Items tagged with 38 Studios
Last week, we reported on the problems dogging Crytek, with UK staff allegedly going unpaid and increasing concerns over the company's ability to continue as a going concern. Those concerns have only amplified in the past week -- it's now reprorted that the majority of Crytek UK staff have turned in formal letters of grievance and left for home. Obviously reports like this need to be taken with a grain of salt, but Kotaku states that it's now heard from "close to 20" sources with positions at the company. In an age where employment can be quickly verified, a game studio isn't going to have 20 spoof accounts or two dozen disgruntled ex-janitors masquerading as programmers. The reason for the walk-offs...
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Crytek -- developers of the CryEngine and the hit Crysis series -- is, by all accounts, in significant trouble. Reports of problems are mounting at multiple publications as employees speak out about missed paychecks, layoffs, and multiple staff departing in the wake of non-payment. Eurogamer is reporting that Crytek UK has laid off or lost 30 staff working on Homefront: The Revolution since development started in 2011, including the Managing Director, Karl Hilton. Crytek, of course, is strenuously denying any and all reports that the company might be near bankruptcy, but comments coming from ex-employees (a rapidly growing group) paint a different picture. Multiple individuals have spoken to...
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Boston Magazine has posted an in-depth article on how and why 38 Studios fell apart, including a significant number of comments and insights from Schilling himself. The article confirms much of what we initially expected; Schilling was absolutely committed to the game, faithful to the cause, and had no idea how to run a company or attract investors. Employees that supported Schilling in the early days have turned on him as more details became apparent. Schilling wanted to be "Bill Gates rich" and was interested in the latter's philanthropic work. Reading the article, however, the man who comes to mind isn't Gates -- it's Steve Jobs -- and please, wait a moment before you sharpen up the knives....
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38 Studios, the game developer behind Kingdoms of Amalur and the unfinished Project Copernicus MMO has filed for bankruptcy. The company is seeking to liquidate its assets in order to pay its debts in what's known as a Chapter 7 filing. 38 Studios claims $21.7M in assets, mostly personal property, and $150.7 million in liabilities to 1000 different creditors, including $110 million owed to the state of Rhode Island. How bad does it look? Pretty bad. (PDF) Even if we ignore the $110M owed to Rhode Island over the estimated payback period of the loan, 38 Studios owed $300K to MoveTrek, the company that managed the employee relocation we've previously discussed, $116K to Atlas Van Lines, $715K to...
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Last week, Curt Shilling's 38 Studios fired all of its employees and closed down. The casualties included everyone at Big Huge Games, the developer responsible for Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. Schilling brought his company to Rhode Island in 2010, after the state pledged a total of $75M in loan money to entice him to do so. Reports indicate that 38 Studios borrowed roughly $50M of the $75M it was allotted before failing to make a scheduled payment, failing to make payroll, and shutting down. Absent any other factors, it'd be a sad story of how good game developers can be hammered by tough conditions. The "other factors," in this case, are considerable. For starters, there's the fact that Kingdoms...
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