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[Stiler]

Dropbox link to documents:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ecpns3nuu3p7cq0/AACOWPfDVsUhlOonV7v6DJeUa?dl=0

Gamespot article on it:
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/thousands-of-documents-in-38-studios-case-released/1100-6430890/

Man, that deal just seems so far fetched. There are many AAA studios that don't even employee 400+ people.

I Still think they got in way over their head, trying to tackle an mmo as their first game, especially when mmo's are notorious for having huge budgets on top of taking a longer time to recoup the cost and then the ongoing cost of running them.

On top of this buying a whole other studio (Big Huge games) and reworking their game into Kingdoms of Amalur.

If they just stopped the mmo, released KoA and then worked on a sequel I think they might have made it, if they never took the RI loan.

 

[Hawk269]

They were well over their head with all of this stuff from what I have read. The sad thing is that the MMO, again based on what I seen of it had a lot of promise and I think RPG they released was pretty good. It is shame things ended up the way they did.

 

[XiaNaphryz]

Man, that deal just seems so far fetched. There are many AAA studios that don't even employee 400+ people.

I Still think they got in way over their head, trying to tackle an mmo as their first game, especially when mmo's are notorious for having huge budgets on top of taking a longer time to recoup the cost and then the ongoing cost of running them.

On top of this buying a whole other studio (Big Huge games) and reworking their game into Kingdoms of Amalur.

Schilling basically tried to run a business as if he was still on a baseball team and thinking that sheer willpower and effort were enough to succeed. It was doomed from the start. That one Boston Magazine article from a while back was a good overview about the whole mess.

http://www.bostonmagazine.com/2012/07/38-studios-end-game/

As for the court released docs, Deadspin is updating an article on it as they dig through what was released:

http://deadspin.com/various-lowlights-from-curt-schillings-failed-38-studio-1732879364

On May 31, 2010, the EDC analyst gave [EDC Deputy Director J. Michael] Saul his current thoughts on the 38 Studios’ credit analysis and transaction as follows:

Mike,

The preliminary list of needed items is attached. I am in the process of organizing my thoughts on this, here is where I am currently:

The ‘worst case scenario’ as presented by the company involves a new, commercially successful RPG [role playing game] title every two years. Is this realistic? Big Huge Games had their last release (that I can find) in 2006, at least two games have been cancelled since then. The plan does not include anything addressing cancelled games and the associated expenses nor any possibility of delays or that a game is not successful. The plan shows each game being more successful than its predecessor. No one bats 1000, especially not in this industry. Without the RPG release every two years, the cash flow does not work to support the debt. The more I look at this, the less comfortable I become with the credit.

This credit aside, I believe there is an opportunity to create an industry cluster around the assets we have in place (RISD, etc.), however I don’t think I can support a $75 million guarantee to any single company in this industry due to the wide volatility in commercial success of game releases. One success does not guarantee another, however the repayment of debt relies upon continued success. Perhaps we should develop a toolbox of incentives (including loan guarantees) to attract companies into a cluster and not rely on a single company to build the cluster around.

Let me know your thoughts.

[emphasis supplied].

On June 4, 2010, 38 Studios received the analyst’s list of risks presented by the proposed loan and his list of information needed from 38 Studios in order to evaluate the loan, with copy to Stolzman.

After 38 Studios received these two lists, Saul told the analyst not to prepare an internal credit memorandum. Saul then excluded the analyst from further analysis of the 38 Studios transaction. The analyst was never told the amount of net proceeds that 38 Studios would receive from the EDC. No internal credit memorandum was prepared or submitted to the EDC Board. Stolzman knew that no internal credit

 

[NateDrake]

My state government and the investors handled the entire thing wrong, and then Schilling ran the company recklessly. It was a disaster on all fronts.

 

[Armaros]

My state government and the investors handled the entire thing wrong, and then Schilling ran the company recklessly. It was a disaster on all fronts.

Risk assessment and budgeting was non-existent on all fronts.

 

[Sanjuro]

Rhode Island is the real villain.

Curt was just a pawn.

 

[IdreamofHIME]

They did a lot of things wrong, but i loved Amalur and i'm glad it somehow got released by these incompetent bafoons. Though incompetent might be aimed at the wrong people, because they did manage to get a lot of people to give them a lot of money on the back of promises.

 

[sja_626]

KoA: Reckoning was genuinely great. Glad we at least got to enjoy that before it all fell apart.

 

[Grinchy]

God damn, does anyone in this country know that "it's" = "it is" or am I the last one?

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Talk about quality bars when he or she can't even spell mismatched unless he or she wanted to make a clever pun. After what Grinchy pointed out I assume the former.

The whole thing is a bummer the only thing that helped was Schilling outing himself as a bigot repeatedly. His daughter didn't deserve to be harassed though.

Kingdoms of Amalur was amazing I loved the combat through and through, something I can't say about TW3, and I loved trying out different builds. Jack of all trades was OP doe. The lore was even written by one of my favourite fantasy authors.
That MMO looked generic af though.

 

[zugzug]

I wish people would stop naming Curt when the Ceo was Jennifer Maclean or eve the senior vice president John blakeley.

Not saying Curt wasn't bad in this but those other two were the business people Curt should have relied upon more.

 

[SamastahSukhino]

God damn, does anyone in this country know that "it's" = "it is" or am I the last one?

It's just you.

 

[Social]

It's just you.

its just you*

 

[Futurematic]

Providence Journal
Literal bribery:

Schilling's company promised Providence lawyer Michael Corso, a Fox [Speaker of the House] associate, 5 percent of the "net proceeds" of the money 38 Studios raised from Rhode Island, and a 2-percent share of the company. (38 Studios documents indicate the company paid Corso, or companies he controlled, approximately $2 million.)

Hilariously bad due diligence:

The amount 38 Studios ultimately received from Rhode Island's 38 Studios bond sale — approximately $50 million — was about half of what Schilling needed at that point to complete and launch the online game he dreamed to create, code-named "Copernicus." Company executives and one-time EDC representatives dispute whether it was clear to both sides that the bond sale would leave 38 Studios that far short of its financial mark for launching the game.

As virtually always investment bankers are liars and cheats:

In its original lawsuit filing, the EDC said the financial company failed to disclose it "was earning nearly $500,000 in hidden commissions from 38 Studios at the same time that Wells Fargo owed fiduciary duties to the EDC Board to disclose all negative material information concerning 38 Studios’ business plan and financial projections, including the shortfall."

 

[fatigues_gasolini]

I wish people would stop naming Curt when the Ceo was Jennifer Maclean or eve the senior vice president John blakeley.

Not saying Curt wasn't bad in this but those other two were the business people Curt should have relied upon more.

I thought just about every executive level person Curt hired was totally incompetent. Curt had just a big a role as everyone else.

 

[burgerdog]

God damn, does anyone in this country know that "it's" = "it is" or am I the last one?

...is starting to take it is toll!

 

[XiaNaphryz]

I thought just about every executive level person Curt hired was totally incompetent. Curt had just a big a role as everyone else.

Pretty much the sense I got reading that long Boston Magazine writeup on the whole affair.

 

[RoninChaos]

God damn.