38 Studios is Working on a Game, Apparently, Afterall (Kingdoms of Amular)

[Sjofn]

I don't know why, but I envisioned him wheeling the gold down to the bank in a wheelbarrow.

[Sheepherder]

And he bit the coins to test their authenticity.

[taolurker]

I get the feeling that the original name "Green Monster Games" was a reference to it being a money pit.

that little mascot on the right caught my attention more.

That's the money eater!!

[Chimpy]

I get the feeling that the original name "Green Monster Games" was a reference to it being a money pit.

Uhm, I don't think so. .

[patience]

Logic and careful thought was discarded soon after they came up with the company's name. 

[Rendakor]

Well at least some of the employees have a future in the industry:

http://epicgames.com/community/2012/06/big-problems-need-huge-solutions/

Epic Games is starting a new studio in Maryland and hiring a lot of the BHG staff to work on a new game with one of Epic's existing IPs.

[UnSub]

I may be a cynic, but the speed with which other studios came to pick the bones of 38 Studios was startling. I'm not saying anything against anyone taking the jobs offered, but it certainly seemed like other studios were more than happy to pick the eyes out of what was available in terms of staff.

... or maybe I'm seeing coldhearted opportunity when the gaming industry really has true support for its members.

[Numtini]

I think it's more like nobody was really surprised. Sounds like Epic picks up a complete studio without paying any price to acquire it. Good for everyone.

[Musashi]

Aside from those notable few rose color glasses wearing employees, LITERALLY NOBODY is surprised. 

[Goumindong]

Also revealed in the linked story is that the company which is out $1.1M for the interest payment to the EDC replacing 38 Studios' bounced check, on the promise of receiving 38 Studios' currently non-existent film tax credits, is "Row 1 Productions" of Beverly Hills, California, a movie financing company. Another company had backed out of the deal, presumably on learning that 38 Studios didn't actually have the tax credits. But Row 1 went for that sweet deal.

The hilarious thing is that he wants to use the tax credits to pay off the loan. The tax credits are money that RI isn't going to get when they're cashed in on income. So at the very least, he is asking RI to give him money in order so that he can pay them back. And since he doesn't actually have the credits yet, he has to sell them for significantly less than their par value[I.E. if you're going to by 5 million in tax credits you're going to pay up to about 5 million dollars minus some premium for how easy/hard it is to use. But if you're going to buy 5 million in tax credits that may or may not exist, you're going to pay a lot less than 5 million dollars.]

Its insane. Robing Peter to pay Peter

[Azazel]

I may be a cynic, but the speed with which other studios came to pick the bones of 38 Studios was startling. I'm not saying anything against anyone taking the jobs offered, but it certainly seemed like other studios were more than happy to pick the eyes out of what was available in terms of staff.

... or maybe I'm seeing coldhearted opportunity when the gaming industry really has true support for its members.

I... don't see a problem. If I worked for BHG, I doubt I'd see a problem, either. I mean, what would you have suggested? Epic donate money to BHG/38 to keep them afloat? Wait 3 weeks and see the teams drift apart to anywhere with a job?

[Yoru]

Studios sending managers to recruit staff, or even acquiring whole departments, is surprisingly common in the game industry. This is just particularly high-profile, as both the acquirer and acquiree are big name developers and the acquiree was in the middle of a headline-generating meltdown.

The same thing happened when Midway closed a bunch of studios, when NCSoft closed studios, etc.

[Numtini]

Also revealed in the linked story is that the company which is out $1.1M for the interest payment to the EDC replacing 38 Studios' bounced check, on the promise of receiving 38 Studios' currently non-existent film tax credits, is "Row 1 Productions" of Beverly Hills, California, a movie financing company. Another company had backed out of the deal, presumably on learning that 38 Studios didn't actually have the tax credits. But Row 1 went for that sweet deal.

The concept that the cutscenes constituted "films" that would be eligible for credits was pretty hard to swallow, even if the government had been amenable. Either Row 1 are idiots or baseball fans or both.

