Curt Schilling Seeks Dismissal of 38 Studios Lawsuit

[Andy Chalk]

Curt Schilling Seeks Dismissal of 38 Studios Lawsuit

Lawyers for Curt Schilling say the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation knew what it was doing when it threw tens of millions of dollars at the Kingdoms of Amalur studio.

In a November 2012 lawsuit [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/120456-Rhode-Island-Sues-Over-38-Studios] filed against former Red Sox ace and 38 Studios founder Curt Schilling and other former executives, the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation stated that the company "failed because of risks that had not been disclosed to the EDC Board, but were or should have been known by... 38 Studios, and defendants Schilling, [board member Thomas] Zaccagnino, [Chief Financial Officer Richard] Wester and [former CEO Jennifer] MacLean."

According to a new filing made by lawyers representing the defendants, however, 38 Studios executives "repeatedly disclosed" the company's financial requirements to EDC officials, who nonetheless elected to hold back some of the $75 million it needed. In fact, the resolution passed by the EDC board in support of Schilling's company indicated the that the estimated cost of making the Kingdoms of Amalur MMO would ultimately exceed $125 million.

"Given the EDC's admissions concerning 38 Studios' disclosures to the EDC's executives, attorneys and financial advisor, it is impossible for the EDC simultaneously to claim that the 38 Studios defendants supposedly defrauded the EDC," the filing says. It also notes that the lawsuit does not prove that anyone at the studio made false claims about the state of the company.

Schilling said last summer that the 38 Studios debacle had "tapped out [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/118053-38-Studios-Founder-is-All-Tapped-Out]" the fortune he earned in his baseball career. In February he was forced to sell the bloody sock he wore during game 2 of the 2004 World Series, which went for a little shy of $93,000; the EDC lawsuit against Schilling doesn't specify a dollar amount but wants him and other former executives to repay the bonds issued to the studio and also seeks triple damages. With interest, the collapse of the studio left Rhode Island holding approximately $100 million in bad debt.

Source: AP [http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SCHILLINGS_GAMING_COMPANY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT]


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[Zombie_Moogle]

You invest in a business, you gotta expect the risk that it might flop

Sorry, Rhode Island

 

[SonOfMethuselah]

It's stuff like this that leads us to the homogenization of the gaming industry. A new company rises up, releases a new IP, and fails spectacularly, thus confirming (at least to the industry bigwigs) that what people want is old, familiar, safe franchises. It's a gigantic shame, and I refuse to believe for a second that Rhode Island's EDC didn't know what they were getting in to. You don't invest that much money into something on an off-chance the investment will pay back somehow: you do your goddamn research.

 

[FEichinger]

The only people who might deserve money from Schilling now are the employees he screwed over.

Which he only had to becaue Rhode Island didn't pay to begin, and now even sues him for all his wealth.

It's an awful situation for everyone involved, but Rhode Island is acting on political opportunism. I mean, heading out to the people and admitting that "Well, we invested in something and it failed." doesn't fly well with the public, apparently, while ruining people's lives is fully acceptable since, hey, they totally screwed us over, right?

 

[Therumancer]

It's stuff like this that leads us to the homogenization of the gaming industry. A new company rises up, releases a new IP, and fails spectacularly, thus confirming (at least to the industry bigwigs) that what people want is old, familiar, safe franchises. It's a gigantic shame, and I refuse to believe for a second that Rhode Island's EDC didn't know what they were getting in to. You don't invest that much money into something on an off-chance the investment will pay back somehow: you do your goddamn research.

Pretty much my thoughts. I think Rhode Island saw how video game development was doing well in some other states, and even other countries, and thought that having it's own local studio would be a big win. It took the risks, and this one didn't pan out. Frankly though I also get the impression that Rhode Island was also in part responsible for the failure of this game studio as it did hold back money that the company needed, helping to fuel the collapse, and removing any chance of it recouping it's losses.

I'll also say that while Amalur was a pretty solid first game (and sadly we won't see more), the whole MMO plan was a bit dubious to begin with, and where a lot of the problems seemed to come from. The MMO business is not something you should get into without a very solid plan nowadays, and one should probably expect such a developer to have some credentials beforehand.

-

Now to jump off the "deep end" as far as many people will think (though do a search for Rhode Island and Mafia together if your want to notice some interesting trends), I've been looking at this one for an angle for someone to have benefitted from because Rhode Island has always been one of the more mobbed up states out there. The way this seems to me, decent "start up" product, ambitious but ultimatly hollow (and kind of badly planned) long term plans that got some head scratching from observors, and tens of millions of dollars being thrown around. To me it seems like it might have been a plan to move a lot of currency around and leave the state holding the bag. I don't have a good mind for that though. I've been waiting nearly every day to hear something about the FBI working this into some pattern.

 

[Baldr]

38 Studios was grossly mismanaged, but from all the media reports, I don't think they were defrauding the State of Rhode Island. There were a legitimate studio, they were just overspending. I've seen a lot of companies go under who tried to defraud take what was left and run. This didn't seem to be the case either.

 

[Dogstile]

The more I read about this, the more I think he got fucked over by Rhode Island. They invested and failed, they held back money from the studio but because they're the government their they're suing him for everything he has. That's not how investment works.

 

[Nalgas D. Lemur]

Now to jump off the "deep end" as far as many people will think (though do a search for Rhode Island and Mafia together if your want to notice some interesting trends), I've been looking at this one for an angle for someone to have benefitted from because Rhode Island has always been one of the more mobbed up states out there.

That's one way to put it. For example, I've always been amused by the whole Buddy Cianci thing, with how much they still seemed to like him in Providence to keep him around as mayor even after all the trouble he got himself into. I don't always entirely understand the place, but it's alright to visit.

 

[HippySteve]

As a Rhode Islander, I feel sound in saying that my state is being a fucking twat about this whole thing.