Skip to main content

No one wants to buy most of 38 Studios remaining properties

one wants buy 38 studios remaining properties 2102778 kingdoms of amalur reckoning 2012 01 11 12 003
Image used with permission by copyright holder

A recent auction to sell off Curt Schilling’s 38 Studios’ IPs has ended with no one buying the studio’s two biggest properties, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, and the unreleased MMORPG Copernicus. According to a report from the Providence Journal, however, the games Rise of Nations, Rise of Legends, and Catan for Xbox Live were sold along with the trademark for 38 Studios’ subsidiary Big Huge Games.

The auction, which took place last Wednesday, managed to take in $320,000 for the properties it was able to sell. But according to Richard Land, the lawyer running the auction on behalf of the court appointed liquidation service Heritage Global Partners, claimed that the “The Receiver did not receive acceptable offers for the remaining lots, including Project Copernicus, 38 Studios’ in-development Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game, and Helios, 38 Studios’ integrated social media platform.”

Recommended Videos

The $320,000 will barely scratch the surface of the massive debt 38 Studios accrued. After former baseball player Curt Schilling founded the company in 2006 in Massachusetts, the state of Rhode Island offered the studio a $75 million loan in 2010 if it moved states. In return, 38 Studios promised to bring 450 jobs to Rhode Island by the end of the year. Following the move, 38 Studios managed to release a single AAA game, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. Despite positive reviews and 1.2 million copies sold in the first 90 days, Amalur was deemed a financial failure. Then things began to unravel.

Not all of the facts are known yet, but the state of Rhode Island is claiming that Schillings essentially lied to it. 38 Studios missed a scheduled payment and sent in a $1.2 million check, but it had insufficient funds to cover that amount. 38 then failed to pay its employees. Then executive staff, including the CEO and SVP, suddenly left the company.

Rhode Island soon began an investigation into the studio and discovered that it had never reached the 450 employee mark, and that funds were badly mismanaged. Schilling himself was accused of using $4 million of the loan to repay his own investments into the company. More damningly though, the investigation suggested that Schilling always knew the development costs would be at least $20 million more than the studio could raise (even with the loan), and he failed to reveal that when negotiating with Rhode Island’s Economic Development Corporation. That will be difficult to prove, but it may be construed as fraud.

In June of 2012, 38 Studios filed for bankruptcy and dissolved. Between the principle and the interest, the loan leaves the state of Rhode Island with more than $112 million unpaid. Investigations are still underway, including one from the Securities Exchange Commission.

As for the auction, it has not been revealed who purchased the products that did sell. It’s also unclear if the bids were insufficient on the remaining properties, or if there were no bids at all.

Along with the unsold rights to Amalur (which includes the current game and the right to further develop the property) and the unreleased MMO Copernicus, the auction was also hoping to sell 38 Studios’ customer relationship management software, Helios. Hunt has stated that he will continue to try to sell the remaining properties.

Topics
Ryan Fleming
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Ryan Fleming is the Gaming and Cinema Editor for Digital Trends. He joined the DT staff in 2009 after spending time covering…
This Acer gaming PC with RTX 3050 is on sale for just $700
The Acer Nitro 50 gaming PC on a white background.

You don't need to spend more than $1,000 when buying a new gaming desktop, and you can spend much lower than that if you take advantage of the discounts from gaming PC deals. Amazon has an offer for the Acer Nitro 50 that you wouldn't want to miss: $100 in savings off its original price of $800, so you'll only have to pay $700 for this machine. It won't stay at 13% off for much longer though, so you better hurry and buy the gaming desktop right now.

Why you should buy the Acer Nitro 50 gaming PC
The Acer Nitro 50 is a decent choice for playing the best PC games, as it's powered by the 14th-generation Intel Core i5 processor, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 graphics card, and 16GB of RAM that will be enough for most gamers, according to our guide on how to buy a gaming desktop. It's not going to challenge the performance of the top-of-the-line models of the best gaming PCs, and it may struggle to run upcoming PC games at their highest settings, but the Acer Nitro 50 is an excellent and affordable option that will let you explore the world of PC gaming.

Read more
Where to find the cartographer in Dawntrail in Avowed
An environment shot of the Dawnshore Eastern Overlands in Avowed.

After the tutorial teaches you the essential tips and tricks for playing Avowed, you will be set free in the Living Lands. Almost right away you will encounter a man named Sanza who has an important side quest for you to locate a missing cartographer. While you might be eager to complete the main story, side quests are important for unlocking new abilities and exploring the world. Unlike most side quests, however, this one only gives you a vague written description of where the cartographer is instead of a marker on your map to travel to. Even though each zone in Avowed isn't massive, there is still a lot of ground to cover when looking for a single person. Here's where you can find the cartographer in Dawntrail.
Where to find the missing cartographer

The side quest only says that the cartographer should be located near some cliffs on the east side of Dawntrail, which is quite a big place to search. The area you're looking for is called Usher's Hand and is directly east of Paradis. If you go out the eastern exit and head north, you will find it no problem.

Read more
How to respec in Avowed
A player casting an ice spell in Avowed

Avowed is a very flexible game in terms of letting you use any weapon or piece of armor you want. Having a variety of offensive options is one of the best tips and tricks we can give you, but skills are slightly different. You will be investing points into your stats, to unlock abilities, and unlock companion abilities as you earn XP and level up. These skills will completely change how your game plays both in and out of combat, but you don't have to stick with whatever direction you picked first if you end up regretting it. Here's how you can respec your character in Avowed.

Read more