The Kingdom of Amalur MMO was primed to be a Free-to-Play title
This should be some interesting (and maybe sad) news for those of you are fans of (the now closed) 38 Studios’ Kingdoms of Amalur. During a recent interview with Boston Magazine, studio head Curt Schilling said the Amalur MMO (codenamed “Project Copernicus”) would have been Free-to-Play.
Schilling also revealed this decision was one of the company’s big secrets and that it would have been the first Triple-A, $100 million plus (budget) Free-to-Play MMO in history. So, this was quite the ambitious project.
“I think when we eventually showed off the game for the first time, the atom bomb was going to be free-to-play. When we announced that at the end, that was gonna be the thing that, I think, shocked the world."
He concluded this portion of the discussion by say the game’s Free-to-Play model was drawing in plenty of interest from investors but once Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee voiced his disapproval of the company, the negations (which seem to have been drawing close to some sort of deal) ended.
By the sounds of it, this would have been an interesting project to keep an eye on … had the company not crumbled. Given the game’s budget, I can sort of see why that happened.
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g1 DISCUSSIONS
CloudyIce
Let's just step back and take a look at why Studio 38 failed. First they make an original ip with a MASSIVE budget, from money they borrowed and released it around the same time as the way more hyped Skyrim. Then they plan on it selling about as much as Halo or something, for a new ip? Not gonna happen.
Now they were going to make a free to play AAA mmo? Look at Swtor that didn't even do enough when it was pay to play. Combating WoW and upcoming games like Guild Wars 2? That was just a bad idea.
If only they had toned down the amount of money they spent on KoA, released it a bit earlier or later, they could of survived long enough to make a sequel or two, which would of potentially funded the MMO. If KoA was maybe the third or the second in the series, it would of sold better, and they wouldn't of had to borrow so much money.
Jyaku
Pretty sure it might get picked up by another company, since RI (my home state) now owns anything involved with 38 studios and plans on selling it all off. It may not end up with the same budget, but I'd love to see it finished.