Situation at 38 Studios
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Haven't seen a thread about this yet, but the financial situation going on at 38 seems to be pretty sticky. And now this news comes out...
http://www.joystiq.com/2012/05/17/38-studios-doesnt-make-payroll/
http://www.joystiq.com/2012/05/17/38-studios-doesnt-make-payroll/
I have a few friends at 38. Haven't heard anything about their specific situations, but hopefully everyone affected by this and those who were let go, bounce back quickly.38 Studios was unable to make payroll this week, but is in the process of making the $1.125 million payment that set off the company's crisis earlier this week. WPRI reports that a spokesperson for the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation did confirm that former Red Sox player Curt Schilling's video game company was unable to pay its employees.
A source tells Joystiq that beyond not making payroll, all temps and contractors were fired this week.
At the same time, Governor Lincoln Chafee's office did state that 38 Studios is in the process of making the overdue payment to the state.
[developing]
Replies
Hope this is not as bad as it looks... but if i was there i would expect the worst and start putting my resume out there.
The artist there are top notch - so if the west coast Blizzard needs any more peeps, hire them!
I'm not affiliated with 38 in any way, and although I wish them the best (for their sake, the sake of the state, and the sake of future developers in the state), I think myself and many people here just really have to ask "wtf happened!?".
Seriously though, I don't understand how they could already be in financial trouble; it's hardly been a year that they've been here, they've already received about $50mil and this is only their first payment to make, costing a relatively minor $1.1mil. They have close to 300 people working for the studio, and on a very healthy salary with benefits I don't see how they could even legitimately use more than half the amount that they've received so far in this time. And while KoA:Reckoning wasn't a crazy big success, as of now it has allegedly sold around 500,000 copies here in the states which must at least amount to something.
Super fishy, especially with tax-payers being on the hook at $120mil if they fail; they haven't even released the game and they're already failing; people were worried about the game's success on release being that it's an mmo, but there could very well be no release! No idea how this could happen and how the money could disappear without anyone realizing that things wouldn't keep afloat.
I was super hopeful that they would be able to bring a lot of great development to this area, but now it seams like quite the opposite. As I said I wish them all the best. /rant
With that much money disappearing that quickly you bet there will be a big investigation.
Edit: And how much is Schilling actually involved with the studio? If he cares and this isn't just a passing fancy, a mill should be coverable by his deep pockets, no?
There move came about a year ago, prior to Reckoning coming out. Also Schilling is very prominent in the New England area because of his time with the Red Sox, so I can definitely see his influence and possible political connections with why the state decided to give them the money.
They got a $75m loan from the state. So you're hearing about it because they owe the state of RI $75m.
I can easily see where 38 could run into money problems - they bought Big Huge Games, they spent money on turning their RPG into Kingdoms of Amalur, KoA has sold very poorly (500k copies in the states is going to pay for Big Huge Games), and they've only been given $50m of the $75m loan.
Meanwhile they have to pay salaries to 300 people as they've had to grown incredibly fast to meet RI's requirements, and 300 people/month is probably somewhere in the ballpark of $3m/month to keep each desk working and staffed with a body.
Edit: And yeah part of the deal was to make 450 jobs or so over the next few years. I believe the game was supposed to be released sometime at the end of this year, but it seems they're running into money problems already.
I mean shit, I realize that 300 employees will cost 30 million a year or so, but maybe you don't need quite so many employees when you're limited on funds? Maybe you don't go spending money buying other studios? Maybe you put some thought into when your next game will be finished and how much money you'll have left by then?
And the industry. You're going to see less tax incentives for companies as a whole once the dust settles.
I really hope there is a true post mortem on all this once the dust settles. I'd love for what happened to be public knowledge so it doesn't happen again.
All my best to the guys working there! This absolutely sucks!
Oh, it won't happen again. That's for sure. No more state funded studios.
Despite the "corridor like world", the game is fantastic with its combat system.
It was, but not when it comes to the cost of the project.
Then again the development costs for amalur were completely unproportional as people have mentioned, which is a shame, the game could've made profit had it been developed in a reasonable way.
He's also allegedly a staunch conservative who has gone on record many times about people needing to fend for themselves. Great quote from an interview last year: "There can be no question our country is in the worst economic crisis of our lifetimes. I also think there can be no question that it falls on us, the individuals, to find a way out of our own personal crisis." He also had comments supporting Republican senator Scott Brown, on the grounds that hes for smaller government." This is the same guy that moves his game studio from Massachusetts to Rhode Island solely to get a tax-payer funded loan? Yeah, it sure is. I wonder if Schilling told the governor of R.I. his feelings on 'small government' when they were handing him that $50 million check.
I'm really sorry for all the creatives this is going to affect, everyone of them deserves better. But I'm even more sorry that a guy with too much ego, too little knowledge and apparently not enough money is the one who put them in this situation.
*edit*
Just had to add this: "Schilling has asked for additional help from the state."
It falls on us, the individuals, to find a way out of our own personal crisis MY ASS. What a fucking hypocrite.
Like this job
I mean, it's a nice gesture and all, but I wonder if it's a bit premature. If you put yourself in their shoes, you would be urging your talent not to drain away, and you would hope the other studios around would wait until it's clearly closing down.
Working without pay though, that's a bit of gray area I guess. Hmmm.
Sorry... but i've been through this, and payroll being missed is a big problem with little chances that they will go away in the short run. So i guess i can say i am entitled to express my opinion on the matter with some weight to what i am saying. ( and i am not trying to come across as a rude person,i don't think anyone wants studios to close or find themselves in financial issues).
Now... i am not sure if this whole deal means that people didn't get paid in the actual studio, or who is affected by it, and more of the details. But whether or not this is happening, paying attention to your company is something you have to always be on the lookout and always backing up your work so you don't get left out with out your next big update for your portfolio.
These things happen, and because of the terrible economy, companies are more likely to fall back on this because they know that most employees rn't gonna risk the terrible job market.
I understand where you're coming from Eric but I think at this point we're starring at a blue corpse and just waiting for the corner to come in give the body a quick look and say "oh yea, that's a dead body alright". Who knows maybe this one will sit up in the morgue and ask whats going on?
Or these jobs:
http://www.readyatdawn.com/
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/170618/38_Studios_makes_state_payment_plans_2013_release_for_MMO.php
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Edit, here this... awesome statuary work.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=m9nvnrP0j8U#t=47s
Which makes it hard to write this next bit... I don't think they are out of the woods? Based on this they made their payment to the state but don't have funding for day to day operations and will have to find funds from somewhere to keep the lights on until they release? While making two more payments like this one? Then when they release, they have the mother of all payments $12.6 million? Lets say they do that and they manage to pay it all back, will they have enough to push forward?
It seems like borrowing on future success has lead to disaster in the past, its one of the reasons the publishers ended up with a bunch of indentured servant studios and wouldn't let them take any risks and ended up closing a bunch of them down.
Don't get me wrong I want to see this project succeed but it really looks like the deck is stacked against them. It's a long rocky road ahead, I hope they find a way to pull it off, that content deserves to be shared with the masses, its beautiful.
Certainly a bitter-sweet taste after looking at that awesome trailer.
I hope the new title will do the justice.
looking from Project Copernicus World video I'm hoping some new investor will lend a hand.
it look damn good.