personal problems. They aren't made for the internet, especially a bunch of journalists on the internet.

Dude, "38 Studios fucked my family over and here's how" is NOT "I have herpes and I got it from this skank."
 
Uhh....what? Millions of people do that every day

While I would love a thread that bashes the myth that "Stay at home parent" is a difficult job, this isn't really the thread.

Remnant, you absolutely HAVE to create this thread. Go over into OT and and start a topic entitled:

It's a myth that "Stay at home parent" is a difficult job

And put whatever you want in the OP. Please do it. Or alternately, if Remnant doesn't have the balls, somebody else go start one called

"Stay at home parent" is a difficult job

And point out in the OP that surely nobody is stupid or callous enough to disagree.
 

border

Member
What social assistance is this woman asking for? I'm all for government and even community programs to help out people in this woman's situation. What is this e-mail accomplishing again?

So.....you didn't even read the full letter?

"I have been taken for a ride and am having to take a handout from the government for the first time in my life"

This letter gives us a good, verifiable firsthand account of abuse and mismanagement at 38 Studios. It has been vetted by a team of journalists and confirmed authentic in its source. All other information from employees have been random forum posts of secondhand or thirdhand accounts that may or may not be true.

As others have also said, it's worth it to expose corruption and incompetence to the taxpayers who will ultimately have to pay for this mess.
 
So.....you didn't even read the full letter?

"I have been taken for a ride and am having to take a handout from the government for the first time in my life"

This letter gives us a good, verifiable firsthand account of abuse and mismanagement at 38 Studios. It has been vetted by a team of journalists and confirmed authentic in its source. All other information from employees have been random forum posts of secondhand or thirdhand accounts that may or may not be true.

As others have also said, it's worth it to expose corruption and incompetence to the taxpayers who will ultimately have to pay for this mess.

Yeah, she's getting that already. She's not getting anything from the letter. I read it. In terms of "new" information, aside from her own family's story, there wasn't anything I'd say is new.

EDIT: Like I said earlier this is noticeably different from the EA woman who did something similar and highlighted something that wasn't being covered.
 
Yeah, she's getting that already. She's not getting anything from the letter. I read it. In terms of "new" information, aside from her own family's story, there wasn't anything I'd say is new.

EDIT: Like I said earlier this is noticeably different from the EA woman who did something similar and highlighted something that wasn't being covered.

What other victims of crimes do you feel should just shut up and keep it to themselves?
 

diffusionx

Gold Member
Yeah, she's getting that already. She's not getting anything from the letter. I read it. In terms of "new" information, aside from her own family's story, there wasn't anything I'd say is new.

EDIT: Like I said earlier this is noticeably different from the EA woman who did something similar and highlighted something that wasn't being covered.

There is something new in here. They hired this person 6 months ago and didn't bother to pay for the moving expenses they said they would - knowing that person would be on the hook for it. This implies that they knew they were in the shitter even before the release of Amalur. It also implies that they were still hiring people they knew they couldn't pay. This is, put simply, fraud.

At this stage, I am sure you're just trolling. If you are, just stop.
 
What other victims of crimes do you feel should just shut up and keep it to themselves?

You're just a character at this point. The analogy is completely wrong. She's not accomplishing anything with her letter. There's no prosecution that is being overlooked, she's not being harmed more than any of the other families. Also, your definition of "crime" is rather strange. I never knew being a shitty manager was a crime....
 

element

Member
Yeah, she's getting that already. She's not getting anything from the letter. I read it. In terms of "new" information, aside from her own family's story, there wasn't anything I'd say is new.
Actually there was new information in the letter.
38 Studios wasn't paying ANY bills in 2012. 38 Studios didn't ask to have their employees health insurance turned off for cost cutting, they didn't pay it for four months and the health insurance company just turned it off. This letter makes it clear that 38 Studios lied to employees, considering the moving expenses of this family weren't paid for even after six months.

IMO this gives first hand accounts of criminal negligence by 38 Studios.
 
You're just a character at this point. The analogy is completely wrong. She's not accomplishing anything with her letter. There's no prosecution that is being overlooked, she's not being harmed more than any of the other families. Also, your definition of "crime" is rather strange. I never knew being a shitty manager was a crime....

Fraud is a crime. 38 Studios informed these people that their moving costs were paid. They knew the costs weren't being paid yet did nothing to notify the employees(they did the same with employees' health plans). The only character here is the person that thinks a person doesn't have a right to speak up simply because the disaster that occurred to her family didn't directly happen to her...yet it did since it's her family. If anything the problem is we haven't heard from enough of these victims yet.
 

border

Member
Yeah, she's getting that already. She's not getting anything from the letter. I read it. In terms of "new" information, aside from her own family's story, there wasn't anything I'd say is new.

When did I say there was new information?

All that stuff about their insurance cancellation and their moving bills is being legitimately confirmed for the first time. It's not just a random, unconfirmed tweet or blog or forum post anymore. That's the important part. It's helping separate rumor and speculation from actual truth.

Not to mention that there's some insight into how this company managed to keep their employees on the hook for weeks despite missing a paycheck.
 

Risible

Member
It is not a job. It is work that needs to be done, but it is not a job.

I have seen some stupid shit on GAF, but this might take the cake.

As a stay at home dad (my wife is a lawyer, I'm a teacher, guess who we decided should stay home?) I'd like to say that you have no fucking idea what it's like. My former job in IT was a million times easier than my current "job."

Cooking, cleaning, maintaining the repair of the house, groceries, laundry, transporting kids, doing homework, the list is fucking endless. My day starts at 6:30 when I get them up and ready to go to school and ends around 8:30pm when I get them into bed.

