Kingdoms of Amalur studio in big huge trouble

[random_guy]

I feel kind of bad for not buying the game now. It just didn't interest or appeal for some reason, even though I'm a huge Elder Scrolls fan. Probably the overused fantasy setting.

[Smashbox]

It's not your responsibility to keep them in business. Generic setting + lukewarm reviews + bad timing (Skyrim's wake) = complete disinterest from me.

Also - "Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning" ... worst. name. ever. Seriously, though. That is the worst name ever.

[random_guy]

It's not your responsibility to keep them in business. Generic setting + lukewarm reviews + bad timing (Skyrim's wake) = complete disinterest from me.

Also - "Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning" ... worst. name. ever. Seriously, though. That is the worst name ever.

You're right, and good point about the timing.

[SMiD]

Dear Curt Schilling,

Fuck you.

Sincerely,
A very sad Phillies fan.

[Kadayi]

It would be interesting to see where the money has gone though. With a state government and tax payers money involved, perhaps their accounts will get a good look over. Having said that, I'm sure there are people involved on the R.I. Economic Development Corporation who wouldn't want that happening.

379 people on staff is a huge overhead. Monthly salaries + insurance + office rental + equipment, server support etc, etc. $4 million sounds about right.

Been playing the game recently and quite enjoying it. It's definitely got something of the Fables to it, and it's a little slow at the start, but it's beginning to pick up.

[Nalano]

Sincerely,
A very sad Phillies fan.

Considering your only other emotion is "angry," is that really that bad?

[Moraven]

Nicolaus Copernicus died on May 24th, 1543. As a friend pointed out.

[Xune]

But were all 379 essential employees or were they hiring to fill employment quotas set as part of the loan deal?

I'm not implying whole sale corruption but you can be sure there was massive mismanagement financially as well as creatively. Think APB and Realtime Worlds.

[Kadayi]

But were all 379 essential employees or were they hiring to fill employment quotas set as part of the loan deal?

I doubt it. I think it was a case of too much ambition, and that biting them in the ass accordingly (a competitive MMO was always a tall order). There are likely parallels to be drawn with RTW in that 379 staff is kind of unwieldy (when you start getting above 150 you're well into 'office full of strangers territory' which is never good from a direction viewpoint). 3 million units of KoA to break even is kind of insane. They needed to be less ambitious (and be able to live on 500k sales) and instead aim to build the profile of the studio up over the next few years by focussing on IP iterations, before extending into other arenas. Aim to do a Bioware and have two franchises on the go akin to an ME & DA.

[Nalano]

But were all 379 essential employees or were they hiring to fill employment quotas set as part of the loan deal?

State funding doesn't usually come with employment quotas.

What this sounds like is 38 getting too big for their britches. They gambled on a big project, bringing in A-list talent and whatnot, and lost. Simple as that. Businesses are allowed to fail, after all.

[SirKicksalot]

I'm pretty sure the governor meant KoA had to sell 3 million units to keep the company afloat, not to break even.
The game actually sold above EA's expectations.
Kinda sad that a Rhode Island contract destroyed a Maryland company. It's interesting to remember that three years ago Big Huge was saved at the last moment by 38 Studios.

[Sketch]

+ lukewarm reviews + bad timing

I was under the impression Amalur was at least pretty well regarded critically?

[Moraven]

http://media2.wpri.com/_local/pdf_fi..._5-16-2012.pdf

They required 400+ hired at the end of it.

Nice timeline. http://www.wpri.com/generic/news/pol...udios-timeline

General Info and Links to it:
http://www.wpri.com/dpp/news/local_n...ll-employees?3

[Spider Jerusalem]

I was under the impression Amalur was at least pretty well regarded critically?

81 on metacritic. it was pretty well received.

[DeathPig]

81 on metacritic. it was pretty well received.

How ever, you could tell, just by the feel of the game, that it was not going to be a huge hit. The combat system is fluid at best, but everything else is just shallow. How ever, it has copious amounts of dialogue, which no one really cared about. I'm like half way through the story right now, and I'm pretty sure I know only 5% of it's history. A pity that soo much writing went to waste, as I'm pretty sure no one else spent their time reading through this mush, when they could be shoving their hammer up a troll's ass.

[jnx]

81 on metacritic. it was pretty well received.

Yeah, and some people (like Gabe from Penny Arcade) said they think it's a better game than Skyrim. They do have some influence in the scene and that statement alone probably brought some purchasers. Still though, I don't know many gamers who thought it good. The demo made it pretty clear that the camera was beyond horrible and everything else was generic and dated, except the combat which was basic console stuff but a welcome change on the pc scene.

[Kadayi]

How ever, you could tell, just by the feel of the game, that it was not going to be a huge hit. The combat system is fluid at best, but everything else is just shallow. How ever, it has copious amounts of dialogue, which no one really cared about. I'm like half way through the story right now, and I'm pretty sure I know only 5% of it's history. A pity that soo much writing went to waste, as I'm pretty sure no one else spent their time reading through this mush, when they could be shoving their hammer up a troll's ass.

Yeah mechanistically the game is great, but the setting feels very generic for want of a better word. The storyline doesn't capture you instantly in terms of defining the world or the forces at play in a readily identifiable manner. From the wiki: -

"Gadflow - a Winter Fae and king of the Tuatha Deohn, loyal subject of Tirnoch and instigator of the Crystal War."

it's all very well to have the odd unpronounceable in a game, but too much as it's a case of 'who? and 'where?'

[Subatomic]

"Gadflow - a Winter Fae and king of the Tuatha Deohn, loyal subject of Tirnoch and instigator of the Crystal War."

it's all very well to have the odd unpronounceable in a game, but too much as it's a case of 'who? and 'where?'

It's (mostly) Irish, what do you expect? :P

At least they didn't decide to go with Welsh...

[NathanH]

I avoided the game because it sounded like it had the sort of combat gameplay that I never like very much.

[Spider Jerusalem]

Yeah, and some people (like Gabe from Penny Arcade) said they think it's a better game than Skyrim. They do have some influence in the scene and that statement alone probably brought some purchasers. Still though, I don't know many gamers who thought it good. The demo made it pretty clear that the camera was beyond horrible and everything else was generic and dated, except the combat which was basic console stuff but a welcome change on the pc scene.

i enjoyed it, but i thought it suffered pretty badly from the singleplayer mmo feel. i genuinely like the ip and i liked the setting, though. i probably enjoyed it as much as i enjoyed skyrim (albeit for different reasons).