Curt Schilling’s 38 Studios in trouble

[BDSooner72]

http://www.bostonherald.com/business/technology/general/view/20220515save_situation_for_ex-sox_pitcher_curt_schillings_video_game_co/srvc=home&position=0

Rhode Island economic development officials are reportedly are trying to keep 38 Studios afloat just three months after the former Red Sox [team stats] pitcher’s first video game release.

Gov. Lincoln Chafee himself spent the weekend working with company executives on "keeping 38 Studios solvent," according to the Providence Journal.

The Ocean State lured 38 Studios away from Massachusetts last year with a $75 million loan guarantee. 38 Studios had received nearly $50 million in cash from the loan as of mid-March.


I bought a copy, did not care for the game but I did try and help. 

[BDSooner72]

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/05/15/if-38-studios-collapses-rhode-island-taxpayers-owe-112-6-milli/

If 38 Studios collapses, Rhode Island taxpayers owe $112.6 million


http://www.wpri.com/dpp/news/local_news/providence/gov-ri-working-to-keep-schilling-company-38-studios-viable?9

38 Studios defaulted on May 1 when it failed to make a required $1.125 million payment to the R.I. Economic Development Corporation, causing alarm at the State House about the company's finances, House Speaker Gordon Fox confirmed Tuesday.

[BDSooner72]

Update

http://www.giantbomb.com/news/38-studios-pays-its-1125-million-debt-will-receive-no-additional-funds-from-state/4160/

38 Studios Pays its $1.125 Million Debt, Will Receive No Additional Funds from State

[BDSooner72]

http://www.theverge.com/gaming/2012/5/24/3041662/38-studios-lays-off-entire-staff

38 Studios lays off entire staff

Curt Schilling's 38 Studios laid off all of their employees today, shutting down both their Rhode Island office and Maryland-based subsidiary Big Huge Games, a source familiar with the company tells Polygon.

The news came as a surprise to nearly everyone involved, including the state of Rhode Island and Governor Lincoln Chafee who during an afternoon press conference said that as of this morning they hadn't heard a word about possible layoffs or a closure.

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Sorry for all the guys that were laid off and the taxpayers of Rhode Island. 

[BDSooner72]

38 Studios and Big Huge Games are shut down

http://kotaku.com/5913102/rumor-38-studios-shutting-down-big-huge-games

    38 Studios just laid off its entire staff, both Providence and BHG studios are being shuttered.

    We have not received a paycheck since April 30th.

    On May 15th, we found out we were not getting paid when our checks did not hit our accounts.

    Our medical insurance runs out tonight at midnight.

    We found this out when an employee's pregnant wife was told by her doctor, this was on Tuesday 22nd May this week.

    The company has not communicated anything concrete to the team throughout this process, leaving team members to figure out insurance stop-gaps (where people could afford it), etc. on their own.

[Brad Company]

I already thought Schilling was a douche, but this is ridiculous.

[Jason]

I already thought Schilling was a douche, but this is ridiculous.

I couldn't agree more with that statement.

As someone that went through something similar, I can really sympathize for those employees.

[BDSooner72]

I want to hate the guy but he did beat the Yankees in one of the great playoff comebacks off all time.

[Mike_S]

I met him a number of times in person when he was the cover athlete for High Heat.  He was super-friendly and nice, and he also did a lot of charity work. 

I also loved his performances for both the D-Backs and the Sox in 2001/2004.

That said, he is loud and opinionated and rubbed a lot of fans the wrong way because of it.  And he apparently needed a lot more people who better understood the games business than he had at 38 Studios.

[Jason]

I also loved his performances for both the D-Backs and the Sox in 2001/2004.

