Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

[jacobed]

Bravo Epic. Bravo. Hopefully we see Kingdoms of Amalur 2 with the Unreal engine powering it now

 

[Iceman]

Interesting news. Hope it all works out.

 

[Wolvieboy17]

Yeah, I'm just picturing a cross between Amalur and Gears... Which is making me think of an epic and not crap version of Hunted: The Demons Forge, and that's got me very excited :P

 

[Benstamania]

Wow, some good gaming related news for once.

 

[Destructus86]

I really wanted to like this game...I really, really did. If only they had added Anti-Alias...it just made the graphics look to cheap for me. Yes. i'm a graphics ****e. I don't care about realism...but I at least want them smooth.

 

[Spidey-Bat]

http://www.wpri.com/dpp/news/local_...urt-schillings-38-studios-under-investigation

Bankrupt 38 Studios will be liquidated
Schilling firm owes more than $100M to RI, others

Updated: Thursday, 07 Jun 2012, 11:46 PM EDT
Published : Thursday, 07 Jun 2012, 1:12 PM EDT

By Ted Nesi, WPRI.com Reporter

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – 38 Studios declared bankruptcy on Thursday, one day after federal and state officials began a formal investigation into Curt Schilling's video game company, WPRI.com has learned.

38 Studios LLC and its three subsidiaries filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection, which means they have ceased operations and will be liquidated, in Delaware shortly after noon. A meeting of the company's creditors is scheduled for July 10 in a Wilmington, Del., courthouse.

The liquidation caps a stunning turn of events over the past month that saw 38 Studios lay off its nearly 400 employees after defaulting on a payment to the R.I. Economic Development Corporation, which lured the firm here with a $75 million taxpayer-backed loan. The agency's top official and board members have resigned.

"After ongoing negotiations with the state of Rhode Island and potential investors and other interested parties, the company has been unable to find a solution to the current stalemate," Schilling spokesman Larry Solters said in a statement. Schilling has not commented on the bankruptcy filing.

Governor Chafee said the bankruptcy filing was not a surprise and is "not all bad" because the state will now be able to try and find investors to buy some of 38 Studios' assets to help pay off its debts. "We're going to do everything we can to maximize the return on our investment," the governor told reporters.

All of 38 Studios' corporate entities are registered as limited liability corporations in Delaware. 38 Studios LLC, the parent company, said it owes $150.7 million to 1,079 creditors, many of them in Rhode Island. By far the largest is a secured debt of $115.9 million owed to the EDC. The parent company reported earning no income.

Rhode Island taxpayers could owe nearly $90 million through 2020 to pay off the EDC's 38 Studios bonds. Chafee said state officials were not informed about the bankruptcy filing ahead of time. Jonathan Savage, a lawyer advising Chafee, said there are investors who've expressed interest in buying 38 Studios' assets.

The rest of 38 Studios LLC's debts are unsecured, including unpaid wages owed to former employees. The parent company estimated its assets at $21.7 million, including $12.8 million on deposit with the EDC, and told the court it does not expect it will have any funds available to pay off unsecured creditors.

In addition, 38 Studios Baltimore LLC said it owes $5.5 million to 28 creditors on top of the EDC loan, court documents show. The Maryland studio, which estimated its assets at $335,208, is the former Big Huge Games studio that produced 38 Studios' debut, "Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning," which was released in February.

38 Studios Baltimore reported receiving $22 million between 2010 and 2011 from Electronic Arts, the company that distributed "Reckoning," as part of a "work-for-hire agreement."

A third subsidiary, Mercury Project LLC, disclosed no assets and a $1.9 million debt to Electronic Arts as part of a three-party agreement that also included City National Bank of Beverly Hills, Calif., and International Film Guarantors in Santa Monica, Calif. The fourth subsidiary, Precision Jobs LLC, reported no assets or liabilities.

Curt Schilling owns 82.9% of 38 Studios LLC's equity, according to court documents. The former Red Sox ace founded the company in 2006 as Green Monster Games and moved it to Rhode Island last year in exchange for the $75 million loan guarantee. The next-largest equity stake is board member Douglas Macrae's 6.4% share.

Separately, federal and state law enforcement officials confirmed the launch Wednesday of a formal investigation into 38 Studios and its efforts to secure Rhode Island tax credits to remain afloat. Chafee said he would not comment on an active investigation.

House Speaker Gordon Fox, who backed a new $125 million loan guarantee program in 2010 with more than half its resources set to go to 38 Studios, said he would "absolutely" do the same thing again now. However, the state's most powerful Democrat expressed astonishment at what happened.

