38 Studios: One Last Kick In the Gut
For those of you who don't know: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/38_Studios
This company squandered $75m in public and private financing, leaving taxpayers on the hook for nearly $30m when they went under after only developing two games (one released).
The founder of the company, Curt Schilling now says "I couldn't raise the final tranche of money and get the product to launch and that will never be anyone's fault but mine," he said.
Am I the only one who is profundy insulted that they couldn't bring a game to market with $75m? Or that they even took the money in the first place knowing it wouldn't be enough to launch? Keeping in mind: they had 160 employees in a posh office space BEFORE they had a single product.
I mean seriously -- that's a HUGE slap in the face to every indie studio on the planet, many of whom have thrived on a fraction of that amount. I guess that's what really bothers me...Schilling clearly had no idea what he was doing in this space yet got a TON of financing based solely on his celebrity (former MLB pitcher) and now his attitude is "yeah, whatever....stuff happens. My bad."
I am insulted.
Though this also terrifies me. It is troubling to know that I could burn through $125,000,000 ($75M loan + his $50M personal fortune) and have no way of paying back the loan or salvaging my dreams simply because I didn't quite know what I was doing.
They sold 1,200,000 copies in the first 90 days... And they sold them for $60 each. They should all be rich from this. That should be a success story. But they needed to sell over 3 million copies just to break even.
These games were something Schilling was obviously passionate about. He hired people who had a lot of experience in this industry. I have next to none. Can I say I wouldn't make the same mistakes? His passion for making these games didn't protect him from staggering, insurmountable debt, so how could my passion and dedication protect me from the same thing? I find that humbling and disturbing.
On the other hand, why the heck did they hire 160 people and a sprawling business space right from the start?! Any one of us could do amazing things with 20 employees and a renovated garage! How do industry experienced people let scope creep overwhelm a $125M budget?! Article says they knew it wasn't going to be enough fairly early on. Why did they keep going down the hole?
--Medicine StormIt's quite a shame all the way around. I actually enjoyed what I played of their one game.
https://withthelove.itch.io/
I should add, the game did feel like the product of a large team, with lots of content and relatively high production values. So at least some of the money ended up on screen in the final game.
https://withthelove.itch.io/
Curt Schilling was a pitcher before he started 38 studios, he had no experience being a businessman or a video game developer.
Remember how poorly you handled the production of your very first game? Well Curt Schilling did that, just with 125 million dollars.
So the chances of any actually experienced dev making the same mistake is pretty low. Although Chris Roberts is a thing so I'll probably end up eating my words.