38 Studios auction finds no buyers for Kingdoms of Amalur rights, "Copernicus" MMO
An auction to sell off the assets of shuttered game developer 38 Studios found no buyers for either its unfinished MMO—known as Project Copernicus—or the rights to RPG Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning , according to a report in the Providence Journal. The Wednesday auction was part of an ongoing effort to recover funds following the bankruptcy and closure of the Rhode Island developer in 2012.
The auction did find some success by selling off the rights to Rise of Nations and its spin-off Rise of Legends, in addition to the trademark for Big Huge Games, the subsidiary company that helped develop Reckoning. The entire auction raised $320,000, according to the lawyer managing the sale, Richard J. Land.
“The Receiver did not receive acceptable offers for the remaining lots, including Project Copernicus, 38 Studios' in-development Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game, and Helios, 38 Studios' integrated social media platform," said Land in a statement, according to the Providence Journal.
Both the Curt Schilling-founded 38 Studios as well as Big Huge Games saw difficulty soon after the release of Reckoning in early 2012 and subsequently missed payments on millions of dollars in loans from the government of Rhode Island. The Copernicus MMO had once been projected to be released earlier this year, but now looks unlikely to ever see the light of day.
Thanks, Game Industry International .
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