The auction taking place early next month for 38 Studios’ Kingdoms of Amalur and MMO Copernicus has attracted about two dozen interested parties. Among them are ”well-known industry figures”.
Exactly who will be present at the auction isn’t known as interest groups must sign an NDA and the auction itself will be conducted via telephone. Copernicus ‘unlikely to be bought and finished’.
If anything the Copernicus MMO project will be dismantled with bits and pieces used elsewhere. Hopefully the Kingdoms of Amalur IP stands a better chance or returning.
”It would be fair to say that there will be some version of the intellectual property out there. There’s value here – I’m hoping some people see a tremendous amount of value. Our objective is to return as much as we can to the stakeholders,” the auction holders said of Copernicus. Rhode Island underwrote 38 Studios a $75 million loan.
A huge legal war erupted with the closure of the studio founded by Curt Shilling with numerous studio leaders sued for the collapse. Rhode Island has agreed to honour debts in the wake of the studio’s demise to a princely sum of $90m.
Other IPs in the auction include Rise of Nations, Rise of Legends, Catan and Rise of Nations: Tactics - other franchises from Big Huge Games, including their proprietary Big Huge Games Engine.
EA published Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning back in early 2012 through the EA Partners label, with Frank Gibeau remarking they’d love to publish a sequel despite 38 Studios’ collapse. Rise of Nations was published by Microsoft Game Studios in 2003, and would be a perfect opportunity for that whole ‘we love PC again, we really do’ pledge.