I wonder how much of Schilling's attitude of privilege concerning state money was based on an establishment conservative's mythology about welfare queens and how the government spends its days writing large checks to people for no reason. He honestly seemed shocked that there wasn't just this eternal fountain of dollars and even going back, he seemed surprised at the time that Mass didn't give him money to match RI's way back in the day.

[Bzalthek]

Well it has been obvious for a while that Schilling, like virtually all rabid conservatives, have a complete disconnect with reality. 

[HaemishM]

I may be a cynic, but the speed with which other studios came to pick the bones of 38 Studios was startling. I'm not saying anything against anyone taking the jobs offered, but it certainly seemed like other studios were more than happy to pick the eyes out of what was available in terms of staff.

... or maybe I'm seeing coldhearted opportunity when the gaming industry really has true support for its members.

I... don't see a problem. If I worked for BHG, I doubt I'd see a problem, either. I mean, what would you have suggested? Epic donate money to BHG/38 to keep them afloat? Wait 3 weeks and see the teams drift apart to anywhere with a job?

I like that Epic is doing this, but yeah, they actually could have just bought BHG from 38 Studios instead of waiting until all those people got shitcanned and vulturing the talent. Of course, that's not how business works and they likely never would have thought of it had this not happened, because 38 wouldn't have sold BHG (though maybe they should have).

[Mrbloodworth]

I'm not surprised by the speed others are picking up people from BHG. Clearly they had a talented staff of worker bees. Management, not so much.

[Goumindong]

Studios sending managers to recruit staff, or even acquiring whole departments, is surprisingly common in the game industry. This is just particularly high-profile, as both the acquirer and acquiree are big name developers and the acquiree was in the middle of a headline-generating meltdown.

The same thing happened when Midway closed a bunch of studios, when NCSoft closed studios, etc.

It should be pretty common in any industry where the demand exists to support the studio absent mismanaging. If there isn't demand then the best will be picked up and replace weaker elements of current teams.

I like that Epic is doing this, but yeah, they actually could have just bought BHG from 38 Studios instead of waiting until all those people got shitcanned and vulturing the talent. Of course, that's not how business works and they likely never would have thought of it had this not happened, because 38 wouldn't have sold BHG (though maybe they should have).

Why should Epic have to pay for 38's mismanagement? All the IP that BHG owned would almost assuredly not come with the company since, iirc, they aren't 38's to sell right now. Epic might not even want a lot of the IP anyway, especially if they think their property is better and more worth developing.

They don't get anything from buying BHG except the name, and Epic's name is just as good.

(plus, you know they might not have known there was as serious an issue unless 38 was shopping its studio's around)

[Numtini]

I don't think anyone wants to get involved with that legal mess. It's just good to hear people are getting picked up. I'm a little less optimistic about the chances of the RI crew.

[Murgos]

I'm not surprised by the speed others are picking up people from BHG. Clearly they had a talented staff of worker bees. Management, not so much.

Eh, no.  BHG developed and launched a 1.2 million unit selling AAA title that received lots of positive acclaim.  Some of that credit has to go to their management.

If you can get the BHG team all in one go you do it and put someone you trust above them.  38 Studios management are the 'not so much' you would need to be leery of.

[Azazel]

I may be a cynic, but the speed with which other studios came to pick the bones of 38 Studios was startling. I'm not saying anything against anyone taking the jobs offered, but it certainly seemed like other studios were more than happy to pick the eyes out of what was available in terms of staff.

... or maybe I'm seeing coldhearted opportunity when the gaming industry really has true support for its members.

I... don't see a problem. If I worked for BHG, I doubt I'd see a problem, either. I mean, what would you have suggested? Epic donate money to BHG/38 to keep them afloat? Wait 3 weeks and see the teams drift apart to anywhere with a job?

I like that Epic is doing this, but yeah, they actually could have just bought BHG from 38 Studios instead of waiting until all those people got shitcanned and vulturing the talent. Of course, that's not how business works and they likely never would have thought of it had this not happened, because 38 wouldn't have sold BHG (though maybe they should have).

So... they actually couldn't have is what you're saying when you stop and think about it?

Hey. Maybe Gearbox should buy Volition! THQ's in all sorts of financial trouble right now. D'ya think THQ will sell them? 

