Curt Schilling, 38 Studios, and Rhode Island

I thought he paid himself back from that state loan first thing?

corporations are people, my friend

Pictured, top to bottom: Curt Schilling, Rhode Island

http://cdn.fd.uproxx.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Jeff-daniels-toilet-dumb-an.jpg

In his first public remarks on the company's problems, Schilling told the newspaper for its Tuesday editions that public remarks by Gov. Lincoln Chaffee that the state was trying to keep his company solvent were "devastating." He said that shortly after those remarks, a video-game publisher pulled out of a deal to finance a new game.

"The governor is not operating in the best interest of the company by any stretch, or the taxpayers, or the state," Schilling told the newspaper. "We're trying to save this company and we're working 24/7. The public commentary has been as big a piece of what's happening to us as anything out there."

"I have done whatever I can do to create jobs and create a successful business, with my own income," he said. "Fifty million dollars, everything I've ever saved, has been put back into the economy. The $49 million from Rhode Island has been put back in the economy. I've never taken a penny and I've done nothing but create jobs and create economy. And so how does that translate into welfare baby? I've tried to do right by people."

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2012/05/29/schilling_says_ri_played_role_in_companys_trouble/

this fuckin' guy

it's not government cheese if I am a recipient, see. hands offa my Medicare when i turn 67, too, for that matter.

The $49 million from Rhode Island has been put back in the economy.

what a delightful euphemism for "we had $49 million and spent it all."

he didn't specify WHICH economy ... a chunk of that $49 million could be in Cayman Island or Swiss bank accounts for all anyone knows at this point.

well some of that $49 million was used to repay private bank loans in Massachusetts and to pay mortages on former out-of-state homes of relocated employees, way to give back to rhode island, baby

i don't think he understands that you can't just "create jobs," you have to "keep jobs around once you have created them"

And so how does that translate into welfare baby?

also I'm hearing that the main reason that Schilling took the RI state loan guarantees was because he was unwilling to get private venture capital in the first place -- investors were unwilling to sink money into such a risky venture without a guarantee of oversight, and schilling was unwilling to give up any of his equity or control of the company

investing your entire $50m fortune into a video game company is one of the dumbest athlete investments of all time

seriously, just open up a string of steakhouses and call it a life

also baseball reference estimates that he made $115m in salary alone in his playing career -- what happened to the other $60 million?

something "scaring away investors" is always the most bullshit economic argument made by conservatives

what happened to the other $60 million?

pies

Lost it at the track?

Blew it all on Silver Age comics?

Bought Fleer and Donruss and tried to make them kiss?

clean socks

and that $115 doesn't include endorsements, any potential investment that he actually turned a profit on, any paid work (ESPN etc) that he did after baseball -- obv some of that is probably illiquid and tied up in real estate etc, but... $60+ million? he's either the worst investor/money manager of all time, or he's bullshitting about being on the brink of "financial devastation"

you're talking about someone who put $50 million of his own money into a WoW-killer

yeah.... yeah.

Did anybody here actually _play_ KoA: Reckoning? The sense I got was that it wasn't shit and not exactly Skyrim either.

lenny dykstra now kicking himself for missing out on RI job creation

why would you ever assume anyone's current net worth to be anywhere near their total lifetime earnings, whether rich or not? this is just a dumb line of questioning.

at least Tug McGraw had enough class to spend 90% of his baseball earnings on Irish whiskey and women. boy o boy, the standards for retired ex-Phillies has sure gone downhill.

schilling also sore that the state did not grant the company film tax credits as originally agreed, which they could have sold off to raise funds.

not exactly sure why a video game company would qualify for film tax credits in the first place, tho. and from the looks, the tax credits were withheld after 38 could not make their first loan repayment? idk

the film tax credits were promised on the pretense that these guys would make a porno

http://cache.boston.com/resize/bonzai-fba/Globe_Photo/2012/05/25/1337919654_0011/539w.jpg

Did anybody here actually _play_ KoA: Reckoning? The sense I got was that it wasn't shit and not exactly Skyrim either.

