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The state of Rhode Island has announced that it will be selling off the assets from the now-defunct 38 Studios in an effort to recoup losses from the loan the company defaulted on last year. Of most interest to potential buyers are the assets from 38's only game, Kingdoms of Amalur.
"Who knows what the value ultimately will be," said Providence lawyer Richard J. Land. "But there is interest in the assets."
The company's most-valuable assets were its intellectual property -- the drawings, designs and work related to its video games and the computer software supporting the games.
Read more at ProvidenceJournal.com.
Comments
Hopefully the MMO they were working on will be picked up and made either a single player, multiplayer or the intended MMO game. Though as a whole they took their time trying to sell the assets, the prime time to do it would've been when all those last minute screen shots were released and people were hoping someone would take up the mantle of development.
The single-player version was already release, and evidently they release DLC for it, too:
http://store.steampowered.com/sub/14221/
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
That's not of the game that I was talking about. Some time ago there were leaks of their actual MMO code named "Project Copernicus". The Single Player Kingdoms of Amalur, while in the same world, is a completely different game in most respects (especially when it comes to landscapes). They released assets they weren't supposed to, showing off screenshots of the new lands and the updated engine some time ago, and it really had people hoping someone would pick the MMO up.
http://www.polygon.com/gaming/2012/8/22/3261647/beautiful-environments-from-38-studios-project-copernicus-revealed
It was a brief announcement whereby the videos of it were taken down shortly after (the above ones that were taken down might not have even been what I remember being sent myself), so only people "in the know" (or had a lot of sources to inform you of things) actually saw them. There do exists some environment videos that have yet to be taken down, though.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks0RHRxQhPo
Edit: Seems I found one of the videos online (only the one of the leaked screenshots), though it only has a few hundred views.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZw0mVaUiaM
http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/05/24/fan-site-leaks-project-copernicus-racial-screens/
Lots of Project Copernicus stuff out there.
My problem is I didn't care for KoA and Copernicus' screenshots came off pretty much like a stylized WoW clone.
I think a lot of people said that for a while. Though when I saw the three leaked screenshots (my edit above), I practically feel in love with the aesthetics.
In my opinion there was mismanagement at all levels, including by then(?) Governor of Rhode Island whereby they allegedly attempted to foil talks for 38 Studios to get outside funding. Though only speculation and rumors, the fact that they spent so long to finally put these assets on sale is an indication for me to believe at least some of the rhetoric spoken on both sides as opposed to just one. Then again there may be additional legal ramifications that the public is unaware of.
Though the biggest woes of back then was how the employees were treated by the management of 38's studios as written by many publications. They weren't given advance warning of the company going under, had their insurance terminated without being told and so forth. It was just a fiasco all around, and perhaps Rhode Island just wanted people to forget the bad stuff before trying to sell.
It boggles the mind. 130M with almost nothing to show for it.
Thats 130,000,000. Where did it go? How can someone mismanage something that bad?
My understanding is there wasnt even a playable pre-alfa...
"I understand that if I hear any more words come pouring out of your **** mouth, Ill have to eat every fucking chicken in this room."
o.0 I thought bit was 70 million?