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[Akia]

Gamasutra tidbit article: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/..._campaign=Feed:+GamasutraNews+(Gamasutra+News
HBR Case Study (29 pages, Pay-Only Article): http://hbr.org/product/curt-schilling-s-next-pitch/an/810053-PDF-ENG
use promotion Code HBRORGREG2 for 20% off the article

Quotes from the Gamasutra piece:

The former pro athlete has invested millions of dollars and sacrificed time with his family to establish the Maynard, Massachusetts-based MMORPG company, 38 Studios.

"I have put the majority of the money I've earned in my life on the table," he said in the Harvard Business School case study, Curt Schilling's Next Pitch. "If I make another financial investment, I will have crossed the point of no return from a personal investment and company standpoint."

Baseball Reference, which is cited in the case study, estimates that Schilling earned over $114.16 million during his career in baseball.

Even though Schilling is in retirement from baseball, he's as busy as ever, and heavily involved with the daily operations at 38 Studios. But he admitted that he might have taken on too much at this period in his life, not to mention he launched the company in the midst of a recession.

"There was no way I should have started the company when I did," he said he thought to himself one day. "It wasn't fair to the Red Sox, it wasn't fair to these people, and beyond all of that it wasn't fair to my wife."

He acknowledged the difficulties, but his confidence in his company's success matches the confidence he had in his Little League days, when he knew one day he'd play in the pros.

"I have no doubt I am on the cusp of creating a multi-million dollar company and the only failure scenario is a quit. Quitting is not an option," he said.

I just got done reading the entire 29 page case study on 38 Studios and Curt Schilling. It covers his whole career, the inside story on how he started his studio all the way until their most recent purchase of Big Huge Games. The case was well worth the $5.96 I paid for what basically is a 29 page behind the scenes look at what happens when you invest more than $20 million dollars starting your own studio. After reading about all the hardship Curt's going through in order to make a great game, I'm pretty set on purchasing his MMO Day 1 in 2012.

Also I really hope their console RPG from Big Huge Games (the Oblivion game director is project lead) doesn't bomb. That game is so important to the short term future of the studio..

 

[yankeeforever2]

Just sell another damn bloody sock to feed his habit.

 

[golem]

not sure if i want to pay the money to read it... any interesting highlights ?

 

[Dragon]

Just sell another damn bloody sock to feed his habit.

I thought it was in the Baseball Hall of Fame? Wasn't aware he sold it.

 

[ashism]

He made a quick WoW guild with some members from an old MMO based forum and his studio.

The guild was called BigThirtyAte. Anyways, I did a few runs with him and he not only seemed like a solid player, but was asking alot of feedback about MMO's from the other players while we were doing the run.

From what he was talking about, the guy has an eye for design for sure. I hope his game and company do well. They all seem like nice, smart people.

 

[Roofy]

i had always thought the studio was just a financial investment for him.

i didnt realize he was actually into games

 

[GhaleonQ]

See, I would have bought the whole issue on the newsstand, but apparently it's from December 18, 2009. I can't justify 6 bucks for 1 article and a non-academic purpose. I did catch that Gamasutra note, though. Did you get a sense that the investment was necessary to compete in the MMO space, or did he do it because he's a novice at investment and business building?

 

[Cat in the Hat]

i had always thought the studio was just a financial investment for him.

i didnt realize he was actually into games

He is a HUGE WoW nerd apparently.

 

[Doytch]

This time the red won't be fake. On the books. The red ink. Cause his company is gonna fail.

 

[The Dutch Slayer]

day 1:

Man I wish they did a podcast with rich as the host, one day, one day....

 

[Ulairi]

He is a HUGE WoW nerd apparently.

he's a huge nerd. He was a huge EQ nerd, WoW and other pc games too.

 

[Roofy]

there's an interview with him by adam sessler that was posted a couple of days ago.

hes more informed than i was expecting

link here

 

[NorrenRadd]

Got a pic with him @ GDC. Not sure why he and 6-8 members of his studio needed to be there. They were stationed in the recruiting area so I suppose looking to hire some people.

I'm looking forward to the game, I hope they can do good things :-|

Nice guy.

 

[Akia]

Did you get a sense that the investment was necessary to compete in the MMO space, or did he do it because he's a novice at investment and business building?

