38 Studios
- Thread starter Tmac
- Start date
Anyone know if they actually sold the intellectual property (or whatever you'd call the mmo they were working on) to anyone yet (you'd think the value just goes down as time passes)?
Yes think he Did.So did Ngruk follow us over?
and for extra comedy, think he registered as Tyen here, his Biggest Fan!
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I 'll I ever wanted post implosion was for Curt to tell everyone if his position on health-care had changed.
From what I know, the IP and soft assets are still in Negotiated Sale with about four or five potential buyers including EA, Beth, Nexon, and some private investors.
Utnayan
F16 patrolling Rajaah until he plays DS3
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I would say that author is an idiot.
As much as I have disliked Schilling over the years, KoA wasn't made by his video game company. It was a project that was mostly complete by the time it was brought in house from THQ. 38 had very little to do with this besides (from my understanding) use existing art assets and switch IP and some story processes to reflect that. The majority of the story was even written around the older game before BHG was purchased. I have still only played the demo, but I have heard that while some of the game can be mundane, some of it was also very well done.
With that said, from what I have played (Demo, admittedly) and from what I have read everyone saying about it over the year, it doesn't deserve that ranking. Saying it was a passion project for Schilling is off too, as stated, the game was fairly complete when it was Ascendant.
The game was easily one of my top-5 last year. I ended up playing it more than I did Skyrim, for a while.
Yeah, that's another part of this puzzle that I don't get - I heard that the game did well across the board.
spronk
FPS noob
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The problem was one of cost. If the game did cost $50m+ as a lot of people have said, then 1m copies doesn't even recoup development/marketing cost - 1m copies is around $30m to the publisher/dev after console fees, distribution fees, etc. So it would need to sell closer to 2m copies to even make a profit. EA also decided not to fund/publish KOA2, which again points to how poorly managed 38S since a sequel is almost always profitable due to brand development etc.
When you make a game on the budget of something like the Witcher 2, which cost around $8m, then selling 1m copies is a goldmine. When you spend money like a drunk sailor hoping that some sort of magic will turn your unprofitable first console game into some sort of hype machine for your company/MMO, you done goofed. Modern Warfare, Halo, Diablo, etc all cost $100m+ but also sold 10m+ copies, KOA was developed like it was a huge franchise but sold like a new game.
Schilling drama aside, I too am one of those people who doesn't get all the KoA hate. Filled with cliche? Sure, but at the end of the day the game was still damn fun to play for the most part. I was one of the people looking forward to where the IP was going both in single player and in MMO form.
The game did well. It sold something like 1.3 across the board, and EA specifically credited it as the main reason they were profitable in that quarter. The reason why it helped tank 38 Studios is because of the shitty publishing deal Curt & Co. signed with EA. I would have to look up the article again for 100% accuracy but IIRC the deal was basically EA gave BHG around $15-20m to finish KoA. Then, 38 Studios and BHG didn't see a single cut of any profits unless and until the game sold beyond 3 million copies.
It also turns out that 38 Studios was specifically banking on KoA to sell at least that much in order to keep the Providence studio and Copernicus afloat seeing as they knew well in advance the $75 wouldn't be enough to finish the MMO. Mix in a bunch of other shady shit and incompetence and there ya go.
EA still wants Amalur. It made them a boat-load of money for a new IP. I don't think they are interested in the MMO assets but they're part of the deal. A huge waste.
The only interesting thing left is who is going to jail and who is going to pick up the assets.
Also, this thread needs some pics
It also turns out that 38 Studios was specifically banking on KoA to sell at least that much in order to keep the Providence studio and Copernicus afloat seeing as they knew well in advance the $75 wouldn't be enough to finish the MMO. Mix in a bunch of other shady shit and incompetence and there ya go.
EA still wants Amalur. It made them a boat-load of money for a new IP. I don't think they are interested in the MMO assets but they're part of the deal. A huge waste.
The only interesting thing left is who is going to jail and who is going to pick up the assets.
Also, this thread needs some pics