Kingdoms of Amalur developer and Curt Shilling owned videogame company, 38 Studios, appears to be in some hot water in their home state of Rhode Island. Sources working with the state’s economic development commission have reported that the company was able to make a 1.125 million dollar payment to the state (money 38 studios owed because of a loan previously given to them by the state of Rhode Island as part of an economic development plan) but the company was not able to pay any of it’s employees for this pay period. Also, all contractors and temps working for 38 Studios have been let go.
The state of Rhode Island has loaned 75 million dollars to 38 Studios, and missing this 1.125 million dollar payment would have caused the loan to default if not payed very quickly by the company. Supposedly 38 Studios have delivered the check at the very last minute to the state government’s office. It does just suck for the employees however, I hope they like noodles and shame for the next couple of weeks because it doesn’t look like much money will be rolling their way very soon.
If 38 Studios is unable to finish paying off the loan, the Kingdoms of Amalur IP and the IP of a MMO codenamed “Project Copernicus” could go up on the auction block to help alleviate the debt tax payers would have to fork over for the defaulted loan. I was a fan of KOA and I felt it was one of the better new RPG’s I had played in a long time. It is unfortunate that the game’s relative success isn’t doing enough to pull 38 Studios out of the fire financially.
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