Matthew Handrahan for GamesIndustry International:
According to a report in the Providence Journal, Lincoln Chaffee, Governor of Rhode Island, has been meeting with representatives from the 38 Studios over the last few days in an effort to “protect” the $75 million incentive the state offered to lure the company away from its Massachusetts headquarters.
Precise details of the meetings are still secret, though Chaffee has admitted that he is working under a “tight time-frame” to “keep 38 Studios solvent.”
38 Studios was created by former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, and had been headquartered in Massachusetts until it was lured away by incentives offered by neighboring Rhode Island. It’s been in business for six years, but the company’s first game was only released earlier this year: “Kingdoms of Amalur” is an action RPG for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
What a fiasco this has been. I’m glad the governer was trying to do something to help the crummy job market here in RI, but to put so much behind a company in a hit-or-miss industry with taxpayer money was highly irresposnible.
Too bad, really enjoying KoA, they have some real talent but the gaming industry seems very publisher friendly and developer hostile. Perhaps soon we can do away with the middle man of the publishers and developers can keep more of their money.