Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning | The Game That Mugged Rhode Island | Geek History
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For anyone who doesn’t know, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is a 3rd-person action/rpg that was released in 2012. The epic fantasy lovechild of 38 Studios and Big Huge Games, it is a work of incredible scope helmed by some of the biggest names in the geek playbook. It was almost universally adored by critics, and sold well over a million copies. Oh, and it also drained the finances of Rhode Island like a bachelorette party at the Fireball factory.
Welcome back to Geek History: a series where I’ll address various geek topics with panache, brio, and a thesaurus that is thirty years out of date. Today’s topic is Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning: the game that mugged Rhode Island.
Let’s start from the beginning.
In 2006, former Major League pitcher and World Series Champion Curt Schilling decided that he wanted to open a games studio. For a man who had made his mark almost entirely in the world of baseball, this might have seemed a little out of left field. (See? We can do baseball jokes on this show). But those who knew him personally had a better idea. An Avalon Hill game enthusiast, Schilling’s love of war games like Advanced Squad Leader was huge, causing him to go so far as to pony up the cash to create an annual event, and even found a magazine dedicated to ASL. He was also an avid Everquest fan, and even wrote reviews for PC Gamer Magazine. So when Curtis Schilling decided that he wanted to make video games for a living, you couldn’t say it was a decision he made without enthusiasm.
In 2006, he founded Green Monster Games, which was changed to 38 Studios a year later, named for his iconic jersey number. Eager to break into the world of Massive Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games like his beloved Everquest, Schilling announced Project Copernicus in 2008. Funding, however, was an issue. While emulating smash hits like World of Warcraft is always the carrot dangling at the end of the string, the MMO game is a difficult one to break into. A recession was on, and Schilling was having trouble finding anyone who would help fund his passion project. And an MMO is one thing, but when your MMO sports the writing of fantasy legend R.A. Salvatore, the artwork of Spawn creator Todd McFarlane, the design of Morrowind veteran Ken Rolston, and the music of Banjo-Kazooie’s Grant Kirkhope, you’re going to need all the financial backing you can get.
Enter: Rhode Island.
Hoping to encourage economic growth in their state, the government of Rhode Island offered a $75 million dollars loan to 38 Studios after Schilling and company promised to base their offices in the Ocean State and employ 450 workers, thus boosting the economy and spreading the good news of fantasy RPGs to the home state of such luminaries as H.P. Lovecraft, Meredith Viera, and Peter Griffin. The dream was starting to look like a reality.
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