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Rhode Island governor calls Project Copernicus 'a lot of junk'
Were you surprised that Project Copernicus didn't manage to sell at auction? Rhode Island governor Lincoln Chafee wasn't. In recent statements to the associated press, Chafee stated that the property was "a lot of junk" and decried every step of the loan process for 38 Studios. In the governor's own words: "People just panicked and gave a retired baseball player a huge amount of taxpayer money with no experience in this industry or any other businesses." Curt Schilling (the second key player in this ongoing drama, with the other being the state of Rhode Island) responded to the governor's statements on Twitter, claiming that a failure is obvious in hindsight. He also cited Chafee's current job approval numbers, suggesting that the state as a whole would like the opportunity to re-do its gubernatorial election. Richard Land, the man in charge of auctioning Project Copernicus and other 38 Studios assets, is allegedly still looking for private buyers for the IP.
Project Copernicus remains unsold at auction
Every game has its fans. Project Copernicus never launched and was never really much more than a twinkle in the eye, and yet someone out there really liked the game. Someone out there really loved Kingdoms of Amalur and was really hopeful that the 38 Studios property auction would give Project Copernicus a new home. Someone was still excited despite everything that's happened since the game was first announced. Let's call her Kate. Today's news is going to hit Kate really hard; the auction came and went, and no one was interested enough in Project Copernicus to make an "acceptable" offer. Richard Land, who handled the asset auction, has stated that he will continue to try to work privately with interested buyers regarding the assets that were not purchased, but it's not a good sign that none of the potential buyers wanted to pick up the title. Sorry, Kate. Gross proceeds from the auction came to $320,000, for the record.
Complete, unreleased Rise of Nations game found among 38 Studios' goods
When 38 Studios' intellectual properties are auctioned off by the state of Rhode Island on December 11, one more game will be included in the mix, Rise of Nations: Tactics. The Mac game was completed, albeit unreleased and seemingly unheard of until now. The auction was first slated to begin this week and includes the Kingdoms of Amalur IP, 38 Studios' in-development MMO Project Copernicus and Big Huge Games' properties Catan, Rise of Nations and Rise of Legends. "Additionally, through the examination of the data contained on the 38 Studios servers, we have discovered a completed, but unreleased game for Mac users titled 'Rise of Nations: Tactics,'" Nick Jimenez, executive vice president of the auction host Heritage Global Partners said in a press release. "We only became aware of this game this past week through our own due diligence efforts." The intellectual property auction follows 38 Studios' closure in May 2012, and according to the court-appointed lawyer for the now-defunct studio Richard Land, potential bidders' interest in the auction has been "greater than expected."
PlayStation Plus gets free Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning this week
PS Plus members will be able to snag a free download of Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning on PS3 tomorrow. Reckoning is fantasy action RPG developed by Big Huge Games and 38 Studios. The State of Rhode Island will auction off 38 Studios' franchises next month, beginning on November 14. Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is one such property up for grabs, as is the Project Copernicus MMO that 38 Studios was in the midst of developing prior to closing its doors in May of 2012.
Kingdoms of Amalur IP auction starts November 14, includes Rise of Nations
The 38 Studios and Big Huge Games liquidation auction will begin November 14, according to the Heritage Global Partners auction services page. Among the assets included in the auction from the state of Rhode Island are the Kingdoms of Amalur intellectual property, namely the Project Copernicus MMO that was in development at 38 Studios prior to its closure in May 2012. Additionally, buyers will be able to obtain sequel and merchandise rights and revenue for the developer's lone release, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. Other assets in the auction include intellectual property rights for Big Huge Games' properties, particularly Rise of Nations, Rise of Legends and Catan in addition to the studio's Big Huge Games Engine and 38 Studios' Helios platform. The liquidation auction begins at 9:00am ET on November 14 and ends November 15 at 12:00pm ET.
