RI&38 Studios; BHG Finds Work!

insultobot · **Posted:** May 25th, 2012, 9:01 pm

So a while back, Rhode Island loaned $75 million to 38 Studios, the makers of Kingdoms of Amalur. The original idea was, after creating the sub studio Big Hunt Games in the state, for the game to sell well and attract other developers to the state and create a mecca of game development which RI could benefit from by seeing increased jobs and taxable dollars.

It all fell apart when the game came out. It wasn't the instant hit they gambled on. While Kingdoms of Amalur was a good game, it was in no way able to stand out from the shadows of Skyrim, Dragon's Dogma, and Mass Effect. 38 Studios was unable to make last month's payment on the loan. In fact, last month, they had to let all of the temp workers go and couldn't even afford to pay their full time employees.

It gets worse.

Yesterday, the entire company, 38 Studios including Big Hunt Games, was forced to layoff their full work force. Everyone. By an internal memo. It reads:

Quote:

The Company is experiencing an economic downturn. To avoid further losses and possibility of retrenchment, the Company has decided that a companywide lay off is absolutely necessary.

These layoffs are non-voluntary and non-disciplinary.

This is your official notice of lay off, effective today, Thursday, May 24th, 2012.

The governor offered a few more insignificant details at a press conference that afternoon. The state of Rhode Island now owns the IP valued around $20 million. If they are unable to sell it to a willing development studio, the tax payers of the state will be forced to repay the $50+ million balance with interest between 2013 and 2030 at a total of over $120 million dollars.

::source::

Fayorei · **Posted:** May 25th, 2012, 9:44 pm

I think it is crap that the state's tax payers should have to make it back. To be honest, their governor from the interviews I saw was quite the ignorant butt. Figures they would pin this on their own citizens for something the government chose.

Two, I do feel a bit bad for 38, especially those laid off. It just wasn't good business sense to get an investor like a state, who understands about nothing in the industry and wants money ASAP. They should've worked under EA or something. I guarantee KoA was at least better than the turd known as Dragon Age II.

Schilling also isn't a bad guy. He's been on the WoW podcast I listen to quite a bit, and had some good insights into the industry- but obviously has no experience and clearly made a bad call by enlisting a state to fund.

For the other employees, it is good that Turbine was very welcoming. It is also great that ArenaNet also posted they had tons of openings for the GW2 team, considering 38 was working on project Copernicus, an MMO.

insultobot · **Posted:** May 25th, 2012, 10:14 pm

Also, what I find ridiculous is that just after KoA came out, before all this nonsense, the governor was the one that announced the mmo! What kind of a world is this?

Fayorei · **Posted:** May 26th, 2012, 7:41 pm

No clue. But I hope that governor realizes his egg is cooked. I am definitely not buying Copernicus not from 38. So they can try and sell the property, but I honestly hope he fails and loses all his kickbacks, etc. I mean, tax payers shouldn't have to cover for his bad decisions. He clearly had no idea how the game industry even worked, and wanted SO MANY jobs for the area, which also bled 38 dry. It was just so stupid to make a deal with a state.D:

I am hoping though, that the rest of 38's employees can find work. It sucks that KoA is essentially dead, but honestly back when it was such a loose framework, I think Schilling loves games a lot but was going a bit Molyneux with some of the ideas.

Lantis · **Posted:** May 27th, 2012, 8:15 am

This is complete BS. The state took a gamble, and it fell through. It shouldn't fall on the people of said state to suffer for a bet they didn't even make.

I'd move...

Fayorei · **Posted:** May 30th, 2012, 1:39 am

According to The Instance(the podcast Curt was on a ton), the host mentioned that basically, it's an unfortunate dealing in business and it's absolutely regrettable. He had talked to Curt since the incident, and the guy's biggest concern is that his employees can find work, and that they're going to be okay from this- since he's never felt so guilty I'd imagine. I think that's pretty close to the truth, since game companies tend to get very close-knit in the workplace- especially newer ones.

There was also an interesting point made that the best way to break into the game market at this point with entirely new IP and company seems to be small Indie strike teams. I can totally see that after this fiasco... big budget games are made at huge losses, and just try to break even. D:

insultobot · **Posted:** June 4th, 2012, 12:21 am

http://epicgames.com/community/2012/06/big-problems-need-huge-solutions/

Quote:

On Wednesday, the ex-BHG leadership team contacted us. They wanted to start a new company and keep together some of the key talent displaced by the layoff, and hoped that they could use an Epic IP as a starting point for a new game. We loved that they all wanted to keep working together, but it was pretty clear they’d have trouble building a demo and securing funding before their personal savings ran out.

In one of life’s coincidences, Epic’s directors had spent the morning discussing how we’d love to build even more successful projects with our growing team, but that we’d need a dramatic infusion of top talent to do so. Which, we all knew, was impossible.

So now we’re planning to start an impossible studio in Baltimore.

It’ll take a while to find space, set up desks and PCs, purchase sufficient Nerf weaponry and Dr. Pepper, etc. But some of these folks have been going too long without a paycheck to wait for that. So, as soon as we can, we’re going to try to get people working down here at Epic headquarters in Cary, NC as contractors.

There’s a million things to work out. How many of the team can we hire? What will it be called? What will they be working on? We don’t know all the answers yet. Please give us some time to figure it out; we hope to have more to share soon.

The way we see it, there’s been a big storm in Baltimore, and we’re taking in a few of the refugees — as are the awesome folks at Zynga East, Zenimax Online, and other southeastern studios. Epic’s in a situation where we can do this, and it very clearly fits with our company values, so we’re going to give it a whirl.

Dr. Michael Capps

Lantis · **Posted:** June 4th, 2012, 9:13 am

Quote:

It’ll take a while to find space, set up desks and PCs, purchase sufficient Nerf weaponry and Dr. Pepper, etc

If that is one of their concerns, then I think they'll do fine. Someone should send them Valve's training guide.

Fayorei · **Posted:** June 5th, 2012, 4:56 pm

I think it is absolutely excellent of these folks to welcome people in ASAP. Getting into that industry is apparently super, super hard... and losing a job after a relocation like that, man. Grats to them! The nerf bit makes me remember why I wanted to be in the industry for so long, haha. Still a pretty out-there dream, but hey.

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RI&38 Studios; BHG Finds Work!

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