10 Terrible Decisions That Doomed Popular Video Game Companies

9. Wasting A Huge Loan And Nearly Dooming A Local Economy - 38 Studios

To say that Kingdoms of Amalur was a game with ambition is like saying that a burning building might effect the ice cream inside it - a massive understatement. We actually covered the story of this title's rise and fall in full on our gaming channel, but I’ll give you the cliff notes of what went down here.

It all began with a MASSIVE loan given by the Rhode Island Board of Economic Development to Curt Schilling, an ex-pitcher for the Phillies, Red Sox and The Diamondbacks. This $75 million loan was to help kickstart a video game industry within the state, and Kingdoms of Amalur was going to lead the charge.

The problem was that the money was spent, but not spent well. Good choices like hiring acclaimed fantasy writers and setting up cross-promotion events were balanced by terrible decisions on company bonuses, PR events and technical changes. It all led to a nasty situation where the game itself sold fairly well for a new IP, but it was a self-fulfilling prophecy; there was literally no way to recoup this $75 milly no matter how well the game sold.

In fact someone broke it down that, for 38 Studios to even come close to clawing back this money, it would need to release hit after hit without any mistakes or missteps for years to come. Not even current triple-A publishers can maintain that sort of consistency. Talk about a bad investment on behalf of The Rhode Island Board of Economic Development, right?

[Jules Gill]