Amalur IP heads to auction this month
Rhode Island is preparing to sell the Kingdoms of Amalur IP, with a website offering its assets going live this month, 38 Studios' court-appointed receiver Richard Land tells WPRI. 38 Studios collapsed in 2012 after launching Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, taking $90 million of Rhode Island taxpayer money down with it. The main piece of Amalur up for auction will be Project Copernicus, the studio's MMO-in-progress. "If someone is thinking that Rhode Island is going to sell this for millions and millions of dollars, I would have a very difficult time believing that," Joystiq News Editor Alexander Sliwinski told WPRI in a Skype interview. Land is optimistic about the sale: "The bulk of the game and intellectual property I don't believe is stale because the artwork is current, the tech used to develop the artwork is current, the concept is a current concept." Sliwinski warns that the fantastical world of Copernicus may be outdated as the industry shifts into the next generation. The US Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating the $75 million loan that Rhode Island provided to 38 Studios. Rhode Island taxpayers have already begun paying back the loan.
38 Studios may have 'actively masked' its financial hardship
Just when you thought the world might let the wound where 38 Studios and Kingdoms of Amalur were ripped from your heart heal over, along comes some new drama. Max Wistow, the lawyer for the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation, filed documents on behalf of the state claiming that 38 Studios needed more than $75 million in loan guarantees before the company ever moved to Rhode Island. He argues that folks at 38 Studios knew that the funds they were receiving from the state would be insufficient. The company netted about $50 million from an EDC bond sale, and Wistow is claiming "crushing evidence" that 38 Studios actively masked its financial shortfall.
Curt Schilling asks judge to dismiss 38 Studios fraud lawsuit
Let's assume for a moment that you're Curt Schilling, formerly of the Red Sox and formerly of the now-defunct 38 Studios. You're facing a massive lawsuit for fraud regarding a $75 million loan from the state of Rhode Island. What do you do? It appears that Mr. Schilling's first approach is to ask the judge on the case to throw out the case entirely, claiming that the basis of the case is itself fraudulent. The crux of the lawsuit is the state's claim that Schilling and the 38 Studios board of directors willfully obfuscated the company's status from state lawmakers. Schilling has put forth that 38 Studios fully disclosed its status to the state investors on numerous occasion, providing them with an accurate picture of the company's financial situation. Due to this disclosure the allegations of fraud and obfuscation are simply not possible, hence the request for dismissal. Schilling goes on to claim that the entire suit is politically motivated and that the company's failure is chiefly due to Governor Lincoln Chafee not doing enough to save 38 Studios from bankruptcy.
Todd McFarlane talks about Project Copernicus
Spawn creator Todd McFarlane spoke with Kotaku recently and had some things to say about Project Copernicus, 38 Studios' would-have-been Kingdoms of Amalur MMO. He was the project's art director and says he really thought that it "was going to raise the bar." He remains hopeful that, in time, somebody will "be smart enough" to come in, sweep up the pieces of the unfinished MMO, and make something of it. The way McFarlane described it, Project Copernicus was very nearly a finished thing. "It's only ten yards away from the goal line," he explained. "If I had the extra cash I'd do it myself, because it's that cool." Skip below the cut to check out the full interview. (Project Copernicus talk begins at about the 5:20 mark.)
Curt Schilling might pay back debt by selling baseball memorabilia
Curt Schilling is most recently famous for failing spectacularly at using loans from Rhode Island and investors to create a Kingdoms of Amalur MMO. As the founder of the now-bankrupt 38 studios and someone who personally guaranteed some $12 million worth of loans related to the studio, Schilling's lucky that he was famous for other stuff before stepping into game development. For example, Schilling was one of the best pitchers in American League baseball in 2004 and played for the Boston Red Sox, the only team in MLB history to win a seven-game series after losing the first three games. A bloody sock that he wore during that series is listed (along with World War II-era memorabilia, one of Lou Gehrig's baseball caps, his home, and a stake in a private equity firm) in a collateral filing.
R.A. Salvatore details the lack of death in Project Copernicus
"To be or not to be" is not a question asked in most MMOs. Characters don't die permanently, after all. But Project Copernicus wouldn't have waved that fact off as an irrelevant necessity of game mechanics. No, according to R.A. Salvatore, the game world would have explored the meaning behind a world wherein no one truly dies and everyone is functionally immortal. Players who enjoyed Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning will recall that the game opens with the player character returning from death thanks to the Well of Souls. In Project Copernicus, the Well of Souls would have been active not just for one individual but for everyone in the world. Returning from death would be something that happens not just to players but to every part of the world. It's not hard to imagine the ways in which a world would seem different if death was no longer something to be feared or avoided. Salvatore laments that the concept is unlikely to see execution now, even with buyers looking to purchase the 38 Studios assets from the state of Rhode Island.
