"38 Studios Spouse" Letter Details Anger, Anguish

Andy Chalk

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Nov 12, 2002
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"38 Studios Spouse" Letter Details Anger, Anguish


A "38 Studios Spouse" has written a powerful letter about how the collapse of the Kingdoms of Amalur developer has turned her family's life upside down.

Back in 2004, an anonymous blogger calling herself "EA Spouse [http://ea-spouse.livejournal.com/]," later revealed to be Erin Hoffman, wrote a scathing inside account of life at Electronic Arts, where developers faced crazy hours with little or no overtime compensation. It caused enough of a stink to lead to significant changes at EA and other major publishers, not to mention a handful of lawsuits, and today remains a famous and inspiring example of how anger, properly channeled, can lead to positive change.

In a similar vein, a letter published today expresses outrage with the situation at 38 Studios, the Kingdoms of Amalur developer that officially declared bankruptcy [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/117785-Amid-Controversy-38-Studios-Declares-Bankruptcy-UPDATED] last week. Written by the wife of a former employee, the "38 Studios Spouse" letter tells the tale of the studio's collapse from a ground-level perspective and explains some of the damage done to employees who were kept in the dark until the last possible moment.

The employee in question actually came to the studio fairly late in the game, moving to Rhode Island to join the operation at the end of December 2011. Things were already in disarray at that point, she wrote, but the family put its faith in "laws and safety nets" and apparently hoped for the best.

"On the 15th of May I sat down to pay bills and upon checking our bank account noticed we had not had our direct deposit made by 38 Studios. I called my husband and asked him to check on it when he got to work," the letter says. "When he came home that night he told me that he had to stay for a 5 o'clock meeting to find out they didn't make payroll. He was unhappy, but said that he was promised they were working on the problem and sure they would have it worked out by the next day."

So it went for more than a week, during which time he continued to report for work because if he quit, he'd be stuck with the cost of relocation. Finally, he was officially laid off on May 24, shortly after which another nasty surprise landed: Thanks to a "tiny print" clause in his contract, he was being stuck with the relocation costs anyway.

The Spouse is obviously disappointed with 38 Studios founder Curt Schilling, who she said "should have done better," but has far more vitriol for Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee, who opposed the deal prior to his election. "It is a shame that certain politicians couldn't get past the need to prove a point about being against 38 Studios and see they were harming their state in the long run," she wrote.

But ultimately, it's the shady behavior of executives at 38 Studios, presumably excluding Schilling in her estimation, that she fingers as the root cause of the trouble. "I blame a company named 38 Studios and all of their executives for moving so many families while knowing they weren't paying bills, weren't going to hit their dates, and were running out of money," she concluded.

The dissolution of 38 Studios means it won't have the long-term impact of EA Spouse, but this is still a sad and sobering looking at the damage that can be caused by poor planning, overconfidence and high-level duplicity. But maybe it'll do some good, too, even if it's only to convince a few people to pay more attention to what they're getting themselves into when they're considering similar offers in the future.

Source: Gamasutra [http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/172303/38_Studios_Spouse_speaks_out.php]


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Tradjus

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Apr 25, 2011
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The whole debacle certainly had one positive effect in my mind. Because of this, I think other Developers are going to see that building their house on sand, so to speak, and putting all their eggs in one basket is not the viable business plan that so many in the Industry seem to think it it.
Hopefully we'll see less developers having to sell out to E.A and get shut down eventually anyway after this, people making smarter plans for getting their games out.
 

TsunamiWombat

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Sep 6, 2008
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Mcoffey said:
That really does suck.

38 was doomed the moment they thought opening with an MMO was a good idea.
Going to have to concur. Sorry the Employee's had to suffer. Hope people understand that the word "MMO" is an excuse to run away from the job interview now.
 

Therumancer

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Nov 28, 2007
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My basic attitude is that there is no way to tell when this kind of thing is coming if the company is involved in information control. The only way to really deal with this would be for the goverment to force more public disclosure by companies, but people have been trying that for years and it hasn't worked.