It's not a past-tense thing! There's a demo which I downloaded a few weeks ago and spent some time with yesterday - It's far from shit, but yeah looks a bit generic. Though they did post a message on their forums saying that they had a patch nearly ready to go, and now it'll never see the light of day.

the film tax credits were promised on the pretense that these guys would make a porno

from the looks of that photo, that just might have happened.

I am sorry those dude are out of work but that picture cracks me up

not exactly sure why a video game company would qualify for film tax credits in the first place, tho.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_based_on_video_games

the middle one might have a promising career in gay hacker pr0n if he put his mind to it.

sounds like most of them will be good--turbine has already held a job fair essentially just for the 38 staff.

And 38 Studios did pay well: an average of $67,500 for jobs created in Rhode Island, a requirement of the deal with the state. But a number of 38 Studios employees were making well into six figures, said Marc Mencher, chief executive of GameRecruiter.com, a Florida staffing agency that has worked with 38 Studios.

“They were really picky, careful with who they hired,’’ said Mencher, who is now working to help some 38 Studios employees find new jobs. “I am not anticipating that these people are going to have much trouble at all.’’

this is from a couple weeks ago but man:

Now that it has paid the $1.125 million it owed the state, Schilling's 38 Studios is out of default and once again eligible for the tax credits, if state economic-development officials certify that it has met all of the requirements for its $75-million, state-backed loan guarantee, and that has not yet happened.

But state Tax Administrator David Sullivan told a press conference on Friday that 38 Studios had initially requested $2.1 million in tax credits for 2011. But Friday the company submitted another application for an additional credit worth $6.3 million, bringing the total request to about $8.4 million.

http://news.providencejournal.com/breaking-news/2012/05/38-studios-appl.html

(how the hell did the last Resident Evil movie make so much money? is it because it was 3D?)

Milla Jovovich with guns, man.

well yes, but it made more than the previous two RE movies put together

since RI is generous on those state tax credits, all that they're missing is a RI Uwe Boll to make shitty video game movies to rake it in.

3D Milla Jovovich with 3D guns shooting 3D bullets in your 3D brain.

btw can I say, I saw that Dungeon Siege movie and it was SUUUUUUUUUUUUUPER terrible

Postal July 21, 2007 8% $15,000,000 $146,741

amazing

Schilling doesn't have a BloodRayne in him (bloody sock notwithstanding).

so basically the sweetheart deal that the state gave schilling wasn't sweet enough and now he's a pouty loser blaming the state for not bailing him out

what a vile pigfucker this dude is

And so how does that translate into welfare baby?

slice this dude's balls off and sink them to the bottom of narragansett bay imho

taking some dude's point above into consideration i am still dumbstruck that he is saying he has spent all of his baseball money on this.

oh yeah that part is amazing and hilarious, no doubt

CNN reports some bits I hadn't read yet, like how the total bill gunna be something like $112M when all said n done:

http://money.cnn.com/2012/05/28/technology/38-studios/

"MMOs are the third rail of the industry. Even established publishers get into trouble with MMOs," he says. "The latest good product, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Electronic Arts spent $200 million to develop plus $80 million for post-launch content and support. Then they spent $50 million on marketing. You cannot make a MMO for $75 million. Rhode Island didn't do their due diligence."

Nearly all of the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation's board of directors have resigned or asked not to be reinstated when their terms end.
Rhode Island now effectively owns all of 38 Studios' intellectual property and the rights to Kingdom of Amalur: Reckoning and Project Copernicus. Dent expects Rhode Island to try to sell the assets to a major publisher -- most likely Electronic Arts (EA), since they were 38 Studios' publisher for Reckoning.

Financial analyst Michael Pachter, with Wedbush Morgan Securities, thinks 38 Studios might be worth $20 million now. However, an out-of-business shell with a half-finished game and no employees isn't going to price well on the market, Dent says.

"[Rhode Island] should have gotten an injunction against 38 Studios from making any material decisions like laying off employees," Dent says. "You could have put together a tax credit package for 38 Studios employees. You need these creative people to make 38 Studios worth anything."

"[Rhode Island] should have gotten an injunction against 38 Studios from making any material decisions like laying off employees"

the mass firings put 38 studios violation of the loan guarantee, I think they have would have had to give 2 months notice if they intended to fire more than 50 ppl iirc