Curt Schilling, GOPtard, bootstraps himself and assfucks Rhode Island

[Neil]

It doesn't cost 70 million to make a AAA title.  Something tells me that they just the money and ran.

[Valmy]

They took a 70 million dollar loan.

Well Rhode Island is insane for two reasons:

1. loaning that much money to a game developement start up

2. not restructuring the loan after the first game was a success to try to recoup the loan.

They basically are begging to be out 70 million dollars.  I mean with that set up their chances of the studio being able to pay them back would require a nearly miraculous rookie hit almost unprecedented in the history of the industry.  Total fail Rhode Island.  What the hell were you thinking?  I mean it would have been insane for Texas to loan Bioware that kind of money to open that studio they opened in Austin for SWTOR and that is an established industry juggernaut.

[Razgovory]

It doesn't cost 70 million to make a AAA title.  Something tells me that they just the money and ran.

It can be costly.  Modern Warfare 2 cost something like 40-50 million do make.  Still there's a big gap there.

[Neil]

It doesn't cost 70 million to make a AAA title.  Something tells me that they just the money and ran.

It can be costly.  Modern Warfare 2 cost something like 40-50 million do make.  Still there's a big gap there.

20-30 million will usually get it done, unless you blow your wad on marketing.

[Caliga]

Rhode Island is basically run by the Mafia, so don't expect the state to make wise use of taxpayer money.

[OttoVonBismarck]

I was reading about this. My basic impression is two bad things happened:

1. Schilling invested $30m to grow his business too large too fast. He was inexperienced in the game industry and just thought by coming in as a big swinging dick he could avoid the normal way that game companies grow. Normally they start small on a very small budget, release a cool but simple game, and grow from there.

2. Schilling took this massive loan that as part of its stipulations required he hire 450 people in Rhode Island, that made him essentially legally bound to hire even more people and expand even faster.

Basically he didn't grow his company organically, but just tried to throw a ton of money at the problem. Worse, the money was all either his own personal fortune or money from the State of Rhode Island, instead of what normal game companies do in their infancy (get by on a shoestring budget then get money from a group of VCs or angel investors when they start showing promise.) You can grow a company really fast if you throw tons of money at it, but Schilling didn't have that kind of money.

[grumbler]

20-30 million will usually get it done, unless you blow your wad on marketing.

Depends on the size and scope of the game, of course.  I'd think you could get a shitload of game developed for 20 million, unless you are incompetent with your game development management.  The Witcher 2 apparently cost on the order of $14 million, and Skyrim on the order of $25 million.  Plus marketing, of course, which can cost more than the game itself.

If 38 Studios had on the order of 300 employees, you have to wonder what the fuck they all did.  That's a payroll (including benefits) on the order of $30 million a year, right there.

[CountDeMoney]

If 38 Studios had on the order of 300 employees, you have to wonder what the fuck they all did.

A shitload of memos.

[Razgovory]

I think Modern Warfare is a upper reaches of spending.  I think Otto got the gist of the problem.  Now 14-25 million is pretty damn expensive, you made games for like 1-2 million back in 2000, but 70 million is just crazy.  The video game industry really isn't that profitable.  It's hard to make a profit on a game.  That's why developers drop like flies.  Look at the last 15 years or so, and you'll see lots and lots of good developers and companies have been bought out or gone out of business.  Even the big dogs like Interplay and Sierra are gone.

[Darth Wagtaros]

20-30 million will usually get it done, unless you blow your wad on marketing.

Depends on the size and scope of the game, of course.  I'd think you could get a shitload of game developed for 20 million, unless you are incompetent with your game development management.  The Witcher 2 apparently cost on the order of $14 million, and Skyrim on the order of $25 million.  Plus marketing, of course, which can cost more than the game itself.

If 38 Studios had on the order of 300 employees, you have to wonder what the fuck they all did.  That's a payroll (including benefits) on the order of $30 million a year, right there.

TPS Reports, and the Vice Assistant Director of Being Related to the Junior State Senator From Providence.

[Razgovory]

If 38 Studios had on the order of 300 employees, you have to wonder what the fuck they all did.

A shitload of memos.

Heh, Remember Ion Storm?

[Neil]

I think Modern Warfare is a upper reaches of spending.  I think Otto got the gist of the problem.  Now 14-25 million is pretty damn expensive, you made games for like 1-2 million back in 2000, but 70 million is just crazy.  The video game industry really isn't that profitable.  It's hard to make a profit on a game.  That's why developers drop like flies.  Look at the last 15 years or so, and you'll see lots and lots of good developers and companies have been bought out or gone out of business.  Even the big dogs like Interplay and Sierra are gone.

Being bought out isn't the same as going under.  It's pretty hard for the businessmen who founded these little developers to say no when EA or Activision dumps seven or eight figures into your bank account.

[Syt]

If 38 Studios had on the order of 300 employees, you have to wonder what the fuck they all did.  That's a payroll (including benefits) on the order of $30 million a year, right there.

They were working on an MMO. Not sure if 300 employees is justified for this.

At any rate, considering the production time of a top shelf MMO this company was doomed to fail: built with borrowed money, and with one game under their wings that was probably not cheap to make (considering they hired the likes of Todd McFarlane and R.A. Salvatore) and didn't make enough to pay back their hefty loans.

[Razgovory]

I think Modern Warfare is a upper reaches of spending.  I think Otto got the gist of the problem.  Now 14-25 million is pretty damn expensive, you made games for like 1-2 million back in 2000, but 70 million is just crazy.  The video game industry really isn't that profitable.  It's hard to make a profit on a game.  That's why developers drop like flies.  Look at the last 15 years or so, and you'll see lots and lots of good developers and companies have been bought out or gone out of business.  Even the big dogs like Interplay and Sierra are gone.

Being bought out isn't the same as going under.  It's pretty hard for the businessmen who founded these little developers to say no when EA or Activision dumps seven or eight figures into your bank account.

EA and Activision often buy up struggling companies.  They often shut them down some time after they buy them.  SSI was acquired by Ubisoft.  When's the last time you saw an SSI game?

[CountDeMoney]

Perry went through and deleted a shitload of "No, really how can we be sure?" posts tonight in the MMP folder at CSW from panicky wargamers.