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No charges issued following 4-year investigation into Kingdoms of Amalur dev 38 Studios

State Police Colonel Steven O'Donnell says investigators found 'no probable cause to establish that a crime was committed.'

David Craddock

July 29, 2016 4:05 PM

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Rhode Island State Police Colonel Steven O'Donnell held a press conference this afternoon to disclose that no charges will be filed stemming from the four-year investigation into Kingdoms of Amalur developer 38 Studios (via GameSpot).

O'Donnell explained that facts discovered during the lengthy investigation revealed that no laws were broken that would call for charges to be issued again founder Curt Schilling or other parties involved in 38 Studios' collapse. "In this particular matter," he said, "we have found no probable cause to establish that a crime was committed. It is the investigative opinion of the Rhode Island State Police and the Department of the Attorney General that a bad deal does not always equate to an indictment."

Rhode Island attorney General Peter Kilmartin echoed O'Donnell, saying at the press conference that he and others involved in the investigation "share the frustrations of all Rhode Islanders when it comes to the entire 38 Studios episode."

R.A. Salvatore (left) and Curt Schilling. (Image courtesy of New York Times.)

If you don't know the twists and turns of the "38 Studios episode," as Kilmartin put it, you're in for quite a tale. It began when former MLB pitcher Curt Schilling founded 38 Studios in Massachusetts in 2006. Schilling relocated the company to Rhode Island after the state's Economic Development Corporation (EDC) approved a $75 million loan, which Schilling pledged to use to create over 450 direct jobs and over 1,000 indirect jobs to Rhode Island by the end of 2012.

At the time of the move, 38 Studios was working on two products. One was Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, a single-player RPG released in 2012 co-written by fantasy author R.A. Salvatore, who penned over 10,000 years' worth of backstory for the world. The other was codenamed Project Copernicus, an MMO that was never finished.

Kingdoms of Amalur released in 2012 and became a hit right out of the gate, garnering positive reviews and selling 330,000 copies during its first month. That number rose to 1.2 million copies within its first 90 days of availability.

Unfortunately, Schilling found himself unable to keep up on loan repayments to Rhode Island's EDC. He defaulted on a payment of $1.25 million. When Schilling failed to make payroll, Rhode Island's government swooped in and assumed control of 38 Studios. The studio declared bankruptcy in June 2012, and the investigation began then and came to an end today.

Naturally, the State of Rhode Island wanted to know what had happened to its $75 million and filed a lawsuit against Schilling and other higher-ups at 38. That and other suits are still pending separate from the outcome of this investigation.

I've had the opportunity to speak with R.A. Salvatore on a few occasions, the most recent occurring in the fall of 2014 for The Escapist. We talked extensively about the fate of 38 Studios, and his thoughts on Curt Schilling.

"I remember when [a journalist] called me up and said, 'They owe you $2 million. Why aren't you suing Curt?' Why would I sue Curt? He didn't do anything wrong. He didn't do anything nefarious. Maybe he made a couple of bad business decisions, I don't know. But he didn't do anything nefarious, and he got wiped out. He's lying in the gutter and you want me to kick him in the head? Why would anyone do that?"

David Craddock

Long Reads Editor

David L. Craddock writes fiction, nonfiction, and grocery lists. He is the author of the Stay Awhile and Listen series, and the Gairden Chronicles series of fantasy novels for young adults. Outside of writing, he enjoys playing Mario, Zelda, and Dark Souls games, and will be happy to discuss at length the myriad reasons why Dark Souls 2 is the best in the series. Follow him online at davidlcraddock.com and @davidlcraddock.