"It wasn’t that I didn’t want to tell anyone…it’s I didn’t know what to say."Former 38 Studios head Curt Schilling explains why he never told his staff about the studio's impending downfall in a new feature from Boston Magazine.
| Philip Wilson |
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WOW...really? Talk about a load of complete CRAP!
"Never admit defeat until everything's really over"...yea that works great if you're playing a baseball game & you make millions of dollars but not when the personal life's of hardworking employees & their families are at stake. |
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| Sean Scarfo |
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I do believe his (Schilling) response is weak at best, and cowardly at worst. As a professional, (especially with 400+ people depending on the success of a company), you take yourself out of the equation and think about the bigger picture.
Schilling should have communicated everything to his executive leadership team to give them the opportunity to pull some rabbit out of the hat. They should have shipped their game bottom line and do what everyone else does... patch it till it works. (While I hate that as a gamer, I understand from a red line perspective that money now makes a better difference than the same money later) |
| Zirani Jean-Sylvestre |
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Sad story...
I have read the article entirely and I can't help having a feeling of "déjà vu", here's what comes to mind: Fast growing company with questionable business model MMO development that appears to be a money pit and a death march Executives with almost-no-knowledge of the industry Reluctant "business partners", publishers "in the loop" and "almost signed-off" promizes Employees not being paid for several months Tax breaks with insane amount of hires as a condition Apart from the ambition of taking over World Of Warcraft with a company "from scratch", I see nothing too exceptional... I don't know many employers that would let employees know about the financial situation. It would make things even worse. Their main concern is to keep the company operating and they would fear key ppl's departure. I feel for the employees. They've put their heart into making their best and nobody will ever experience that... Hope they get well. |
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| Jane Castle |
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After reading this, Kenny Rodgers comes to mind: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xt5rrUKOgAU
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| David Glenn |
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Allot of people in this industry have very good gaming sense and the resources to execute a game, but the business end is at low end of the totem pole. In the company I worked for, the only guy that handled the business affairs of the company was not really an employee but a stockbroker hired as part time person - one day a week.
As is always the case in some of these operations, the true people that held the purse strings knew little about the business of a company and tried to toss money (that they didn't have) on problems. That’s not how to run the bottom line and make payroll. It’s sad because the owners had the right indentions to do things right and had a heart of gold, they just needed better business guidance and a better short and long term plan. When things got bad, it was hard on ALL of us managment and staff! It was a small outfit and I could feel the pain that managment was going though!! |
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| Kelly Johnson |
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$5 million a month? Yikes! That kind of budget is not justified for a studio that has no track record of success. MMORPG's are the ocean liners of the game industry. If you are a new developer for this kind of game usually it is a group who has split off from a successful larger company, otherwise it is a great financial risk to make a MMORPG with a group that has no proven experience making one. Perpetual Entertainment had a similar fate with Gods and Heroes a few years ago and had to close their doors and lay off staff just like 38 had to do. I knew people who worked there and they were kept in the dark until it was too late.
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