38 Studios loan could impact state elections
If you've started to forget about the saga of 38 Studios' collapse, rest assured that Rhode Island politicians certainly have not. With the election coming soon, many in the state are scrambling to offset the blame for the $75 million loan decision and protect their positions. The Associated Press is reporting that it's being seen as a "liability" among candidates. One candidate, Mark Binder, addressed the continued furor over the issue: "If I don't bring it up, other people bring it up. Everyone is infuriated. There's this game going on in Rhode Island right now called 'pass the blame on 38 Studios.'" While many of those directly responsible for voting the deal through have since resigned from their positions, the search to pin the fiasco on one of the state's leaders is still underway. Another 2012 candidate, Laura Pisaturo, said that the public is demanding more answers: "People read in the paper about 38 Studios and think 'we elect these people and expect they will lead and ask tough questions.'"
MMO Blender: Eliot's Copernican dream
When I tried Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning for the first time, I fell in love. Not with the story, and not with the art, but with several elements of the actual game itself. The idea of having all of that brought into the MMO space filled me with a lot of excitement, but I had a feeling that we'd never actually see it come to pass. For those of you who missed out on what happened with 38 Studios, possibly because you read the internet on some bizarre time-lapse system, here's the deal: We're never going to see Project Copernicus come to pass. Oh, sure, we might wind up with something that vaguely resembles that game, but odds are low. More likely the franchise is going to be sold off by the state of Rhode Island for a pittance, and if the game ever resumes production, it'll bear only the faintest traces of its origins -- some art assets and little else. I'm not shedding tears over the world, though. In fact, I'm not going to shed tears at all because I think there's something to be built upon from the ideas of that single-player game, ideas that could make for an excellent MMO. And like any good gestalt, it reaches out to be something much more than the sum of its parts.
Leaderboard: Would you have played Copernicus?
We just love tantalizing ourselves with "what ifs?" in the MMO sphere, don't we? There are so many alternate possibilities for the development and growth of these games, not to mention all of the ones that didn't even make it to launch day. The most recent of these, of course, is "What if Project Copernicus had actually launched? What if it were as close to completion and as good as they said?" For some, that's just a mild shrug; for others, it's a maddening proposition. Since the collapse of 38 Studios, we've seen several pieces of concept art and videos that will most likely be the closest we'll ever get to Copernicus. So today's Leaderboard is simple: Given everything you've seen and heard of the game, would you have played it? Did Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning convince you that this world would've made for a great MMO? Did Copernicus look like it had merit, or was it yet another fantasy game that probably couldn't compete for your affections? Vote after the jump!
Former 38 Studios dev releases Copernicus video, details player-driven systems
Stop us if you've heard this one before. Former 38 Studios developer shows us how awesome Copernicus the Kingdoms of Amalur massively multiplayer title would have been, and quality-starved MMO players cry into their beer. In any event, here's another posthumous reveal, this time courtesy of Steve "Moorgard" Danuser's personal blog. Danuser has posted a fly-through video that was originally intended as an in-engine milestone for internal eyes only. Now it's a bit more salt in the wound unless the shuttered MMO's assets ever find their way into the hands of another studio. Danuser doesn't stop with the video, though. He goes into some detail about aspects of the game's design that would have differentiated it from much of the current MMO landscape. There's a lot more I'd like to tell you about the game, such as how our fully planned four-year story arc was driven by player participation. How the theme of choice and consequence permeated our systems, content, and world design. How the choices players made during our chapter-based story arc would cause permanent and lasting changes to each server -- changes that could be different from other servers. How expansions to the game world had already been mapped out and were tied into that chapter storyline, so the world would grow in a very organic and logical way rather than feeling like expansions were tacked onto the core game by a new team that was bored with the work that had been done before. How our storyline had a real conclusion–because you can't tell a great story without an ending. Head past the break for the full video. [Thanks to Syeric for the tip!]
