10 Video Games That Didn't Deserve To Fail THIS BAD
7. Kingdom Of Amalur: Reckoning
Kingdom of Amalur: Reckoning sounds like a game too good to be true. (It was in a way, but we'll get to that.) It all started with baseball legend, Curt Schilling, taking out a loan of $75 million to set up his gaming company, 38 Studios. After the money was secured, he got to work on Kingdom of Amalur: Reckoning, which was to be his company's first game (and sadly, the last).
Even though one could accuse Schilling's shift in career to be a vanity project, the sports icon proved he was deadly serious in making the best game possible. To ensure the visuals were up to standard, he hired Image Comics founder and Spawn creator, Todd MacFarlane, as the head artist. To guarantee the lore was well-written, he got Star Wars novelist, RA Salvatore, for the job.
After Schilling's team spent six years working on his pride and joy, Amalur was finally released. But instead of receiving fanfare and a parade, all it got was... okayish reviews.
It earned $4.5 million, which is.... slightly less than what was needed to pay back the $75 mil loan. Within 90 days of Amalur's release, the company went bust, and everyone was laid of, leave many staff unpaid, (including Salvatore who never received his $2 million fee).
Even though it didn't set the world on fire upon its initial release, Amalur is now viewed as a classic. It's also been remastered in recent years (confusingly subtitled Re-Reckoning), allowing the action role-player to receive the respect and recognition it should've gotten a decade ago.