Man...that's depressing as crap.

Horrible news. Hope the employees don't have trouble finding new employment elsewhere.

Ah crap, really? That really sucks for everyone over there =(

Really terrible for the employees, I hope they are able to land on their feet in other roles soon. It's a shitty time to be unemployed.

Bollocks...

@Veektarius said:

Did Kingdoms of Amalur undersell versus expectations?

Rich gallup actually said on his twitter it out performed EA's expectations, sold something like 1.3 million in 90 days.

Rich got a twitter yesterday. COINCIDENCE?

Wow, this is sad news. With the success of all these random Kickstarters, I wish they could have started one before having to close down. They were definitely in need of money more than several other Kickstarters that have been funded. I was thinking about working at a game company, but all these massive layoffs in the industry in the past few years are changing my mind about that decision.

Fuck...

Well, I wish everyone the best, and hope they all land on their feet :( For what it's worth, I'm enjoying Reckoning.

Alex is the best news man of Giant Bomb. End of story.

@forkboy said:

Really terrible for the employees, I hope they are able to land on their feet in other roles soon. It's a shitty time to be unemployed.

Is there a good time to be unemployed?

@Jace said:

CBS, please go grab Rich. GB needs a decent east coast correspondent. Most of the GB community already loves the guy, he would be a great fit.

Don't be a dick.

That's fucking brutal. Best of luck to all of them.

@Styl3s said:

@forkboy said:

Really terrible for the employees, I hope they are able to land on their feet in other roles soon. It's a shitty time to be unemployed.

Is there a good time to be unemployed?

Shittier than most.

That's a dang shame. I hate to see people lose their jobs.

I feel like I'm the crazy guy on the corner yelling, "The end is neigh!" but it really seems like the game industry is gearing up for another crash like in the 80s.

Where did all of the money go?

Fuck all of this!

Hope Rich and Ben go through this the best way possible. Much love!

Damn. I really liked most of Big Huge's games too. Amalur was alright, and I liked their RTSes.

@8BitAvrin said:

Wow, this is sad news. With the success of all these random Kickstarters, I wish they could have started one before having to close down. They were definitely in need of money more than several other Kickstarters that have been funded. I was thinking about working at a game company, but all these massive layoffs in the industry in the past few years are changing my mind about that decision.

Sadly, a kickstarter wasn't going to pay for 375 salaries, including a few huge names, loan payments, and funding for an MMO, the most expensive type of game to create.

You have to make good games to stay alive as a dev compnay. KOA: Reckoning, sucked balls

Tragic news. Hope that the employees can get back on their feet as soon as possible.

So why did they skip payroll to pay back the loan? I hope they had a good reason for depriving their employees. Not that the state isn't owed its cut, but if you have to pick one...

Regardless of liking their game or not, a whole fleet of people being laid off is a real shame.

I wonder who's gonna try to buy that IP from Rhode Island.

Man. That is a HUGE bummer. Especially if the MMO gets thrown down the toilet. I hope some company picks up the current game and at least some of its staff to continue and release it.

Not cool :( I would of thought they would of lasted a little longer too.

I can feel bad for the employes, but not for anyone who made ANY business decision in that company. It seems like incompetence and hubris on a huge scale.

@Styl3s said:

@forkboy said:

Really terrible for the employees, I hope they are able to land on their feet in other roles soon. It's a shitty time to be unemployed.

Is there a good time to be unemployed?

Well obviously not. Unemployment is basically the shits once the novelty of too much free time wears off. But there are better times to get laid off than right now when the economy is deep down in the shitter. My point was "economy is fucking terrible, I feel sorry for the poor guys who had nothing to do with the clusterfuck failure & hope they don't end up on the Yank equivalent of the dole for too long, I wish them the best of luck".

I contemplated adding this caveat in the earlier post but thought "nah, Giantbomb posters are clever enough to get my gist without me spelling it out directly." I apologise for not expecting the worst brah.

@Napalm said:

HO-LY SHIT.

HOLY SHIT!

What a twist!

I really thought they'd at least last until the end of next month. This sucks. I give my best to all of the staff who were just laid off.

Someone may pick up the Kingdom of Amalur rights, but I would say the MMO is a dead duck.

No unproven and untested studio should jump right into making an MMO. They should have started with smaller things, even smaller than KoA, built up their portfolio, become financially secure, then MAYBE attempt an MMO. Looking at WoW and thinking "I can do that!" is never gonna work out well. Which is pretty much what Schilling did.

Why release a video (a first and only video) about your game when you know you are going lay off the entire staff in one or two days?

Christ, that's awful. Good luck to all those trying to get on their feet.

Bloody hell...

@Excast said:

I guess Curt Schilling is a bit better pitcher than he is a businessman.

Well, he did successfully pitch the idea of funding a game studio to the state of Rhode Island.

Damn ! I wish the best of luck with everyone involved.

RICH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm surprised people are surprised.

The saddest part is no one really cares that this MMO isn't going to come out. I'm sure it's part of the reason they didn't get any more funding.

Fuck, that sucks.

NO!!! RICH GALLUP FOR PRESIDENT!!! But I'll settle for Giantbomb correspondant...

Oh, that's bad.

This is terrible.

@8BitAvrin said:

Wow, this is sad news. With the success of all these random Kickstarters, I wish they could have started one before having to close down. They were definitely in need of money more than several other Kickstarters that have been funded. I was thinking about working at a game company, but all these massive layoffs in the industry in the past few years are changing my mind about that decision.

The money Kickstarter could never be enough to pay for a AAA MMO of that large scope. Old Republic cost EA $200 million just to develop (granted they had a lot of production costs than the average MMO).

Damn that was quick. really sucks because amalur was a really solid game :C

@Jace said:

CBS, please go grab Rich. GB needs a decent east coast correspondent. Most of the GB community already loves the guy, he would be a great fit.

Real classy, mate. Way to be a dick...

@freakin9 said:

I'm surprised people are surprised.

The saddest part is no one really cares that this MMO isn't going to come out. I'm sure it's part of the reason they didn't get any more funding.

The saddest part is that it probably has the most attractive art style out of the WoW competitors out there. It's a shame that all the effort wasn't spent on a different kind of game that would have actually seen a release.