Rhode Island possesses 38 Studios' games, looks to sell
While 38 Studios is finished, its employees laid off, and its projects canceled, there's really only one thing left to be done: figure out what to do with the leftovers. The court granted the state of Rhode Island all of 38 Studios' assets, including rights to its single-player RPG and the unfinished Project Copernicus. The Rhode Island Economic Development Corp said that it will attempt to sell these assets to recoup as much of the loan made to the studio as possible. This may be a slight blessing in disguise for fans of the studio's projects, as the move was made to keep the intellectual property intact instead of having it be lost due to the company's dismantling. The games are being transferred to servers for safe-keeping and constitute a majority of the studio's remaining net worth.
A look at Curt Schilling's management of 38 Studios
The dust has more or less settled around the demise of 38 Studios, but much of the information about what happened to lead the company so deep into the hole is fragmented. Some fans admonish the Rhode Island governor, some admonish Curt Schilling, and some admonish the management team that led to several poor decisions. A new piece in Boston Magazine goes into depth about where Schilling's management caused problems and how the culture at the studio slowly deteriorated. The article paints Schilling as being relentlessly optimistic and dedicated to his employees but at the same time unfamiliar with business and the realities of running a game company. He also wound up with a bloated staff and disregarded information from management, leading to conflicting demands and a general lack of progress on major deadlines for Project Copernicus. If you've got any interest in the game industry, it's a fascinating look at how a game company can start with high hopes and dissolve under financial realities.
Kingdoms of Amalur MMO 'wasn't fun,' Take-Two was mystery Reckoning 2 publisher
Despite being "in love" with the Kingdoms of Amalur MMO before its developer filed for bankruptcy, 38 Studios head Curt Schilling worried "the game wasn't fun." Schilling opens up on a variety of subjects in a recent Boston Magazine feature story, saying, "It was my biggest gripe for probably the past eight to 12 months." Even 38's own employees weren't playing it in their free time, apparently.Additionally, Take-Two Interactive – publisher of everything from BioShock to Grand Theft Auto – is fingered as the mysterious publisher vying for rights to a Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning sequel. For its part, Take-Two calls Schilling's claim "rumor and speculation." Schilling contends the sequel deal was close to "final sign-off" when Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee's mid-May public statements gave Take-Two cold feet.Finally, in a last minute effort to save his company, Schilling and other executives spoke with an unnamed Chinese investor about potentially working together, as well as South Korean MMO company Nexon. Neither deal panned out, and the company declared bankruptcy this past June.The Boston Magazine piece is quite a thorough examination of the history of 38 Studios, and contextualizes much of the sordid tale we've seen play out over the past eight months. Get a delicious beverage and a comfy seat – it's gonna be a while.
Former 38 Studios Creative Director provides context for leaked trailer
Steve Danuser is the ex-Creative Director at the shuttered 38 Studios, and in light of that leaked trailer seen earlier today he's posted a few bits of context for the video. As you might have guessed, the posted trailer was entirely a work in progress, with most assets and even the script likely set to be replaced before it appeared before the public.The trailer itself would have been a launch trailer, likely also released with some in-game or hands-on footage, and the illustrated look seen in the trailer was planned to be a characteristic of the game itself, used to introduce the game's various races and factions.As for the tri-circle logo, which seems very similar to the recently revealed Elder Scrolls Online logo: Danuser says the design is coincidental, and that the two MMOs were using the same themes. 38 Studios' logo was put together before anyone from the team saw what Zenimax Online was working on. "That's what you get," says Danuser, who fondly remembers working on putting the trailer together, "for basing your IP on classic themes."
Project Copernicus announcement trailer released [Updated]
For those interested in twisting the 38 Studios knife just a little bit more, Kotaku has posted what would have been Project Copernicus' official announcement trailer had Curt Schilling's development house not imploded dramatically earlier this year. The clip runs just over two minutes and features a series of stylized vignettes that morph into brief snippets of gameplay footage. All of this is set to a cryptic voiceover repeating something about a circle still turning. It's an interesting if slightly depressing look at what might have been. Head over to Kotaku for all the drama. [Update: Steve Danuser, formerly of 38 Studios fame, has published a context-driven explanation of what's shown in the video.]
