38 Studios estimates it will take 50 to 100 million to finish Copernicus, Schilling looking for investors

Curt Schilling is out on the field again -- the investing field, that is. The former baseball star turned game developer is looking for more investors to back 38 Studios and their first game, the title codenamed Copernicus. The company's estimates for their game requires 50 to 100 million more in funding for the staff, all with their tentative December 2010 launch in mind.

Keep in mind, of course, that 38 Studios has acquired Maryland developer Big Huge Games, the company known for Rise of Nations, Rise of Legends, and Xbox Arcade's version of Catan. That acquisition doubled the company's headcount and has possibly driven operating costs into the 15 to 20 million a year range, according to the Boston Globe.

So far Schilling hasn't had any luck with potential investors. However, as he said to the Boston Globe, "I'm not going to complain about the economy. It's like pitching on a rainy day. The other guy has to pitch in it, too."

[Via Cuppycake]

Reader Comments (38)

I know someone who was in from the before company was formed days, and Curt's uncle told him, "never spend your own money", so they went after investors, and you can imagine the bridges burnt when 38Studios/GMG stole employees from Sony Online Entertainment. Plus Sony makes a TON of money from their movies, and an MMO just doesn't show the ROI that a movie does in a single weekend.

This MMO will probably go nowhere, which is a shame, because guys like Moorgard, and Blackguard, are really good people and great at what they do. Curt on the other hand, should go into teaching kids to pitch, his business saavy is lacking, and he is a horrible "leader", he is respected because of his pitching fame, but he has grand ideas that are seemingly retarded in an MMO world! CURT is also the definition of nepotism, many of the employees there are without the necessary education and background to pull it off, look at Brandon Franks, he is NOT the IT genius needed to make this a reality, but he is one of curt's boy toys. Someone gave Curt a book, "Good to great", but I would bet he did not take it to heart, he surrounds himself with people who kiss his ass (yes men), not people who tell him the honest truth), PLUS curt is impossible to get along with. Having known him for years, I know first hand what an opinionated jerk he can be, and playing MMOs with him, he is the body of selfishness...

But the GAME has ONE HUGE factor in it, RA Salvatore; now Bob is truly humble and a good man, and his creative nature is amazing. WoW was amazingly successful because they had years of client base, this game has nothing but a baseball smart-ass, and an amazing comic book artist who "rarely even visits Maynard", and an amazing novelist who is VERY Active with the production. However, with Curt at the wheel, do not expect this game to ever see the light of day.

Per the main article, in reference to WoW;

"Still, he said that he believes there’s room for a rival: “A lot of people are looking for something new, and a lot of the competing products just haven’t been that good.’’"

Couldn't have said it better myself. Wish all the fanboys would stop for a second and realize; the less competition there is, the more the big boys will stagnate. It sure as hell would be nice to have to painfully decide which MMOs I -want- to play, instead of playing the few that aren't complete ass.

I want this game to succeed. Badly.

Another game with big name people that won't go anywhere. There will be alot of hype, but I am willing to bet the game will be sub par.

Can you say Tabula Rasa...

Or it will go the way of Stargate Worlds...

We don't need another fantasy game.

I think we need another fantasy game - I can't stand scifi games. Believe it or not, just because you don't want another fantasy game, doesn't me millions of others don't.

I just can't get into scifi at all. Fantasy is what I love in MMOs.

I still remember all the drama around games like Shenmue for the SEGA Dreamcast, which costed around 30 million US dollars. It was a single-player game though, but still. Nowadays the larger games easily slurp that amount of money. And if the game fails, they have a serious, very serious problem.

Massively should teach their writers how to quote.

They could easily raise that money from Curt's MLB peers, they'd jump at the chance. 1-2 mil from about 20 people would be easy.

Comparing this to Vanguard or Star Gate Online seems apt. I figure it will end up in the same category -- horrible release or not released at all.

Here's to hoping your all wrong! =p RA Salvatore and Todd McFarland ... C'mon you have to want this thing to work. I've got my fingers crossed. =p

All that money spent hiring has-been comic book artists and hack fantasy novelists would've better used on game development.

Todd McFarlane is much more than than a comic-book artist. He also designs the most detailed action figure/toys in the country (maybe in the world).

Plus he made Spawn the animated series on HBO. My god that was good.

/me is still waiting patiently for Spawn: The Animation (that will never come out).

I just want to see what they've been working on at the very least... gotta be something amazing with that all-star team!

From the WIKI.

Copernicus died in Frombork on 24 May 1543. Legend has it that the first printed copy of De revolutionibus was placed in his hands on the very day that he died, allowing him to take farewell of his life's work. He is reputed to have awoken from a stroke-induced coma, looked at his book, and then died peacefully.

Call McFarlane whatever you want, you can't deny his artistic style. Which I think is unmatched currently. RA Salvatore a hack, are you kidding me? Yes he was a fill in initially in Forgotten Realms, but IMO the guy can write he came up with Drizzt. Log into any fantasy game on any number of servers and /who you WILL see a Drizzt character on probably 90% of them. BTW I'm a big fan of FR =p

50-100 million.

Nothing like a precise number to go with to instill a lot of investor confidence lol....

Nice try anyway Curt, maybe time to go back to promoting EQ2.

Yeah, that basically translates to:

"Our game is bloated and unfocused, with an ever-expanding list of features. We could easily work on the game for another 5 years and still not be ready to ship. No matter how much money you give us, we will spend every last dime of it, and then, assuming we're unable to land another investor, we will push the game out the door."

"The company estimates it will take $50 million to more than $100 million to complete the game."

Although my mind boggles at the amount of money quoted here I would like to point out that its not clear if he meant 50-100 mill MORE... or 'just' 50-100 mill in total to finish it.

My word... that's still an unholy amount of cash.

Anymore, I'm reminded of the natures of investment and entrepreneurship whenever I see a 38 Studios article. And in it this article in particular is that one particular nature in which the primary investor (Schilling) has probably never considered that he himself *should not* directly oversee the management of the venture. I suspect his lack of business acumen has gotten the whole company in a serious bind, which is why it requires more money to foresee any end to a product. Also, I suspect that they're not even close to a single plan as to what they're going to do (the world, its history, gameplay, and etc) in the first place. As such, I would suggest to anyone with any sum of cash to invest not to do so with 38 Studios, unless they show above board the exactly plans and any compiled server (and client) code done so far. Plus , I think this game and it's developers border on scam/fraud territory with such suggested investment figures, too.

38 Studios estimates it will take 50 to 100 million to finish Copernicus, Schilling looking for investors

Reader Comments (38)

Posted: Oct 19th 2009 6:35PM (Unverified) said

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