14 DAY TRIAL // Lincoln Chafee, who is the Governor of Rhode Island, has stated that Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, the action role-playing game from developers at 38 Studios and Big Huge Games, needed to generate sales of more than 3 million units in order to cover the development costs.
Curt Schilling, who was the leader of 38 Studios, previously announced via Twitter that the game managed to move 1.22 million copies in its first 90 days on sales, presumably on markets all over the world.
This means that the game had little hope of ever recuperating the resources that were invested in its creation.
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning was launched during February and initial reaction from reviewers was positive, but gamers failed to buy it in great numbers, with sales in the United States during release month amounting to just 300,000 copies.
The game combined a new game world, created by well-known author R.A. Salvatore, with a set of mechanics that focused more on quick action than on traditional role-playing progression.
The new universe was supposed to also serve as the basis for an MMO called Copernicus that was set to be launched in late 2013.
38 Studios always insisted that creating the action role-playing title was a way of both creating a fan base for Copernicus and of testing a number of new mechanics.
38 Studios and Big Huge Games both laid off all their staff after the two companies were affected by financial trouble.
This probably means that Copernicus will never be released in its current form.
Analyst Michael Pachter has suggested that Electronic Arts might be interested in picking up the intellectual property for a low price and could then further develop it.
A representative from the company has suggested that EA was currently not interested and that it was waiting for a resolution to the situation at 38 Studios.