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Project Copernicus was an ambitious idea that former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling set out to create. The ambitious title was founded with a visionary team that included Spawn creator Todd McFarlane, best-selling fantasy author R.A. Salvatore and Ken Rolston, who is known for his work on The Elder Scrolls series. Unfortunately, the project never came to fruition. 38 Studios filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy earlier this month, bringing a rather abrupt end to the ambitious project.

Curt Schilling recently spoke about the collapse of 38 Studios and discussed what it has cost him personally. Schilling, invested more than $50 million of his own money into the company along with a $75 million loan guarantee from the state of Rhode Island and another $5-$10 million from other investors. Unfortunately, that hefty sum of cash didn’t save the studio nor did exceptional sales numbers of its first title – Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.

Schilling discussed efforts to save the company until the very end, including a publishing deal, which subsequently fell through after the studio’s financial troubles were made public by Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee.

“I put everything in my name in this company,” Schilling said, adding that he wasn’t looking for sympathy. “I believed in it. I believed in what we built. I never took a penny in salary.”

Schilling is still facing fallout from the ordeal. Earlier this month he was named in a lawsuit by Rhode Island-based Citizens Bank at the tune of $2.4 million. Schilling also acknowledged that the former 38 Studios employees didn’t receive the notice he had hoped to give them if something had went wrong prior to the company’s collapse.

“They have every right to be upset. I always told everybody if something were going to happen, you‘re going to have a month or two of lead time, and I bombed on that one in epic fashion.”

For now, the property rights for Kingdoms of Amalur and Copernicus are the property of Rhode Island as per the loan agreement. It’s likely that they’ll attempt to sell them off at some point. That is, unless Rhode Island gets an urge to dive into game development.

Listen to the full interview with Curt Schilling and get his take on what went wrong over at WEEI.

via Boston.com
Source: WEEI