A couple of things that haven't been made clear or pointed out by previous posters.
KOA was not devloped in Rhode Island, nor was the loan from that state spent developing it. BHG would have been out of business before delivering it's game if not for 38 Studios.
When the govenor of RI says that KOA had to sell 3 million copies to be a success, I can only think that means that with $1.7 more million copies, it would have been able to continue to fund Copernicus, and KOA2, like Diablo II and Warcraft 3 funded World of Warcraft. A developer typically gets about 20% of a games sale price, though that is probably higher with electronic distribution.
Let's say RI gave 38 Studios $47 million (since they gave them less than $50 million, and 38 Studios made at least one scheduled repayment). Most of that money was spent... on rent in Rhode Island and on salaries in Rhode Island. It's, naive to say that this money just disapeared - a lot of it did go back into the Rhode Island economy, which was basically the point of the loan? Did all of it? No, good old Uncle Sam probably got $8 alone in taxes, not counting SS and unemployment benefifts, some of which will now be paid back.
From the very start, it seemed like Schilling and Co, were way over doing things. I remember reading about the original Green Monster games campus and how they were giving all these benefits to employees that were not "industry standard"... there's a reason those things aren't industry standard, and it's not greed, it's realitiy. Paying a texture artist like he's a IBM SAP consultant is bad business.
All that being said, I am sad this game went along the wayside. I've been a McFarlane fans since his original run on Amazing Spiderman, a fan of Salvatore's since the Icewind Dale Trilogy and I played a little EQ with Schilling, who's not a bad egg, despite a healthy dose of meglomania. It was always worrying to me that they had this huge staff and didn't produce... anything. The screenshots of the races that floated out these last couple of days look pretty cool.
Good luck to all the recently unemployed staff. It's a good time to take an assessment and hopefully come up with a new path for a happier life, and I certainly hope that Turbine grabs a bunch of them up and they don't get too screwed on the double mortgage thing.
Originally posted by Sorrow Could pull an enmasse where the developers themselves walk away with the code reform thier own label and push the project out like TERA did.
Also, yeah, steal from the state of Rhode Island so they can push out a WoW clone. Theres a brilliant idea.
It's impressive how you know exactly how the game would've played based on a few leaked screenshots. ...as if art style dictates gameplay style.
You probably considered Reckoning a WOW clone too right?
"What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver
Comments
A couple of things that haven't been made clear or pointed out by previous posters.
KOA was not devloped in Rhode Island, nor was the loan from that state spent developing it. BHG would have been out of business before delivering it's game if not for 38 Studios.
When the govenor of RI says that KOA had to sell 3 million copies to be a success, I can only think that means that with $1.7 more million copies, it would have been able to continue to fund Copernicus, and KOA2, like Diablo II and Warcraft 3 funded World of Warcraft. A developer typically gets about 20% of a games sale price, though that is probably higher with electronic distribution.
Let's say RI gave 38 Studios $47 million (since they gave them less than $50 million, and 38 Studios made at least one scheduled repayment). Most of that money was spent... on rent in Rhode Island and on salaries in Rhode Island. It's, naive to say that this money just disapeared - a lot of it did go back into the Rhode Island economy, which was basically the point of the loan? Did all of it? No, good old Uncle Sam probably got $8 alone in taxes, not counting SS and unemployment benefifts, some of which will now be paid back.
From the very start, it seemed like Schilling and Co, were way over doing things. I remember reading about the original Green Monster games campus and how they were giving all these benefits to employees that were not "industry standard"... there's a reason those things aren't industry standard, and it's not greed, it's realitiy. Paying a texture artist like he's a IBM SAP consultant is bad business.
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All that being said, I am sad this game went along the wayside. I've been a McFarlane fans since his original run on Amazing Spiderman, a fan of Salvatore's since the Icewind Dale Trilogy and I played a little EQ with Schilling, who's not a bad egg, despite a healthy dose of meglomania. It was always worrying to me that they had this huge staff and didn't produce... anything. The screenshots of the races that floated out these last couple of days look pretty cool.
Good luck to all the recently unemployed staff. It's a good time to take an assessment and hopefully come up with a new path for a happier life, and I certainly hope that Turbine grabs a bunch of them up and they don't get too screwed on the double mortgage thing.
Gleaned from Schilling's Twitter, though a little vague on his answer:
Tom Nocera @TomNocera
@gehrig38 Has a white knight reached out to you yet? Are you in a receptive frame of mind if one does?
@TomNocera yes!
Probably he just means that he's receptive, but it would be cool if that "white knight" isn't just speculative... Maybe it's Randy Johnson.
It's impressive how you know exactly how the game would've played based on a few leaked screenshots. ...as if art style dictates gameplay style.
You probably considered Reckoning a WOW clone too right?
"What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver
Or maybe it's Derek Smart!
RELAX!@!! BREATHE!!!
Expectation: Price Drop.
Reality: Studio shuts down, yet price remains high.
Conclusion:
Proper Planning and Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance
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Schilling posts some more SS's to his Facebook page... they should Kickstart it back up ; )
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3765839378253.155500.1044701480&type=1