Today, former MLB pitcher and 38 Studios founder Curt Schilling gave his first interview since the demise of his Rhode Island-based developer. The interview was given on The Dennis & Callahan Morning Show on WEEI in Boston, a program on a sports radio station that covered Schilling extensively during his days on the Boston Red Sox.
The lengthy interview was distilled by the Boston Globe-owned Boston.com, though you can listen to the extensive interview for yourself. Here’s Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5.
The crux of the issue, according to Schilling, was that 38 Studios was never able to raise additional venture capital. “We tried for a long time to do that and it didn’t come to fruition,” he said. The money was largely needed to continue the development of Project Copernicus, the MMORPG set to take place in the universe of Amalur. This is the same universe where Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning took place, a game released earlier this year to critical acclaim.
38 Studios, at the time of its Chapter 7 bankruptcy declaration, had outstanding debts of over $150 million, with controlled assets valued at nearly seven times less than what’s owed. The state of Rhode Island is on the hook for a majority of the money, according to Boston.com. The Boston Globe report notes that “The company reported it owed money to more than 1,000 people and companies, most of whom likely won’t recover any money.”
Notably, Schilling talked about how 38 Studios began to fall apart at a rapid pace once a $35 million deal with a still-unknown publisher fell through to allow the development of a sequel to Reckoning. When a private investor, according to Schilling, tried to give 38 Studios up to $20 million of the needed money under an agreement with Rhode Island that would restructure the outstanding loan, the deal fell through. “If that happened,” this investor “would come in and save the company,” Schilling claimed.
Schilling also talked a bit about his own financial stake in the company. The Boston Globe notes that “he personally invested more than $50 million in the company, in addition to the $5 million to $10 million from other wealthy investors and a $75 million loan guarantee it received from the state of Rhode Island to entice it to move to Providence last year.”
“I put everything in my name in this company. I believed in it. I believed in what we built. I never took a penny in salary. I never took a penny for anything,” Schilling told Dennis & Callahan. He apparently told his family that “the money I saved and earned playing baseball was probably all gone... life is going to be different.”
Colin Moriarty is an IGN PlayStation editor. You can follow him on Twitter and IGN and learn just how sad the life of a New York Islanders and New York Jets fan can be.
Source : ign[dot]com
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