While I feel for the family in question (losing a job sucks, especially in this economy, and in New England... as I can tell you from first hand experience), it can also be argued that you can't get blood from a stone. By all accounts 38 Studios is totally bankrupt and like most such situations it couldn't pay the employees even if it wanted to.

How responsible investors should be is a debatable point. Investors choose to put so much money into a company to gamble with. While they might have some say on overall policy, they don't manage things from day to day. The idea of an investment being that if something is going to fail, you can cut your losses. If investors could be chased down and made to pay for collateral damage beyond what they put into a company, the cost of failure would be too high and nobody would invest.

As a result I'm not really sure what "38 Studios Spouse" hopes to accomplish with her letter, especially anonymously. I don't think there is any money there to be distributed. Even without the fine print the most that could probably be done would be to auction off the actual property of the studio and split it among the workers, and typically that doesn't come close to covering their losses.

But then again I can understand how venting relieves stress.
 

Fiz_The_Toaster

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Damn...just....damn....

I hope that those people can get through all this because that's just dirty.
 

itsthesheppy

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Even if I could code, I don't think I would ever want to work for a game developer. It just looks like a nightmarish job to have.
 

Ympulse

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"Bawww my meal ticket lost his job so now I can't go shopping baww!!!"

That about sums this "letter" up. Sickening, really.
 

Amnestic

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Aug 22, 2008
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TheMadJack said:
And no link to the original post/letter? :(
The Gamasutra post has a full transcript.

I want to tell a different, but not impartial, side of this story. I am telling this for two reasons. First, to raise awareness and help for any of the family or employees involved. Second, so other people know what companies can do.

I am not a 38 Studios employee, a big baseball star (who may or may not have trusted the wrong people), or some politician trying to prove a point. I am very involved though and affected by this disaster, as a wife and mother, who has moved the most important people in my life to a new state. I knew Rhode Island would be different, but hopefully still an adventure and maybe a home eventually.

We moved to Rhode Island at the end of December 2011. We opened our presents on Christmas Day, took down our tree on the 26th, and began packing and loading moving trucks on the 28th, all because my husband was hired by 38 Studios and told he had to start work as quickly as possible. We spent a month living out of a hotel searching day after day for a house to rent. My children could not get back into school and could not start a new life until we found a place to settle. Finally we found a place to live, paid deposits on the house, utilities, etc. and moved. We registered all three children at all three new schools, because we do have one in each - elementary, middle, and high school. Finally, our stuff is delivered and our life can start again. It's always hard to move and this is our second big move, but we finally made it to the point where we can re-build our support system and boy were we ready.

My husband has been in the gaming world for a long time. Most of his life has been spent working in this industry and he is well equipped to deal with the problems that go with it. He is usually hired when things are ready to be tied up and finished or they need someone with experience who can tell the left hand how to work with the right hand to meet the release dates set.

The first week he worked at 38 Studios he was concerned about the different teams and their ability to work together. He went to more than one executive during the weeks that followed encouraging them to make changes or deal with the release date issue. The company was not ready for him to do the job he was hired to do, therefore he was placed on other projects to wait it out.

Obviously, in the weeks to come our family had less trust in what we were being told. We did not have a chance to love 38 Studios or [founder and ex-baseball pro] Curt Schilling. We really only saw the landslide of mistakes and ultimate failure. We did not see this coming or could we have ever imagined how in 2012 a company could get away with treating employee's this way. There have to be laws or safety nets or something ? right?

So, on the 15th of May I sat down to pay bills and upon checking our bank account noticed we had not had our direct deposit made by 38 Studios. I called my husband and asked him to check on it when he got to work. When he came home that night he told me that he had to stay for a 5 o'clock meeting to find out they didn't make payroll. He was unhappy, but said that he was promised they were working on the problem and sure they would have it worked out by the next day.

The next day began at 7:30 am and ended at 7:00 pm. It took 10 1/2 hours to find out that they still could not pay him and didn't have any answers. On the May 16th-21st, my husband returned day after day, told to drive in to work and promised pay, but every day came home empty handed after late meetings and more promises. The longest day was 12 hours and each day we were spending more money on gas and more hope going out the window. During this time, we were also trying to keep our children from worrying while they spent each day hoping to catch a glimpse of their dad before they went to sleep.

