While the game received mostly positive reception with it’s release in February 2012, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning was met with poor sales and in the end caused the entire shutdown of the developer 38 Studios. The company was former Major League Baseball player Curt Schilling’s baby, but only a few months after Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning’s release, 38 Studios laid off its entire staff and said that the company had ceased operations.
The state of Rhode Island sued the company, Schilling, and its backers as the company was said to have used $90 million dollars in Rhode Island taxpayer money. The SEC is currently looking into the $75 million loan that was given to 38 Studios by the state of Rhode Island. As a result of all the problems, the assets of the company, specifically the Kingdoms of Amalur IP is being auctioned off this month.
The biggest part of the Kingdoms of Amular IP that is up for auction is Project Copernicus, an MMO set in the Amalur universe, that was being worked on by 38 Studios at the time of its shutdown. 38 Studios’ court appointed receiver Richard Land was the one that gave the information about the auction and also went on to say:
The bulk of the game and intellectual property I don’t believe is stale because the artwork is current, the tech used to develop the artwork is current, the concept is a current concept.
I personally hope that this sells and we do get a chance to see more from the Amalur IP. I never got around to playing the game, but I was intrigued by it and heard from friends that it was really enjoyable.