"All of a sudden, suddenly without warning, there's, like, financial damnation and they're out of business," Fox said. "I don't know what happened down there. ... I don't know what caused 38 Studios to fail."

The deal was never popular with voters.

A WPRI 12 poll in September 2010 showed 54% of Rhode Island voters opposed the $75 million loan guarantee to 38 Studios, with just 28% in favor of the deal, which was strongly supported by former Gov. Don Carcieri and EDC Executive Director Keith Stokes, who resigned last month. Carcieri has refused to discuss the situation.

Also on Thursday, Alison Vareika withdrew from consideration as one of Governor Chafee's new nominees to serve on the EDC board after critics noted her son works in the governor's office. Chafee replaced Vareika with Peter Crowley, owner of the Newport restaurant La Forge and brother of the late state Rep. Paul Crowley.

38 Studios has paid $35,000 to the law firm Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones LLP to serve as its general bankruptcy counsel, according to court documents. The lawyers representing 38 Studios are Laura Davis Jones, David M. Bertenthal and Curtis A. Hehn in Wilmington.

Court documents show that 38 Studios CEO Jennifer MacLean and Sundar Subramanian, both members of its board of directors, left the firm on May 24. MacLean was earning $276,320 a year, documents show. Schilling wasn't drawing a salary but was taking medical and dental benefits worth $17,192 annually.

Chafee's office has hired an outside team from Deloitte to conduct a forensic audit of 38 Studios' finances stretching back to the company's founding in 2006. They began work last week.

 

[zenith16]

Upcoming XBL deals: Amalur and Saints Row DLC, Bejeweled 3

(1 hour ago)
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In addition to the bizarre, surprising news that Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is getting online multiplayer, Major Nelson has revealed new Xbox Live content including upcoming Deals of the Week. This week's deal features half-price DLC for the ill-fated Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, which knocks both 'Teeth of Naros' and 'Legend of Dead Kel' down to $5 each, while a weapons and armor bundle is available for $2.50. Also up for grabs this week is Bejeweled 3 for $7.50.

Next week, three bits of Saints Row: The Third DLC – 'Gangstas in Space,' 'Genkibowl VII,' and 'The Trouble with Clones' – will be available for $3.50 each. The 'Missing Link' DLC for Deus Ex: Human Revolution will also be discounted $7.50, while a handful of Just Cause 2 DLC will be available for $1 a pop.
Source: Major Nelson

 

[Iceman]

Started playing this game. Pretty fun although not too great visually. Just read about the history and, well that sucks.

 

[BrollySupersj]

So, an article on IGN said that the IP rights to KOA will be sold some time in 2013. Who do you think might go for it? I vote Epic Games, seeing as they hired most of the 38 Studios staff. Seems like a no brainer to get an IP that your new employees all worked on. Just my two cents.

 

[zenith16]

I had put this up on the fire fall thread from two sources.

• Firefall scoops up dozens of former BioWare and 38 Studios ...
  
  
  
  While some other studios are laying off and downsizing, Red 5 is bucking the trend by recruiting top talent to add to the team working on Firefall ...
  massively.joystiq.com/2012/08/17/firefall-scoops-up-dozens-of-for..

• [*] Firefall design team “doubled,” dozens of former Bioware and 38 Studios devs hired
  
  
  
  
  
  Comments 17
  Tom Senior at 12:58pm August 17 2012
  Red 5 are “having to crunch harder than we ever have” to put together Firefall’s massive upcoming summer update after they spent a month recruiting top talent laid off during the closure of 38 Studios and the donwsizing at Bioware Austin. The recruitment drive has significantly grown the size of the studio and doubled the size of the design team working on Firefall.
  “About 80 percent or 90 percent of the people we’ve added in the past few months have been from 38 and Bioware. Two months ago we had a staff of 60, and now we’re at just over 100,” lead class designer Dave Williams told Owen at Gamescom
  
  source: pcgamer

  http://forums.superherohype.com/showthread.php?t=377015&page=2
• so not all ( I should say "most" actually) of them were saved by epic. Only half were saved. Another dev studio did so as well.

 

[zenith16]

Amalur IP heads to auction this month

(11 hours ago)



[YT]sjGv-Oj2JeM[/YT]

Rhode Island is preparing to sell the Kingdoms of Amalur IP, with a website offering its assets going live this month, 38 Studios' court-appointed receiver Richard Land tells WPRI. 38 Studios collapsed in 2012 after launching Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, taking $90 million of Rhode Island taxpayer money down with it.

The main piece of Amalur up for auction will be Project Copernicus, the studio's MMO-in-progress.

"If someone is thinking that Rhode Island is going to sell this for millions and millions of dollars, I would have a very difficult time believing that," Joystiq News Editor Alexander Sliwinski told WPRI in a Skype interview.

