Rhode Island Senator Pushes For Independent 38 Studios Inquiry

[Andy Chalk]

Rhode Island Senator Pushes For Independent 38 Studios Inquiry

A Rhode Island Senator has put forth legislation calling for an independent commission to investigate the failure of Kingdoms of Amalur developer 38 Studios, which left the state on the hook for 100 million bucks.

The collapse of Curt Schilling's 38 Studios and subsequent widespread financial misery it inflicted is well- documented, but not sufficiently well-investigated for Rhode Island State Senator Dawson Hodgson. The senator pre-filed a motion [http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText13/SenateText13/S0394.pdf] to establish an independent commission that would investigate its collapse and the role that state agencies may have played in it.

The House Oversight Committee is already investigating the matter but Hodgson, who is reportedly considering a run for attorney general of the state in 2014, said in a letter sent to legislators that he believes "the response of our government has been wholly insufficient to the task of delivering answers, accountability, and leadership in the wake of this massive destruction of public resources."

"Working together, the General Assembly can and must deliver an introspective examination of the 38 Studios affair capable of restoring the public's confidence in our institution to lead this state," the letter states.

38 Studios was originally established in Maynard, Massachusetts, near the city of Boston, but was declaring bankruptcy [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/102420-38-Studios-Takes-the-Road-and-the-Money-to-Rhode-Island] in June.

Source: Rhode Island Public Radio [http://ripr.org/post/hodgson-renews-push-independent-commission-probe-38-studios]


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[moosemaimer]

That should read $75 million in loan guarantees.

 

[CriticalMiss]

If they are only in debt to the sum of $75 I'll happily pay them double that for the rights to their games. Problem solved!

 

[Andy Chalk]

Too late! I went to a bank machine and am now the sole proprietor of 38 Studios and rightful holder of all IP licenses.

(Okay, I'm lying, it's $75 million and I don't have that much in my savings account. Thanks for the heads up.)

 

[Reed Spacer]

Too late! I went to a bank machine and am now the sole proprietor of 38 Studios and rightful holder of all IP licenses.

(Okay, I'm lying, it's $75 million and I don't have that much in my savings account. Thanks for the heads up.)

You bastard. How dare you dash my hopes and dreams of owning my own game company! You're off my Christmas card list!

 

[Sigmund Av Volsung]

I am sad that 38 studios is caught in this never-ending hell of debt.

I hope things don't go the way of Badfinger for them.

 

[Callate]

So... good money after bad, then?

Let me save you some money, Rhode Island: the report would read "In retrospect, floating enormous amounts of taxpayer money to an untested video game company in order to get them to move to our state was not a particularly good idea." I don't think the people immediately in power are likely to make that mistake again; if the next batch has that little sense and that short a memory, a report that's tucked away in a file cabinet in a basement isn't likely to save anyone's skin.

But I recognize in my heart of hearts that this probably has more to do with certain politicians' need to seem "proactive" in their constituents eyes, and neither common sense nor "fact finding" has much bearing on the mission.

Carry on, old chaps... (He said, rolling his eyes...)

 

[Crimsonmonkeywar]

Shooting down a company and using them as a public punching bag while they try to acquire a loan to finish an almost complete multimillion, multi-year game.....wasn't the smartest thing to do. Along with your usual mismanagement of funds in entertainment media. End of the day, don't use government funding on enterprises if you're not going to monitor and manage said funds and prepare for any failure that might come, whether 38's heads were nefarious or not. Also, wasting millions to go after lost money you'll never see.....ya, not sure I'm a fan of that either.

It seems only Massachusetts knows how to do it.

 

[mistwolf]

Yeah, I am having trouble what they hope to gain from yet another inquiry into it. It isn't like the money is ever coming back, and it is just getting more and more expensive to have someone come back and say 'It was a bad policy, it got abused, and everyone lost'. It isn't like the CEO walked away with millions or anything. Noone got anything out of this fiasco, save maybe gamers getting a decent game. Yeah, it's a shitty thing, but it is time to just let it go.

 

[exobook]

Oh this could be a great source of gaming/political humour

Q: Why did the company collapse
A: It collapsed because no-one brought the game

Q: Then why didn't the government subsidise the game's price so that it was more popular and sold, thereby recouping its costs and guaranteeing a return on public funds.
A: Because the price of a game barely affects Metacritic

 

[sir neillios]

Oh this could be a great source of gaming/political humour

Q: Why did the company collapse
A: It collapsed because no-one brought the game

Q: Then why didn't the government subsidise the game's price so that it was more popular and sold, thereby recouping its costs and guaranteeing a return on public funds.
A: Because the price of a game barely affects Metacritic

Metacritic? Kingdoms of Amalur has an average critic score of 81, the user score is a bit lower, but since when did people actually read the user score. The game still sold okay, not Skyrim/CoD okay but still over a million copies. There had to be a terrible waste of money by the dev house to have collapsed like that.

 

[JarinArenos]

There had to be a terrible waste of money by the dev house to have collapsed like that.

Ding ding ding! We have a winner! Much of the funding and dev effort went into "franchise" considerations. They never wanted to just make a game, they wanted Amalur to be a game AND an MMO AND a series, and put a lot of work into things that never surfaced.

 

[TheRookie8]

Jesus Christ, dude! I read this forum title on my mobile and thought it said "Rhode Island senator pushes for independance."

Couldn't stop laughing.

...then I clicked the post. Couldn't stop laughing.

 

[Ruzinus]

So, what's really happening is that some jackass wants the state of Rhode Island to throw even MORE into money into this particular blackhole so that he can find a scapegoat and advance his political career.

It happened. The taxpayers of Rhode Island got screwed. Screwing them further isn't going to fix it.

 

[sirjeffofshort]

I may be wrong, but it actually seemed to me like this guy wanted to investigate into the state's involvement and accountability in the situation, which is something that I'd love to see happen. It seems like wasted money all the same, but I'm assuming this guy has some political agenda that he wants to shame the current administration for, and hold them accountable to the public as a prelude to some sort of regime change. Again, that may just be the way that I read it, but it would be interesting to see that happen.