Rhode Island Receives $713K Kingdoms of Amalur Revenue

News
By Catherine Cai
published

Rhode Island's lost out on quite a sum of cash in Kingdoms of Amalur's development.

Games development is a costly business to be a part of. It's a lesson that Curt Schilling, former MLB pitcher, had to learn the hard way.

Schilling had ambitious plans for a fantasy game. His vision was attractive enough to draw in respected fantasy author R. A. Salvatore and comic book creator Todd MacFarlane. Schilling even convinced the state of Rhode Island to give him a $75 million loan to develop the game with promises that he would create jobs.

When Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning finally launched in February last year, the bubble popped. Despite generally positive reviews, the game failed to gain traction in sales. Schilling was unable to repay the debts that 38 Studios (Amalur's developer) owed, and the studio eventually went under. Rhode Island seized up 38 Studio's assets, hoping to earn back some of the money lost.

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like Amalur is getting them too far down that route. The state has only received about $713,000 in sales from the game, a far shot from the millions it was owed. The only other funds that it has managed to raise has been from selling $430,000 in 38 Studio's remaining assets, which included office furniture.

Catherine Cai
24 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Spooderman
    Too bad, it was really a good company that made a good game.
    Reply
  • xerroz
    $75 million loan? Looks like these people weren't out to make a good game but cheat the state out of millions. What a scam this was.
    Reply
  • falchard
    Can I please have a $75 million loan to make an mmo? Im good for it.
    Reply
  • brucek2
    Is the $713,000 the total sales for the game? I'd have expected it to do much better than that.
    Now $75mm, that's a much taller order.
    Reply
  • eklipz330
    75 million? what was he smoking? i remember gta iv cost 100 mill, that was staggering, but the game clearly showed it; the cost incorporated the design of a brand new engine and i believe the marketing campaign!
    KoA had a borrowed engine and absolutely no marketing! i didnt even hear about until a week before it was released, and it was only because i worked at a gamestop!
    Reply
  • lpedraja2002
    I think it would be very interesting to study the causes on why the product while critically well received, failed miserably.
    Reply
  • alidan
    10937088 said:
    $75 million loan? Looks like these people weren't out to make a good game but cheat the state out of millions. What a scam this was.

    the money was to set up a studio, which he did
    a AAA game costs about 50 million to make, which is what i believe he was shooting for
    he also was heavily in the development of a franchise, which was this game, and an mmo with a whole world behind it.
    all in all, 75 million for it sounds about right.

    10937920 said:
    75 million? what was he smoking? i remember gta iv cost 100 mill, that was staggering, but the game clearly showed it; the cost incorporated the design of a brand new engine and i believe the marketing campaign!
    KoA had a borrowed engine and absolutely no marketing! i didnt even hear about until a week before it was released, and it was only because i worked at a gamestop!

    than you dont go to game websites, because i knew about this game for about 2 years before it was launched, and there was more or less an every other week till it was launched for months of new stuff for it

    10937970 said:
    I think it would be very interesting to study the causes on why the product while critically well received, failed miserably.

    this game was a new franchise
    it had an ok concept...
    the story, from what i remember, i rented it, was interesting, but wasn't carrying it
    honestly, i want to buy it, but the price of the game on the pc never goes down to where i would jump at it.

    loot games always have it a bit tough, this had an rpg and action which also don't do well unless you are an existing franchise.

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    now if i remember right, the state decided to call the debt in a real douchebag way, royally screwing the company, this was an investment that they should have stuck it out till the mmo, as it was shaping up to be something good. im glad the state got screwed,
    Reply
  • somebodyspecial
    The witcher 1 & 2 each cost ~7mil. AAA games don't cost 50mil unless you are an idiot with a bunch of fat cats (ea, activision etc...LOL). I think Torchlights were both made for under 2mil. For fun factor I call those AAA games.
    Reply
  • Krisk7
    10938388 said:
    The witcher 1 & 2 each cost ~7mil. AAA games don't cost 50mil unless you are an idiot with a bunch of fat cats (ea, activision etc...LOL). I think Torchlights were both made for under 2mil. For fun factor I call those AAA games.
    Your analogies are not quite correct: The Witcher 1 costed over $6mln to produce and The Witcher 2 costed over $9mln. Additional factor is that they were produced in Poland entirely so to produce them in the US you would need double/triple the amounts. Also you need to add marketing costs on top. Although I agree that $50mln is way too high for a single player, an MMO development can be a bottomless pit.
    Reply
  • jack1982
    So the politician's wasted $75 million of the taxpayer's money. Pretty typical ten minutes worth of work for them.
    Reply