Both 38 Studios and Big Huge Games have laid off their staff

[MisterBubbles]

So a great game, exciting new IP goes to the wall, the industry is sad and doomed if you ask me. http://i.joystiq.com/2012/05/24/king...to-break-even/

[fuse]

Sad for those that've lost out as a result of this, but anyone who didn't hear alarm bells going off upon hearing the game needed to sell 3 million just to break even needs a reality check.

[Neon Ignition]

Not surprising, not a bad game per se but uninspiring. MacFarlane is like a videogame kiss of death for me.

[Golgo]

Delusions of grandeur, to seek to make a WoW-beating MMO, and bankrolled by a baseball primadonna who charmed funds out of a gullible state governor who saw dollar signs in his eyes. Traincrash waiting to happen imo. Was a very playable game, tho. More 'fun' than Skyrim.

[Family Fry]

Its sad to hear when studios just get shot down, I read somewhere though that they paid the writer,Salvatore dude 1.3million to write it. Todd McFarlane wouldn't sketch for more than a mil either. The industry needs to get over paying out large sums for so called established names when there are plenty of up coming we writers and artist out there wanting a big break.

[Golgo]

^ especially emwhen their work on this was so by-the-numbers!

[averybluemonkey]

And this is why you grow a company at a manageable rate. Bearing in mind the loan repayments needed to cover the $75 million they shilled out of the tax payers I don't know how they ever expected to stay afloat. Read that the IP is only valued at $20 million so that's one big, nasty deficit their state is left in .

[EDDIE M0NS00N]

Not surprising, not a bad game per se but uninspiring. MacFarlane is like a videogame kiss of death for me.

Too right mate. Shouldnt have gone near it with even a condom covered bargepole

[EvilBoris]

Sad for those that've lost out as a result of this, but anyone who didn't hear alarm bells going off upon hearing the game needed to sell 3 million just to break even needs a reality check.

That's a modern game for you , I was reading how Brutal Legend cost $20million and some of the big games have hit $150million

[JSR]

Sad for those that've lost out as a result of this, but anyone who didn't hear alarm bells going off upon hearing the game needed to sell 3 million just to break even needs a reality check.

Ghost Recon Future Soldier is in the same situation. Between 2.5 and 3 millions sold and they have regained their investment only.

[Golgo]

I think Mr B was right. Industry collapse of 80s proportions imminent. The indies will see us through, though.

[Guts]

If they really paid 1.3 MILLION dollars just for the story for a hack like Salvatore they deserved to go bankrupt.

This game just screamed lame, unoriginal, by-the-numbers, WoW-clone fantasy to me and apparently I wasn't the only one.

[Golgo]

^ The lore and art and writing were generic in the extreme, but the GOW-inspired combat was really refreshing for an RPG. Lots of good ideas, like being able to demolish and re-assign your entire unlock tree, which encouraged experimentation without getting punished for taking a route that ultimately didn't suit you. That, in fact, meshed well with the fate altering theme of the story! In short, the game systems were there and the programmers deserve credit, but it was buried by a lot of expensive art, lore and PR.

[Brad]

There's not much room at the top for the cods and skyrims. Smaller indie games that haven't got a bunch of idiots in marketing haemorrhaging millions on their hair brained campaigns will carry the industry for the next few years IMO. Non gamers making decisions about which game types are going to sell is a recipe for disaster. Cod sells millions so make a cod clone!! Madness.

[fuse]

I am fully aware that modern 'AAA' games are expensive and often need to sell large amounts to break even, and I'm fine with that. If a dev is in good enough stead to do a pet project then that's cool for them, but when it comes to unproven teams with a new IP predicting outlandish volumes and asking for loans of that size, you would think basic financial responsibility would have come into someone's head at some point and scaled things back. Ghost Recon is a completely different matter - that's a long-established series with a dedicated (and measurable) fanbase.

Personally I'm impressed Amalur even sold 1.5m, and it seems that EA were pleased with its performance too. I missed that the money came from Rhode Island before - that makes for even more uncomfortable reading. Ugh.