38 Studios Meets With Rhode Island Governor, Asks for More Money [UPDATED]

@gamekata said:

Hrm. It seems that article (written in August 2010) cites September 2011 (twice, as you mention; once in a caption of a marketing graphic) for Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, not Copernicus. It did say this, though, of Project Mercury (Copernicus's original code name, apparently):

Copernicus has been in development since mid-2006, when Schilling founded 38 Studios, then known as Green Monster Games. Originally called Project Mercury and slated for release late this year, it has been delayed.

So it would seem whoever wrote the recent article misread this one, but apparently the proto-Copernicus project was originally thought to ship in late 2010, having been in development since 2006...

You're absolutely right. I've corrected my other comment. I'm guessing the reporting staff confused Reckoning with Copernicus. Rhode Island journalists aren't usually hired for their investigative skills.

Does this mean Rich will finally start work with Giant Bomb?

Ugly indeed.

What the fuck...

After watching that video, all i gotta say is, the more i know ppl the more i hate ppl...

Seriously, Giant Bomb Crew, if you're reading this, GET Rich Gallup BACK!!!

That video is insane and the reporters mobbing Schilling outside were ridiculous. "IT'S LIKE YOU'RE RUNNING AWAY!!!"  
 
 I don't think there's any denying that 38 Studios has been handled pretty poorly from day one. Reckoning is a fine game but having this Copernicus game floating around for the last 4 years or however long it is isn't going to endear you to anyone. 

While doing some light trawling for other related news tidbits on this story, but not expecting to find much other than what's already been covered, I just came across this:

38 Studios CEO on indefinite leave

PROVIDENCE – 38 Studios LLC CEO Jennifer MacLean has taken an indefinite leave of absence from the video game design firm, company officials confirmed Wednesday.

Chief Operating Officer Bill Thomas said in a brief phone conversation that he did not know when MacLean would return and declined to discuss the reasons behind her time away from the company other than that it was her choice.

“I’m not sure when she will be back,” Thomas said. “It’s her decision, and I cannot discuss it.”

[...]

MacLean was hired to run 38 Studios after serving at Comcast as vice president and general manager responsible for games. She has also worked at AOL and Microprose Software.

EDC officials confirmed that MacLean was not present at the lengthy meetings with the company Wednesday morning.

MacLean’s Twitter account still describes her as the CEO of 38 Studios and her tweets, the latest coming May 13, make no mention of her leave of absence.

@Kidavenger: The average salary for a game maker is about $80,000 with QA making significantly less, and leads making much more. If they wanted to hire top quality content they would have easily had to spend the majority of that money on salaries.

There are two lessons in this 1. Don't make an investment in industry you know nothing about, and 2. If you're gonna make a studio or try to make a game, whatever you do, don't make your first project an MMO.

The studio is done. That video was like something out of a movie, very tense and surreal when talking about a game studio. I don't give a fuck about 38 Studios I just hope the Rhode Island taxpayers won't have to pay for this mistake.

@msavo said:

The studio is done. That video was like something out of a movie, very tense and surreal when talking about a game studio. I don't give a fuck about 38 Studios I just hope the Rhode Island taxpayers won't have to pay for this mistake.

It's Rhode Island, we pay for lots of mistakes. At least in this case it's video game corruption, instead of the usual construction and transportation corruption. That's progress, sadly.

Hate to say it, but this doesn't surprise me. This studio has been working on a MMO for many years that no one has seen publicly, and in the middle of development they decided to make a full-fledged RPG spin-off of something that doesn't really exist yet. (For the record, I think Reckoning is pretty fun.) But it always felt like they didn't have much of a gameplan for actually releasing this long in development MMO and actually, you know, make money off it. It's as if some rich athlete decided "Hey, I've got money, maybe I should start a game studio!" and didn't really know what to do after that.

Well the mmo was probably going to suck anyway, they all do, and now its not going to exist at all.

