'Kingdoms of Amalur' developer 38 Studios 'lays off entire staff'
Published May 25 2012, 11:05 BST | By Ben Lee
38 Studios has reportedly laid off its entire staff.In addition, subsidiary company Big Huge Games, who helped 38 Studios develop Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, has closed.
© EA
"The Company is experiencing an economic downturn," read a layoff letter posted on WPRI. "To avoid further losses and possibility of retrenchment, the Company has decided that a company-wide layoff is absolutely necessary.
"These layoffs are non-voluntary and non-disciplinary. This is your official notice of layoff, effective today, Thursday, May 24, 2012."
Started by Curt Schilling and based in Providence, Rhode Island and Maryland, 38 Studios' sudden closure supposedly comes as a result of Kingdoms of Amalur failing to turn over a profit.
Rhode Island governor Lincoln Chafee stated at a press conference: "The game failed. That was integral to the success of the company."
Kingdoms of Amalur sold 1.2 million copies over 90 days, but it apparently needed to sell around 3 million to break even.
Chafee added that the state ultimately chose not to contribute more taxpayer money to help out 38 Studios.
"I would gladly extend the life of the company if I had confidence it would lead to profitability," he continued. "We were not given that confidence."
I brought the game at full price and all the dlc on release. I feel robbed and cheated now. I got involved with the game which was almost perfect (co-op and a better on screen map for the sequel) and now there is no follow up. When Mirror's Edge 2 finally comes out i hope it sells so many more than the original to show EA/Dice that new ip's are worth investing in. I know EA were only publishing Amalur but surely they got a good slice so why not step in and help out here. Also when does sell 1.2 million copies of something not turn a profit? Mad world we live in. Hope the talented people who spent a lot of time making this game get picked up/set up another studio and hopefully buy/retain the ip and make a sequel if they so wish
May 26th 2012 at 5:11am
Kingdoms of Amalur would have been a LOT better had they hired a decent writer and used an original (and I mean fresh) universe rather than the tired quasi-Earth mythology that they poorly wound into the setting.
A proper adventure wouldn't have gone amiss too... Fantastic engine, rubbish story, setting, and questing.
May 25th 2012 at 8:30pm
I would actually say that R. A. Salvatore is, from what I have read of his works so far, a good fantasy writer and did a great job bringing the game world to life. I thought that the games lore was rich, and the world-building was well done. The world succeeded in hooking me, and I enjoyed delving in to the different aspects relating to the different cultures, races and lands. I agree that the world of Amalur wasn?t exactly the most original fantasy universe ever created, being full of the typical fantasy related archetypes that populate so many novels, films and games, but I think the game did its job well.
When it comes to most fantasy-related materials, and storytelling in general, I do not think quality always mean originality. There are many novels, films and games which have original stories and worlds, but fail on other levels. With KoA:R, I liked how the typical archetypes were used and twisted to create something interesting if not entirely original. I always thought that the same could have been said of Skyrim actually, while it is a brilliant game I never felt it was entirely original at its core lore wise, but it used what it had extremely well.
Besides when I delve in to a fantasy-related escape it?s sometimes comforting to see old fantasy favourite?s things like warm taverns, quirky genomes, wise old wizards and mysterious Dark Elves.
I felt that the game was a good old adventure, though I suppose what deems and adventure differs from people?s perspectives. (i.e. some people may think that an adventure means for an epic story with gigantic battle scenes, while others may think is down more to the characters and the choices they make throughout the quest)
I would say that the way the quests are set out and completed dose give the overall game an undesirable feel of pace (especially if you want to complete all of the side quests) and while for the most part the characters were good, it would have been nice for them to have been expanded with a little more depth.
May 28th 2012 at 4:37am
Such a shame, it was one of the best RPG's I have played in years. It had a really good story, with a wonderfully created fantasy world and fun gameplay. It deserved to do better. Thoughts go out to those who have lost their jobs over this? :(
May 25th 2012 at 8:06pm(+1 like)
I wonder how much better this game would have sold if they would have dropped the price to $15 - $20 or even $30.
Kingdoms of Amalur is a great game. They did a good job with it, and should have made alot of money. I would say they didn't advertise right for it. And now that they are closing, why not show the game off more. Drop the price, sort of have a rerelease event.
People today don't have $60 to spend on a game they don't know that much about. Go to steam to buy the game. Look at the preview videos for it. They are great looking, it's a shame that I'm not buying a movie.
We game buyers want to know what does the gameplay look like. We want to see a video of the gameplay. We want to get a good feel for the fun we are paying for. Is this game worth my hard earned money. Must of the games out there, spend alot of time and money making a movie intro, and they don't show you the gameplay. So, you have no idea if it's going to be worth it. You shouldn't have to go elsewhere, looking for the information you need to make a choice about this game. The game maker should have control over selling their product. They advertise, get the customer to look at their product, they should have the info there, to make that customer want to buy it. We are looking for a game, not a movie. I might watch the intro movie one time, but I'll be playing the real game alot more then that. That's what I'm paying for.
More people are willing to drop $20 for a game then $60, and if you game is really good, then word of mouth will spread like fire, and you'll sell alot more.
Kingdoms of Amalur has been at $60 to long, it should be rerelease at $20 and put up some really good gameplaying videos of the game. Get people to see this game, give it a second or third look. This really is a good game. Why give up on it, a game like this should make money for years. Why not really show the game play off. Take a chance, it might surprise you. I want to see more games like this one. But done even better.
If this game fails, then other game makers might think that this style of play isn't going to sell, and they would be wrong. I shouldn't have to go to youtube to see gameplay. Game creators should be proud of their and show it off, make us want to play it. Movies usually have nothing to do with the game.
May 25th 2012 at 7:09pm
Kingdoms of Amalur is pretty good so it's a shame that the people behind have now been put out of work, but for a new IP needing to sell 3 million copies to break even is just crazy. I don't know what they were thinking with that.
May 25th 2012 at 6:24pm