gamekata

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.

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.

@PopeShabooda said:

@gamekata said:

This is interesting: there was a target release date for this past September (or September 2012) for Copernicus? Where did the reporter pull that from (did they cite anything)?

I ask because I hadn't heard of any prospective dates, release or otherwise, for anything relating to Copernicus, although I've not been paying close attention. Just curious where that mention came from.

Thanks for looking more into this and posting your findings.

Can't trace where they're getting it from, but this article , posted in August of 2010, repeats the September 2011 release date twice.

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...

EDIT: Also worth mentioning, though not directly relevant to Copernicus, is that KoA:R actually shipped on February 7, 2012, according to Giant Bomb's data, not in September 2011.

@PopeShabooda said:

[snip]

Also note that the financing was only for the MMO, and was separate from Reckoning:

38 Studios released its first game – “Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning” – in February to positive reviews and decent sales. But the taxpayer-backed loan is actually funding its other project – “Project Copernicus,” a massively multiplayer online game that was first targeted at a September release but has remained under wraps

This is interesting: there was a target release date for this past September (or September 2012) for Copernicus? Where did the reporter pull that from (did they cite anything)?

I ask because I hadn't heard of any prospective dates, release or otherwise, for anything relating to Copernicus, although I've not been paying close attention. Just curious where that mention came from.

Thanks for looking more into this and posting your findings.