RI Governor: Amalur Had to Sell 3 Million to Break Even

[Hungry Donner]

So by 'break even' here I assume they mean for itself /and/ for Copernicus. There's no way they spent that much money just on Reckoning alone, and Reckoning started as the MMO then forked into the single player while Copernicus went on as the MMO.

I imagine you are correct, and it's a shame this wasn't clearly stated because it sells the BHG devs short. Reckoning sold just fine, but Schilling was an idiot if he thought an untested IP from a developer just getting into RPGs would pay for itself and have enough left to fund an MMO.

The fact that so many RPG gamers were still neck deep in Skyrim when Reckoning was released also couldn't have helped matters. Given that Bethesda is only a few hours away and BHG had several former Beth devs they must have seen this coming . . . . but I imagine 38 Studios couldn't afford to sit on the game for several months.

 

[Something Amyss]

Its not really a shocker since the game looks pathetically easy and wanted to be patched by people.

Difficulty, of course, being the only measure of a game.

Anyway, people wanted a patch, but only like 5% of XBox players and 3% of Steam players (last I checked) ever beat the game on hard.

 

[Something Amyss]

I am beginning to suspect that it wasn't just Shilling who was ignorant of how the video game industry works in this whole debacle.

I have a feeling Schilling knows exactly how industry works. The people at the top take a big cut, and fuck the people who are actually making things.

I suspect the latter is far more likely.

 

[Hungry Donner]

I am beginning to suspect that it wasn't just Shilling who was ignorant of how the video game industry works in this whole debacle.

I have a feeling Schilling knows exactly how industry works. The people at the top take a big cut, and fuck the people who are actually making things.

I suspect the latter is far more likely.

I think Schilling's failings have to do with ignorance instead of greed. A lot of MMOs failed because people saw EQ or WoW printing money and wanted to get into the action, but Schilling was doing this because he's a fan. Unfortunately he isn't a businessman, which is what this company needed.

I suspect 38 Studios will go down as the Ion Storm of the era: in both cases the people at the top had a lot of enthusiasm and dreamed big but no management of buisness skill. Ion Storm got away with murder because Eidos was pumping them with money, Schilling didn't have this luxury.

There are plenty of tech stories where the executives leave with a year's worth of fat paychecks while the investors have nothing, but I suspect Schilling actually lost money in this or broke even. Although this is just speculation, I'd be very curious to know what the truth it. Given how he's treated the situation I wouldn't be surprised if he sunk his piggy bank into this or if he drew a stupidly huge paycheck.