Yea that video is crazy but a lot of money is involved so of course people take it seriously.

I wonder if this will drive up sales of Reckoning at all?

But man...a $75 million dollar loan is INSANE. 38 Studios must be...like 19x larger than I assumed they were. Why would you need that much money for an average sized game studio?

Project Copernicus best be good, I guess. I don't care one lick about MMOs though. But sh** - it's a game with SEVENTY FIVE MILLION DOLLARS resting on it's shoulders, huh?

Wow, that video is really unpleasant to watch, feel bad for those guys.

This feels like it's going to be on This American Life at some point.

Obviously some hard questions have to be asked and some consequences accepted on part of 38 studios and the officials who ok'd the loan, but man, some of those reporters are just DICKS.

Man, the way that video was edited made it seem like it was from a movie with the cuts back and forth between the governor and Curt Shilling. It really increased the tension versus if they had just shown the governor's remarks.

@gamekata said:

While doing some light trawling for other related news tidbits on this story, but not expecting to find much other than what's already been covered, I just came across this:

38 Studios CEO on indefinite leave

PROVIDENCE – 38 Studios LLC CEO Jennifer MacLean has taken an indefinite leave of absence from the video game design firm, company officials confirmed Wednesday.

Chief Operating Officer Bill Thomas said in a brief phone conversation that he did not know when MacLean would return and declined to discuss the reasons behind her time away from the company other than that it was her choice.

“I’m not sure when she will be back,” Thomas said. “It’s her decision, and I cannot discuss it.”

[...]

MacLean was hired to run 38 Studios after serving at Comcast as vice president and general manager responsible for games. She has also worked at AOL and Microprose Software.

EDC officials confirmed that MacLean was not present at the lengthy meetings with the company Wednesday morning.

MacLean’s Twitter account still describes her as the CEO of 38 Studios and her tweets, the latest coming May 13, make no mention of her leave of absence.

Don't know what else explains such a vague explanation at a time like this besides rats jumping ship.

Rich needs money.

I find myself mostly exceedingly interested at this stage in 38 Studios financials, the confidential financial status and projections mentioned in both the short press conference included (in part) in the video and in the official statement. I have yet to really dig into the terms of the loan/guarantee, but if they were making monthly payments up until May 1, and this story broke yesterday or Monday, that's half the month gone that Rhode Island hadn't been paid back. One would assume Rhode Island inquired immediately after May 1 came and went without a payment, if, in the worst case, 38 hadn't notified them in advance that they wouldn't be able to make it.

Which leads me to my second question -- presumably 38 knew somewhere shortly after their April 1 payment that they would not have enough liquid cash or float (if float is even applicable to repay the loan) to pay the May 1 payment, so when did they share this information with Rhode Island? And that's presuming (on my part) that 38 knew shortly after April 1 at the worst -- that is, that's the latest I'd expect 38 to know, usually companies have their financials current for at least the next quarter ending, especially with long-term ongoing repayments. Depending on their fiscal calendar, and how they were accounting for revenue from KoA:R, they should have known much earlier than that.

The idea that Rhode Island invested tax dollars into an MMORPG is the nuttiest thing I'm probably going to hear this year.

Man, between this and the Activision/Infinity Ward case, it sounds like the Bombsquad will have one helluva annual E3 Mystery!

Fuuuuuuuuck.

@selbie: Of course. Because internet-famous people aren't allowed to grow, change, or move on with their lives. ;p

I realize that Rhode Island saw the opportunity to bring jobs and revenue to the state but I can't imagine how they came to the decision to loan a company that much money to set up shop. Especially one that had no proven history or track record. It's amazing to see this much fervor over a game company but the fact that the tax payers have to foot the bill to the tune of however much is remaining on the 72 million dollar loan is insane. If I lived in Rhode Island and knew they made that deal in the first place I would have been flipping out regardless of the fact that it was for an industry I love.