By the 22nd we were really scared and feeling lied to, my husband decided it's time to work from home to save the gas money as did many others at the studio. At many times it occurred to us to just give up and move on, but we didn't. There was one main reason. If we left the company we would be responsible for the relocation costs of moving to Rhode Island from just five months ago and we did not have the funds to pay for that after not receiving paychecks. From May 22nd-24th, my husband worked from home trying to come up with ideas to get anything out the door and bring in some money to save 38 Studios. We also get another kick while we were down on May 22nd, when one of the employee's wives is at her pregnancy check up and is told that her insurance company has notified the doctor that it was ending at midnight on the 24th of May. When confronted, 38 Studios admitted they had been aware since the 21st of May that due to lack of payment for several months, insurance was going to be canceled on May 24th.

Again, they knew the problem existed and chose to not tell us or give us any notice. On the 24th of May, my husband was laid off officially after six days of wasted gas, with no payment of wages for all of May (1st-24th), no insurance, slim chances of ever seeing any money since the State of Rhode Island would be paid first by all asset sales, and had to drive in once more to get his belongings and attend a meeting on unemployment benefits.

Ok, so time to lick our wounds, get back on the horse, and find a new job. At least we stuck it out and won't have to pay back our relocation costs according to the Chief Operating Officer. Wrong! On June 1st, we get a letter from Atlas Van Lines with 10 days to pay our overdue moving bill of a sizeable amount. Six months has gone by since our move. There was no notice at any point that this had not been paid and now we get a bill with 10 days to pay. Why now? Haven't they had 6 months to collect this? Didn't the company say we would be let out of our contract since they folded? Couldn't they have given us a head's up at any point before we were broke and our savings gone to feed our children? After all, a head's up on this might have alerted us to a problem with 38 Studios before we got to this point. Well on one page in a series, of approximately 45, we signed a document stating in tiny print that we would be responsible if the company does not pay. I don't know if most people are aware, but moving with three kids, a dog, and a cat from one coast to another is a bit tiring and this document was of course presented on the day our stuff arrived in Rhode Island, which was chaos.

So, there goes our credit rating no matter how hard we are trying to still pay for all bills with no income. We have no income, no time to prepare, and I will not let my children starve to pay for a move that did not exactly work out. Why hadn't Atlas collected from 38 Studios? We were told by an Atlas representative that they had a special working relationship with Curt Schilling, therefore they were trying to work with him. Must be nice to have at least 30 days, let alone six months to pay for this bill.

Am I angry? You bet! I have been taken for a ride and am having to take a handout from the government for the first time in my life. Who do I get to direct my anger at? Nobody! The ones responsible aren't around to chat with or pay for the consequences of their actions. At moments I think Curt Schilling trusted the wrong people, but at least he is having to deal with this mess too. At other times, I am angry and think Curt Schilling is a smart man and should have done better!

Where will we go and what is next? I have no idea and am just trying to feed my family and love them and hope moving my kids again won't completely break their trust in us or hurt them too much. I think we could have liked Rhode Island. I think of all the supportive people and friendly faces and how much kindness we have been offered since this happened from people we barely know. We will probably be moving away from this state and paying taxes and working somewhere else soon. It is a shame that certain politicians couldn't get past the need to prove a point about being against 38 Studios and see they were harming their state in the long run. I mean 38 Studios was already here and the way I see it anything that could be done to make it a success would only benefit Rhode Island. As it stands, there are close to 300 very talented people dispersing all over the country and out of Rhode Island. There is an empty building with no game to be sold and a bunch of equipment that will not come close to paying for what is owed more than likely. And worst of all, there are some great people here in Rhode Island that will not benefit from the boost in economy.

My husband is interviewing daily thanks to an amazing industry trying to make up for what has happened. He is a talented man, who feels somehow responsible for moving our family into this mess and wishes he could have saved this company and every person at 38 Studios' jobs. He is just trying to take away what lessons he can and move on.