Land is optimistic about the sale: "The bulk of the game and intellectual property I don't believe is stale because the artwork is current, the tech used to develop the artwork is current, the concept is a current concept." Sliwinski warns that the fantastical world of Copernicus may be outdated as the industry shifts into the next generation.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission is investigatinghttp://www.joystiq.com/2013/09/11/sec-investigating-rhode-islands-38-studios-deal/ the $75 million loan that Rhode Island provided to 38 Studios. Rhode Island taxpayers have already begun paying back the loan.

Source: WPRI

 

[Iceman]

Oh cool, hope someone decent gets it.

 

[BrollySupersj]

**** I wish I could buy it...I loved the game and its lore. I hope whoever buys it treats it well.

 

[Iceman]

One of those DLCs (forget the name) was awesome. Caused my game to crash and become unplayable but awesome nonetheless.

 

[zenith16]

Kingdoms of Amalur IP auction starts November 14, includes Rise of Nations

(2 hours ago)
14

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The 38 Studios and Big Huge Games liquidation auction will begin November 14, according to the Heritage Global Partners auction services page. Among the assets included in the auction from the state of Rhode Island are the Kingdoms of Amalur intellectual property, namely the Project Copernicus MMO that was in development at 38 Studios prior to its closure in May 2012. Additionally, buyers will be able to obtain sequel and merchandise rights and revenue for the developer's lone release, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.

Other assets in the auction include intellectual property rights for Big Huge Games' properties, particularly Rise of Nations, Rise of Legends and Catan in addition to the studio's Big Huge Games Engine and 38 Studios' Helios platform. The liquidation auction begins at 9:00am ET on November 14 and ends November 15 at 12:00pm ET.
Source: HGP Industrial Auction

 

[zenith16]

Hotline Miami, Kingdoms of Amalur head up PlayStation Plus in October

(8 minutes ago)
3

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Sony revealed next month's PlayStation Plus lineup for North America, announcing that subscribers will receive free access to Dennatron's indie hit Hotline Miami and 38 Studios' action-RPG Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, among other featured games.

October's free PlayStation 3 offerings include Reckoning, Telltale Games' Poker Night at the Inventory 2, and an HD remake of Shadow of the Colossus, pairing it with September's PS Plus release of Ico.

Hotline Miami joins PlayStation Plus as a Cross-Buy title, giving members free access to both the PlayStation 3 and PS Vita versions of the game. PlayStation Vita owners will also receive a free copy of the acclaimed shoot-'em-up Sine Mora as part of next month's PlayStation Plus lineup.

Sony previously announced that Far Cry 3, Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen, Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams, Street Fighter x Tekken, and Touch My Katamari will join the PlayStation Plus program in Europe next month.
Source: PlayStation Blog

 

[Destructus86]

So I bought one of the DLC Weapon/Armor packs for $5 on PSN and apparently the DLC is buggest, the stuff never shows up in the chest. Lots of people have had the same issue.

Do you think Sony will refund me? Or do I talk to EA? (hah)

 

[zenith16]

ummm something like that should fall to EA, but they never really supported this IP past releasing it under their name as a publisher. I'm sorry I was sure I put something like that up in past post's.

 

[Iceman]

So I bought one of the DLC Weapon/Armor packs for $5 on PSN and apparently the DLC is buggest, the stuff never shows up in the chest. Lots of people have had the same issue.

Do you think Sony will refund me? Or do I talk to EA? (hah)

One of the campaign DLCs which was actually really good caused my game to glitch and I can't progress at all.

 

[zenith16]

There still should have been a warning about that does still not being patched. Especially now 38 studio's can't fix that problem cause they don't exist anymore. Or more to it it should have been removed.

 

[zenith16]

38 Studios auction finds no buyers for Kingdoms of Amalur rights, "Copernicus" MMO

at 16:53 on 16 December 2013
An auction to sell off the assets of shuttered game developer 38 Studios found no buyers for either its unfinished MMO—known as Project Copernicus—or the rights to RPG Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, according to a report in the Providence Journal. The Wednesday auction was part of an ongoing effort to recover funds following the bankruptcy and closure of the Rhode Island developer in 2012.

Read and comment >

Source: Pc gamer

 

[BrollySupersj]

Well that's unfortunate.

 

[zenith16]

I saw it coming and the news people in that video did mention it. It's a shame really

 

[ChrisBaleBatman]

It is kind of amazing that nobody wanted to buy it. No buyers for the MMO makes alot of sense, though. But, no buyers for the RPG game...that's surprising to me.

 

[StrainedEyes]

At some point I will play it. It's been sitting on my PS3 since it was released on PS+.