@Junpei said:

I realize that Rhode Island saw the opportunity to bring jobs and revenue to the state but I can't imagine how they came to the decision to loan a company that much money to set up shop. Especially one that had no proven history or track record. It's amazing to see this much fervor over a game company but the fact that the tax payers have to foot the bill to the tune of however much is remaining on the 72 million dollar loan is insane. If I lived in Rhode Island and knew they made that deal in the first place I would have been flipping out regardless of the fact that it was for an industry I love.

When you follow all of the corruption and horrible decisions made by the Rhode Island state government, this deal really wasn't that bad. It's like watching your meth-addicted brother smoke a joint - Not a great idea, but better than what he was doing.

That money was never going to make it to our failing schools or crumbling roads. It was either 'Move a game company here to create tech jobs', or 'Siphon it to Tony's cousin's brother-in-law's construction company.'

I have a problem with tax payer money being used for this sort of thing. First they use tax payer money to move the company to their state and now they're essentially saying "We need a bailout."

WTF is going on with the gaming industry today?

"Mr. Schilling, you've talked all your life, why don't you turn around and be a me-yan right now."
 
lol

@Brackynews: Inevitable rumour is inevitable :P

"Mr. Schilling, you've talked all your life, why don't you turn around and be a man right now?" That journalist is a real piece of work. I don't care how cold a source is being or how big the story is. That's out of line.

@MSG said:

"Mr. Schilling, you've talked all your life, why don't you turn around and be a man right now?" That journalist is a real piece of work. I don't care how cold a source is being or how big the story is. That's out of line.

Agreed, you can press a question all you want, but resorting to insults is Fox News levels of professionalism.

Hopefully Rich and co. land on their feet.

38 studios should ask Giantbomb for more money since GB has a new sugar daddy.

How the fuck did they expect 38 to pay up? They'd be lucky if they even made a few bucks off reckoning. If they have to be paying millions a month to cover their loans, with no regular revenue, working on an MMO they've never shown to the public... They're fucked. There's no way around it. Everyone involved seems to have made sketchy decisions at best, and in the end the only people on the hook are Rhode Island residents. I mean even in the best of circumstances, they probably have what 18-24 months left of development? The lack of any public information on Copernicus besides "it's an MMO, you're going to love it" should have been kind of telling. You can only say that for so many years before people start to wonder. That goes without even mentioning the state of today's MMO market.

@MSG:@MSG said:

"Mr. Schilling, you've talked all your life, why don't you turn around and be a man right now?" That journalist is a real piece of work. I don't care how cold a source is being or how big the story is. That's out of line.

That's...rather tangential to the issue at hand.

Can't stand news reporters like that, they'd roll around in dog crap to get a comment.  
 
Hope everything turns out okay, but things don't look good. 

Man that video makes the situation look really bad, no wonder nobody from 38 Studios has come out to make a statement

Maybe he's from Fox News.

Anyone who is surprised by what is going on with this whole issue is obviously not from New England or has never stepped foot inside RI.

Rhode Island is arguably known as the most corrupt state in the US for a reason.

What a sad, sad situation for everyone involved.

Reporters are assholes.

...Damn, that's rough. I hope they pull outta this. I love KOA, and not that'll it help that much, but I'm gonna go pick up the DLC right now as a sign of good faith. :(

RichieG ;-(

@Ujio: Not specifically the gaming industry, this happens between governments and companies all the time. :<

I worry about Rich Gallup. :(

I hope rich leaves that horrible place and comes back to work with his buddies at GB in Cali.

@freakin9 said:

Time to cut down on the number of studios boys.

Queue name change: 37 Studios

Fast forward one year: Studio wildly successful, prints game manuals on money because they have so much.

@Herrdoktor said:

Anyone who is surprised by what is going on with this whole issue is obviously not from New England or has never stepped foot inside RI.

Rhode Island is arguably known as the most corrupt state in the US for a reason.

Too bad 38 Studios didn't know this before moving there.

OR DID THEY????

That video was brutal.