[HaemishM]

I imagine Epic probably WOULDN'T have bought BHG, because it would cost a shitload more than just sucking up all the talent in one fell swoop, and they wouldn't have gotten the IP. It's becoming apparent 38 either should have been trying to sell BHG (maybe to EA who had a publisher arrangement anyway) instead of letting things get so bad the studio closed. It's a great vulture move to get an almost intact studio that has shipped a million-seller in the past year, a really smart move on their part and it's good for the workers. My comments are more directed towards 38 letting things get so bad instead of selling off a studio it obviously couldn't afford to buy or keep despite a successful game.

[UnSub]

I may be a cynic, but the speed with which other studios came to pick the bones of 38 Studios was startling. I'm not saying anything against anyone taking the jobs offered, but it certainly seemed like other studios were more than happy to pick the eyes out of what was available in terms of staff.

... or maybe I'm seeing coldhearted opportunity when the gaming industry really has true support for its members.

I... don't see a problem. If I worked for BHG, I doubt I'd see a problem, either. I mean, what would you have suggested? Epic donate money to BHG/38 to keep them afloat? Wait 3 weeks and see the teams drift apart to anywhere with a job?

No problems, and if I were a BHG / 38 Studios employee I'd appreciate it. Just between Epic picking up the remains of BHG, Turbine holding a jobs fair pretty much outside the doors of 38 Studios and #38jobs (or something like that) trending on Twitter, it was interesting to see staff targeted so qucikly.

I can't remember seeing the same kind of action when RealTime Worlds folded, Mythic laid people off, BioWare just laid people off, etc.

Just an observation.

[Azazel]

I think this way is actually much cleaner for everyone involved. There might be an element of vultirism (new word!) rather than strictly altruism, but this way the guys who were apparently working for some time for no pay get something to help them survive and even carry on with their existing colleagues much faster.

The other thing is that the larger studios who absorb the newly-unemployed presumably have to have something for the new guys to actually do and work on. That was apparently very much the problem when RTW went under.

[Yoru]

I can't remember seeing the same kind of action when RealTime Worlds folded, Mythic laid people off, BioWare just laid people off, etc.

There was definitely the same kind of feeding frenzy when RTW folded; several MMO shops sent managers and held mini jobs fairs in Dundee that weekend. Like I said, however, this one is particularly high-profile and, thanks to Twitter, is happening almost entirely in the public eye.

[satael]

http://news.providencejournal.com/breaking-news/2012/06/38-studios-decl.html

It's official, 38 Studios declare bankruptcy (and law enforcement is investigating)

[Numtini]

More from Boston.com

In its filing, the company indicated it had more than 1,000 creditors who were owed a total of $100 million to $500 million. By comparison, the firm estimated its assets were worth only between $10 million and $50 million in assets.

I'm finding it hard to believe their assets are worth $10m, much less $50m. I wonder if their estimates of creditors as optimistic.

[Goumindong]

Well, they supposedly owe RI $115M so...

Seriously though, that is a lot of money to be in the hole. You would think since they don't have any actual capital [and apparently haven't been creating things that can be sold like IP] they would have wanted to leverage a bit lower than that

[HaemishM]

Upwards of $500 million in debt? How the fuck does that happen?

[Soln]

Half a billion??  Wah?     Should we start to feel sorry for Curt?  did he get pwnd?

Edit:  $500M can't be right

[Abagadro]

It could just as easily be 100,000,001 and still fall into that box of 100-500M.  You use broad categories in the initial filing. 

[Outlawedprod]

Col. Steven G. O'Donnell, superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police, says that his agency, the FBI, the U.S. Attorney's office and the Rhode Island attorney general "are working together to investigate activities that have recently come to light at 38 Studios."

Someone is going to jail.

[Ingmar]

Money lining someone's pockets illegally would certainly help explain a lot.

[Chimpy]

Money lining someone's pockets illegally would certainly help explain a lot.

I hope to the Flying Spaghetti Monster that Curt is fucking hung out to dry on embezzlement.

[Ingmar]

If I had to guess, if there's embezzlement going on it would be far more likely for him to be a victim of it.

[Abagadro]

My guess would be securities fraud in their fundraising.