I can't stand him because of what he and his teams did in 2001 and 2004

Going off topic a little here - the 2004 ALCS still stings to this day because it was the ONLY time a team has ever come back from a 3-1 deficit (still to this day), and of course the Red Sox had to do it against the Yankees for a shot to play in the World Series. What's even worse is that the Yankees had scored something like 19 runs in their game 3 win at Fenway and it looked like the Sox were done. The final straw was the Red Sox winning game 7 at Yankee Stadium on Mickey Mantle's birthday. Maybe it wouldn't have hurt as much if the Red Sox lost the World Series, but we all know how that turned out

[BDSooner72]

When in doubt, blame the guy who gave you millions of dollars. This is not Schilling but holy crap at placing the blame on the Gov.

http://www.necn.com/05/25/12/Czar-of-Amalur-puts-blame-on-RI-governor/landing_newengland.html?blockID=714028&feedID=4206


but back to Schilling being a prick.

https://twitter.com/deliciousbees/status/206046314356678656


http://www.theverge.com/gaming/2012/5/25/3043282/38-studios-downfall-leads-to-second-mortgages-for-some-employees

Some of the hundreds of 38 Studios employees laid off yesterday were hit with a second round of bad news this week when they were told that homes they thought the company had sold for them hadn't been, and that they may be stuck with a second mortgage, Polygon has learned.

Several sources directly impacted by the mortgage issue confirmed the news today and a 38 Studios official, who asked to not be named, said the company is working to try and get to the bottom of the notifications and find a resolution.

One former employee said they discovered this week that their Massachusetts home, which they had been told was sold last year, actually hadn't been. The bank contacted them this week to ask why they mortgage wasn't being paid.

[BDSooner72]

Epic Games is EPIC!

http://www.vg247.com/2012/06/03/epic-purchases-big-huge-games/

Epic Games has reached out to the bulk of former Big Huge Games staffers in an attempt to rescue as much of the team as posible.

Epic president Mike Capps announced the company’s decision to employ as many of the developers as it can, saying the team’s continued co-operation in the face of mass lay-offs inspired Epic to reach out.

“On Wednesday, the ex-BHG leadership team contacted us. They wanted to start a new company and keep together some of the key talent displaced by the layoff, and hoped that they could use an Epic IP as a starting point for a new game. We loved that they all wanted to keep working together, but it was pretty clear they’d have trouble building a demo and securing funding before their personal savings ran out,” he said.



more at the link

[BDSooner72]

38 Studios declares bankruptcy, formal investigation begins regarding finances

http://blogs.wpri.com/2012/06/07/us-and-ri-law-enforcement-open-38-studios-investigation/#.T9Dfkr6ZVlw.twitter

Separately, federal and state law enforcement officials confirmed the launch of a formal probe into 38 Studios and its efforts to secure Rhode Island tax credits to remain afloat.

[BDSooner72]

http://www.bostonmagazine.com/articles/2012/07/38-studios-end-game/print/

End Game

Curt Schilling set out to build the greatest video-game company the world had ever seen, and to get rich â€" Bill Gates rich â€" doing it. Instead, the whole thing exploded in his face. Drawing on exclusive interviews with the Red Sox legend and his former employees, Jason Schwartz takes us inside the chaos, arrogance, and mistakes that led to the destruction of 38 Studios and the loss of $75 million in taxpayer money.


Great article, Schilling was just a dumbass.

Schilling put his wife, Shonda, on the board of directors. Shonda’s father received a job in IT (by all accounts, he performed admirably), and her mother was given the title “philanthropy and charity manager.” Meanwhile, Shonda’s uncle, William Thomas, became COO. Though a seasoned businessman, Thomas had no experience with video games, much less MMOs. Schilling took to calling him “Uncle Bill” around the office, and even in meetings with outsiders. According to the case study, Thomas told Schilling it was making them look bad and to stop. The nickname caught on with the staff, anyway.

One of the company’s final acts â€" between June 4 and June 6 â€" was to pay COO William “Uncle Bill” Thomas just over $12,000 for his work shutting down 38 Studios, according to bankruptcy documents. Nearly every other employee had not been paid for more than a month.