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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.
38 Studios lawyer to request delay for IP auction
Richard Land, the court-appointed lawyer for 38 Studios, said he plans to ask a Rhode Island Superior Court judge to delay the now-defunct studio's intellectual property auction. The auction was originally slated to take place on November 14 and include the Project Copernicus MMO that was in development at 38 Studios prior to its May 2012 closure as well as sequel and merchandise rights and revenue for Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. Land told The Providence Journal that interest in the auction has been "greater than expected" from prospective bidders, leading to the request to delay the auction for "a couple weeks." The auction was also slated to include Big Huge Games properties Rise of Nations, Rise of Legends and XBLA game Catan.
Wanna buy an MMO? Copernicus assets for sale 'soon'
Remember Project Copernicus? Of course you do! 38 Studios may have imploded some 18 months ago, but the ongoing fallout has kept its fledgling MMO and its Kingdoms of Amalur IP in the news ever since. Now, Copernicus assets are about to be auctioned off to the highest bidder via an unnamed website that is currently under construction. "The process is taking longer than we anticipated for a variety of reasons including the complexity of the game itself," attorney and court-appointed receiver Richard Land told WPRI news yesterday. Land also told the news station that he has been working directly with "interested parties," though he declined to comment on a possible sale price.
