The sad saga of 38 Studios took an even more depressing turn Thursday afternoon.
The beleaguered game maker run by former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt
Schilling abruptly laid off all of its employees, effective
immediately. Insiders at the company say they also learned their health
insurance will run out at midnight.
Employees learned of the layoffs through an internal email, which Gamasutra has obtained.
It reads:
''The Company is experiencing an economic downturn. To avoid further losses and possibility of retrenchment, the Company has decided that a company wide lay off is absolutely necessary.
These layoffs are non-voluntary and non-disciplinary.This is your official notice of lay off, effective today, Thursday, May 24th, 2012.''
Meanwhile, a person claiming to be a now-former employee of the company told Kotaku
that no one has been paid since April 30 -- and company officials have
not communicated the status of things to workers throughout the process.
Rhode Island news outlet WPRI reports
the company had 379 employees as of March 15, 288 of which were located
within the state, with the remaining located at the offices of Big Huge
Games in Maryland. That subsidiary studio, too, was reportedly shut
down today.
38 Studios, which earlier this year shipped the role-playing game Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning,
is in the throes of a severe financial crisis that's been impacting the
entire state of Rhode Island. The developer, which obtained a $75
million loan from the state, failed to make a $1.125 million payment
last week, eventually scraping together the funds at the expense of
payroll.
While Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning was a mid-level hit, it
was unable to help the company stay afloat. 38 Studios has been working
on a massively multiplayer online game, codenamed "Copernicus," though
that likely has been shelved now with the development team dismissed.