Me? I blame a company named 38 Studios and all of their executives for moving so many families while knowing they weren't paying bills, weren't going to hit their dates, and were running out of money. Learn this lesson from our struggles so you never have to experience it first hand. Protect yourself and family any way you can, read the small print, and realize no matter how big the company is if they run out of money there is very little you can do to get what is owed to you.
 

Hungry Donner

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Mar 19, 2009
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She's being pretty generous to Schilling. Even if he is a moron who did stupid things because he has no buisness sense, and others at the top should have stopped him, he was still part of the problem.
 

Amnestic

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Aug 22, 2008
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Hungry Donner said:
She's being pretty generous to Schilling. Even if he is a moron who did stupid things because he has no buisness sense, and others at the top should have stopped him, he was still part of the problem.
Indeed. It seems kind of odd considering that people are attributing 38's failings (as we can see in this thread) to attempting to enter the MMO market with Project Copernicus and it's highly likely that Schilling's personal love for MMOs was a major reason behind them doing so. He's probably quite culpable, actually.
 

draythefingerless

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itsthesheppy said:
Even if I could code, I don't think I would ever want to work for a game developer. It just looks like a nightmarish job to have.
Only the bad ones. Its just a job like any other...you just gotta be careful what you get yourself into. I would never relocate without checking for company history and future plans.
 

Formica Archonis

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Nov 13, 2009
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Mcoffey said:
That really does suck.

38 was doomed the moment they thought opening with an MMO was a good idea.
Random clicking led me to Yahtzee's Amalur review [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/5416-Kingdoms-of-Amalur-Reckoning] last night. Now his comments on the MMO feel seem somewhat prophetic. And incredibly uncomfortable.




Ympulse said:
"Bawww my meal ticket lost his job so now I can't go shopping baww!!!"

That about sums this "letter" up. Sickening, really.
Sorry, doesn't even make my troll-o-meter twitch. Try being less obvious next time.
 

FieryTrainwreck

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Therumancer said:
How responsible investors should be is a debatable point. Investors choose to put so much money into a company to gamble with. While they might have some say on overall policy, they don't manage things from day to day. The idea of an investment being that if something is going to fail, you can cut your losses. If investors could be chased down and made to pay for collateral damage beyond what they put into a company, the cost of failure would be too high and nobody would invest.
This really is the new greatest lie the devil ever told.

People invested in business before incorporation because the payoff was still immense: the highest quality of life possible.

All incorporation has done is remove any semblance of personal moral accountability while socializing, to some extent, the costs of failure. It's not like the ability to "cut your losses" removes those losses from the equation. They just get put on someone else. Usually people like "Studio 38 Spouse" and her family.

But yeah, let's keep propagating the lie that we somehow need additional incentives for investment beyond the fact that it's always been the best way to make money and enjoy the good life - provided you know what the fuck you're doing. Let's protect people who do the stupid shit these executives and primary shareholders did at the expense of the families they screw.
 

cefm

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Mar 26, 2010
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It sucks when businesses go under, and it sucks worse when the people working there get screwed. BUT let's just take a look at what the underlying complaints are, shall we?

1) "My husband got a job at a fledgling game production company that had never made any games before, had one title that didn't do well, and it went out of business". This isn't an unusual occurrence, and while unfortunate, is by no means unexpected. They should have presumed this outcome from the beginning - the only reason to take that job is either desperation or willingness to take a risk for the chance of success.

2) "The company my husband worked for went out of business and missed its last payroll (or 2 or 3)". That's kind of the definition of going out of business and it sure as hell happens. I don't know what the "moving expenses" thing is about, but if moving expenses aren't paid up front or immediately after the move, you are likely not going to get it ever, so don't count on it.

3) "The gubmint should have bailed them out". Nah, not really - companies that make products people don't buy aren't good bets for public support, and there was no reason for Rhode Island to support 38.

So yeah, it sucks - but she's got no more reason to complain than anyone who has ever worked for a company that failed.