Schilling: Take-Two was keen on Reckoning 2, Copernicus "wasn't fun"
In a revealing interview, 38 Studios founder Curt Schilling said a sequel to Kingdoms of Amalur: reckoning nearly made it off the ground - but MMO Project Copernicus was less solid.
Speaking to Boston Magazine, Schilling said that although 38 Studios knew it couldn't meet a loan repayment due in early May, he expected to have found a financing partner by then, citing an unnamed Chinese company and Korean MMO specialist Nexon; the latter declined to comment.
Additionally, Schilling expected to have found a publisher for a sequel to Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning - Take-Two, the parent company of both 2K and Rockstar. The former pro athlete said the company was expected to sign off on the deal by May 15, but was scared off by comments from Rhode Island governor Lincoln Chaffee when the developer's financial troubles hit headlines on May 14.
Take-Two representatives have denied knowledge of any such negotiations and wielded the old "we do not comment on rumors and speculation" baton.
Meanwhile, the team's other project - MMORPG Copernicus - had been in the works for six years but was yet to hit its stride.
“The game wasn’t fun. It was my biggest gripe for probably the past eight to 12 months,” Schilling said.
The MMO is said to have looked great, but to have been unsatisfying to play - especially the combat, an area in which Reckoning shone.
The full feature is an excellent read for anyone interested in why such a promising developer fell down so dramatically.
EA has said it would be interested in a Reckoning sequel should someone get it off the group, but the bulk of the 38 Studios team has now joined Epic. Rhode Island owns the IP.