Things are not going well for 38 Studios. They took a loan with the Rhode Island government to the tune of USD$75 million and have been under severe financial pressure to repay the loan. 38 Studios developed Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, an RPG that was developed together with subsidiary studio Big Huge Games, with Ken Rolston... the lead designer behind Bethesda's Oblivion and Morrowind(The Elder Scrolls games). Amalur's fiction was also written by fantasy writer RA Salvatore. The game did decently well but not as well as the expected over 3 million units.
An internal email was sent to all staff said, " The Company is experiencing an economic downturn. To avoid further losses and possibility of retrenchment, the Company has decided that a companywide lay off is absolutely necessary. These layoffs are non-voluntary and non-disciplinary. This is your official notice of lay off, effective today, Thursday, May 24th, 2012." This isn't closure, but things do not look well when you have to terminate everyone in your company. Big Huge Games was legendary for developing Rise of Nations and Rise of Legends under the helms of legendary game designer, Brian Reynolds(now at Zynga). Here's to hoping that these companies survive this troubled times.
Source: Gamasutra
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