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Joystiq is reporting that both Big Huge Studios and 38 Studios have each laid off their entire staff. Last week, it was reported that 38 Studios had been unable to pay their staff salaries in order to repay a government loan. Joystiq is quoting a "source with knowledge of the situation". 38 Studios is the developer of Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.
We'll keep you posted.
Image courtesy of Kotaku
Comments
Guess name of RA salvatore alone doesnt save you when you game is just a shoddy Fable3 copy.
Fable 3 was wretched, even fans of the series loath it as uninteresting trash.
Kingdoms of Amalur was a great game, too bad too many narrow minded people looked at a books cover and never bothered to open it.
I had a feeling the studio won;t exist 6 months down the road but I didn't expect to see it that fast. Still kind of sad for all those people who lost jobs. At least maybe some of them will find new job at Turbine.
And lol at people who were screaming how amazing games 38 will produce b/c they have only famous writers/producers/whatever.
Big Huge made Rise of Nations, and for that the earned respect. Everything after the expansion pack for that game, however, was average.
Now with 57.3% more flames!
Guess all these laid off game developers will have to go back to being the fry guys at McDonalds again pitty.
38Studios, I had a lot of faith that you would restore a lot of what the MMORPG genre was missing..
...damn.
Serious death penalties makes every close call an adrenaline rush, and every minor achievement a major victory. This alternative rule-set should be in all MMORPGs.
I looked at KoA with interest. A lot of it. But watching some of the streams of the game and reading a bit about it I decided not to grab it. It didn't seem like there was enough quality meat to the game.
This is just a little beyond me, so I'll ask here.
Whats to come of KoA? Will it remain buyable on Steam or.... vanish?
There has to be a lot more to this whole thing burried somewhere. KoA sold fairly well, over a million copies, which for a companies first game I would say is a pretty good sell. I don't see how they could just go completely out of business after launching a game that I would consider a decent success.
My Guild Wars 2 Vids
Sounds to me like they burrowed too much, and also consider they were making an MMO too.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
Agreed. I liked KoA pretty well, but it could have used a little more depth.
I guess we won't be seeing an mmo...
According to this article KoA needed to sell 3 million copies in order for the company to break even. Not sure how accurate that is but apparently the governor said so at the press conference.
I can sum that up in one word - "Mismanagement". Just because someone is a great baseball hero doesn't automatically make them a great businessman or money manager. As far as I'm concerned all of the blame for this failure falls right squarely on the shoulders on Mr. Schilling.
Bren
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Did Shilling already sell "The Sock"? Get back in front of that camera at ESPN, buddy.
Serious note, between him and the team that was assembled to form this company and make this game, some true heavyweights, how much are these dudes really sitting on?
I know what I made last year and due to what I assume to be a clerical error, the Commenwealth of Virginia wants me to pay back the unemployment I have gotten since my contract ran out, why do these jokers get the day off?
That Guild Wars 2 login screen knocked up my wife. Must be the second coming!
No offense, but politicians don't make for reliable sources of financial information. Not saying he's wrong, but in my experience most politicos seem to believe "3 million" means "somewhere between 0.3 and 30 million".
Oh I'm not saying that he's right, just stating what he said. I have very little trust in what your average, run of the mill politician says these days. Especially when it comes to money issues.
He's not selling relection i'm pretty sure there's a public contract that says to that effect what they had to do to make money. For this product. It's a shame,.
Alamur is actually a good game. I liked it better than Skyim, the combat was amazing, so much better than Skyrims. However, Alamur performed more of the "failure" to me as they had way too many MMO tropes in their agme. Tons of quest hubs, quests that had nothing to do with the mian plot line. Too many fetch this and do this and no real movement to the story. From the beginning i knew my enemy and there didnt seem to be much in the terms of a plot other than get stronger and defeat him. The overall plot felt like someting i'd expect from a baseball player whose RPG pedigree comes mostly from WOW.
Apparently the state of Rhode Island will own it, as well as what is done of Copernicus.
"Pledged as collateral to Rhode Island against the loan are the present and future rights to "Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning," the video game launched in February, and those to an elaborate, multi-player game code-named "Project Copernicus," which is still in development."
Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/24/us-38studios-layoffs-idUSBRE84N1R320120524
last paragraph.
Shame about all the talented workers being laid off also, will be a massive shame to not even get to see Copernicus come to fruition.
M
"Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys. Look on them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even unto death!"
- Sun Tzu, the Art of War
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Sad, I hate to see anyone lose their jobs. Except maybe Jack Emmert and Bill Roper.
Sad, indeed. First EA/BioWare now this. Over 500 people total.
Game companies in New England seldom survive. Turbine is the exception.
Agreed. Something sometimes we tend to forget. We almost laugh gleefully when some studio we dislike goes down, but we forget that there's people wondering how they're going to pay their bills this month as a result.
Sad to hear though...they did make a fun game. Hope they all find themselves something better.
Last I heard they only sold 300,000 copies. Where's the 1mill+ coming from?
"Forums aren't for intelligent discussion; they're for blow-hards with unwavering opinions."
they sold over 450k physical copies in the US alone, the other numbers are up in the air at the moment, but the total comes to about 1.3mill from different sources - none of which I have as I read all the info on this forum.
M
"Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys. Look on them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even unto death!"
- Sun Tzu, the Art of War
Support the Indie Developers - Kickstarter