The article isn't in any of the recent HBR magazines. Trust me I was apprehensive about spending the money too but now I just wish we could get more HBR-quality looks at struggles at different gaming studios.

The case actually covers that Curt actually putting in the initial investment into the company and thus retaining equity has made it extremely hard for them to find investors. Most venture capital companies like start-up ventures with 1-2 year ROI potential and frequent milestone updates. Curt actually regrets funding it initially by himself. He definitely started out as a novice at investing but one thing that shows through after reading the whole case is how much Curt has learned. The progression from him in the late 90s visiting SOE to now where he's calculating the burn rate of different studio decisions in order to make the most effective use of time is pretty remarkable.

 

[Akia]

there's an interview with him by adam sessler that was posted a couple of days ago.

hes more informed than i was expecting

link here

Thanks for posting that.

 

[Fragamemnon]

he's a huge nerd. He was a huge EQ nerd, WoW and other pc games too.

not just that, dude loves his Advanced Squad Leader (board wargame with a manual that makes Falcon 4.0 blush) so much he-quite literally-bought the rights and started a company (Multiman Publishing) to maintain it after Avalon Hill collapsed.

that's like MEGANERD territory IMO.

 

[Y2Kev]

How many projects are in development at this studio? It sounds like they have a few in development aside from the MMO and the Big Huge project. He says his only failure scenario is to quit, but don't MMOs...typically fail? If the MMO performs like essentially every other WoW challenger has to this point, wouldn't that be a company-threatening failure?

 

[matmanx1]

Don't know if any of you are members of the Fires of Heaven guild forums but he's been a poster over there for years and has a huge thread on his company and his game. It would take awhile for anyone to read through at this point but it's worth noting simply because of the large volume of posts he's made regarding this process.

The guy has been into MMO's almost since the beginning and is a diehard gamer at heart. He's smart, well spoken and just going off of his posts I hope he makes the type of game he's dreamed of making and that it's successful. He's the real deal as far as being a gamer and his company is the result of his passion for games and not simply a business decision.

I certainly wish him the best of luck and am eagerly awaiting the final product.

 

[Chairman Yang]

While I respect the guy's passion, I can think of better uses for Big Huge Games than an MMORPG. Also, I don't know why he hired RA Salvatore.

 

[Ulairi]

While I respect the guy's passion, I can think of better uses for Big Huge Games than an MMORPG. Also, I don't know why he hired RA Salvatore.

Big huge isn't doing the MMORPG, they are developing the RPG. RA Salvatore has brand name and experience creating fantasy worlds.

 

[GhaleonQ]

The article isn't in any of the recent HBR magazines. Trust me I was apprehensive about spending the money too but now I just wish we could get more HBR-quality looks at struggles at different gaming studios.

The case actually covers that Curt actually putting in the initial investment into the company and thus retaining equity has made it extremely hard for them to find investors. Most venture capital companies like start-up ventures with 1-2 year ROI potential and frequent milestone updates. Curt actually regrets funding it initially by himself. He definitive started out a novice at investing but one this that shows through after reading the whole case is how much Curt has learned. The progression from him in the late 90s visiting SOE to now where he's calculating the burn rate of different studio decisions in order to make the most effective use of time is pretty remarkable.

Hm...

It sounds like he did overinvest for bad reasons, since passion projects (I'm thinking of restaurants, bookstores, specialty retailers, agriculture, et cetera) often encourage short-term plans. I'm sure he knows what he's doing NOW and his knowledge of games themselves has never been in question, but that may not be good enough in this industry, you know? I'll try to find an excuse around the time his game's actually released (successfully, hopefully).

 

[Akia]

Big huge isn't doing the MMORPG, they are developing the RPG. RA Salvatore has brand name and experience creating fantasy worlds.

Correct.

They're using the Big Huge Game console RPG to act as a initial setup for the MMO, in the same vein Warcraft I-III served as primer for WoW. Its looking like their release schedule currently is:

BHG Console RPG in 2011
MMO in 2012

I'd say as long as the console rpg is good then its a solid plan. I mean just look at how many people are amped for the eventual Mass Effect MMO.

not just that, dude loves his Advanced Squad Leader (board wargame with a manual that makes Falcon 4.0 blush) so much he-quite literally-bought the rights and started a company (Multiman Publishing) to maintain it after Avalon Hill collapsed.

that's like MEGANERD territory IMO.

Holy crap really. That's really awesome of him.