You're either 12 or a fucking imbecile.


I'm a stay at home dad because I'm smart and good at math.

Fucking internet high five, brother.
 

shamanick

Member
You're just a character at this point. The analogy is completely wrong. She's not accomplishing anything with her letter. There's no prosecution that is being overlooked, she's not being harmed more than any of the other families. Also, your definition of "crime" is rather strange. I never knew being a shitty manager was a crime....

Committing fraud is a crime. And who the fuck cares if this was new information? She is explaining what their family is going through. It is entirely relevant to the situation. Why do you have such a problem with the fact that she shared her story?
 

Derrick01

Banned
Why would you invest all of your money into a business anyway? You're practically begging to go broke. I'm by far not a financial expert but even that strikes me as a duh thing. Don't put all your eggs in one basket.
 
Speaking of sympathy, Schilling should come to court (or whatever financial delegation meeting thingy) with a bloody sock.

Has that joke been made yet?
 

Jinaar

Member
I feel bad for Curt. If I had wealth I would probably aim pretty high first, which is a very risky thing to do at your first time up at bat. *pun intended*. Everything I have read about this game and him, his intentions were pure and focused but it just didn't work out in the end. Hopefully everyone affected can land on their feet.
 

jwhit28

Member
Why would you invest all of your money into a business anyway? You're practically begging to go broke. I'm by far not a financial expert but even that strikes me as a duh thing. Don't put all your eggs in one basket.

He still works for ESPN. I'm sure he can get a job on the coaching staff of any Major League team as well. I guess those "if you had $100 million..." threads need to be bumped to $500 million.
 

ttocs

Member
What a damn fool to have sunk that much money in the studio.

He believed in it and it was his dream to make a video game the way he wanted a video game to be made. You can't fault the man for following his dreams but you can fault him for the way it closed up and some strange business decisions.
 

jwhit28

Member
but Curt got away scott free, that's what everyone told me

I think he managed to avoid legal trouble. He had the same problem a lot of ex-athletes had. He attacked the business world the same way he attacked sports, but simply trying harder and wanting it bad enough isn't enough for a business to succeed.
 

Derrick01

Banned
but Curt got away scott free, that's what everyone told me

He technically did. He hasn't faced any charges or any kind of punishment for the way the government's money was handled and for handling the company in the terrible way it was. He only lost money because the business folded and he had personally invested in it.
 

Shard

XBLAnnoyance
He technically did. He hasn't faced any charges or any kind of punishment for the way the government's money was handled and for handling the company in the terrible way it was. He only lost money because the business folded and he had personally invested in it.

Well, no, no he has not considering that he is being investigated by the FBI (among others) for this mess.
 
He should have known better, and he should have hired management that would have told him how stupid he was being. He probably hired people who were just excited to be working with him. This is what happens when you don't have a realistic feedback loop: everything collapses in a flash.
 

Derrick01

Banned
Well, no, no he has not considering that he is being investigated by the FBI (among others) for this mess.

Being investigated is different from actually being charged with something. Plenty of rich people are "investigated" by the government only for them to magically come up with nothing.
 
Curt Schilling seems like a pretty arrogant guy and he's had lots of success in his life. I doubt he ever really considered failure for 38 studios. Unfortunately athletic skills do not directly translate to business skills. That's a pretty common problem for professional athletes. It's a big reason why they go bankrupt so often.
 
Being investigated is different from actually being charged with something. Plenty of rich people are "investigated" by the government only for them to magically come up with nothing.

If there's sufficient evidence pointing to fraud being committed he'll be charged. If not then so be it. Making bad business decisions isn't a crime.
 
He technically did. He hasn't faced any charges or any kind of punishment for the way the government's money was handled and for handling the company in the terrible way it was. He only lost money because the business folded and he had personally invested in it.

That's the fault of the stupid state government that gave them the money. The government's money should never have been used the way it was here. They made a horrible decision, and now millions of taxpayer dollars have been lost.
 

vaelic

Banned
Schilling 'tapped out' after loss of 38 Studios

http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/06/22/schilling-tapped-out-after-loss-of-38-studios/

Curt Schilling has spoken to a Boston radio station about the lingering effects of 38 Studios' demise. The former Red Sox pitcher has been vilified by some gamers who assume that he's living the high life while former employees are suffering, but he tells WEEI that that's pretty far from the truth.

"The money I saved and earned playing baseball was probably all gone... life is going to be different," he says.

schillingrect-460x307.jpg
 

John Harker

Definitely doesn't make things up as he goes along.
That means we were really close to getting a Reckoning 2... and then the Guvnor opened his mouth and then we lost it :(
 

mattp

Member
dont know if this has been brought up in the thread cuz i havent read it in a while but my friend who worked at 38 told me the game was pushed back the extra year cuz they were transitioning it over to be free to play
 

Azih

Member
dont know if this has been brought up in the thread cuz i havent read it in a while but my friend who worked at 38 told me the game was pushed back the extra year cuz they were transitioning it over to be free to play

That implies the game was almost done but the only thing we've seen of the game is landscape shots and a few characters. It seems like it was really far away from having any basic gameplay even.
 

Patryn

Member
That implies the game was almost done but the only thing we've seen of the game is landscape shots and a few characters. It seems like it was really far away from having any basic gameplay even.

I know it was playable, because I know a person who has played it.
 

mattp

Member
I know it was playable, because I know a person who has played it.

ditto


i think it was a lot more complete than they made publicly known. why? i have no idea
but i know my friend's brother went up to visit providence last year and he played the game(and signed NDAs obviously)
 
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