PROVIDENCE - The R.I. Economic Development Corporation board of directors is scheduled to vote Monday on a request from 38 Studios LLC for a $75 million loan guarantee that would bring the video-gaming company founded by former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling to Providence. The scheduled vote would come three days after the four-year-old company unveiled its first game.
Up for approval Monday is a proposal under which the EDC would issue $75 million in revenue bonds from the $125 million Job Creation Guaranty Program, created by the legislature last month. A group of investors, led by Wells Fargo, would purchase the bonds and 38 Studios would be responsible for paying back Wells Fargo and other investors. The state guarantee would come into play if 38 Studios defaults.
The EDC board is scheduled to meet at 4 p.m. at EDC headquarters off Valley Street. The meeting is open to the public, but the agenda includes a provision for executive session if needed. State law allows closed sessions when the location of prospective businesses is under discussion.
Meanwhile, Schilling’s company released details of its first product at a gaming convention Thursday in San Diego.
At the Comic-Con convention in San Diego Thursday, 38 Studios unveiled its first product, a video game entitled “Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning,” scheduled for release in 2011.
Previously called “Project Mercury,” the game is the first incarnation of the universe that will underpin future games developed by 38 Studios, according to the gaming website www.gamusutra.com.
Ken Rolston, formerly lead designer for Big Huge Games, which 38 Studios acquired last year, said in a news release that the game includes “something new that we’ve always wanted from the genre – a fast-paced, graphically stimulating action combat experience with fluid control and immersive, discoverable game-play [that] fans haven’t seen before in other fantasy [games].”
“Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning” is an epic, open-world role-playing game (RPG) set in Amalur, a mysterious and magical fantasy world created by best-selling author R.A. Salvatore and brought to life by renowned artist Todd McFarlane.
The new game is separate from the massively multiplayer online game that 38 Studios is developing, but reports said both games will be set in the same universe.
The unveiling of its first game is important because local critics of the proposed deal have noted that 38 Studios has yet to produce a product. Schilling’s company has said it would bring about 400 new jobs to Rhode Island and intends to help build a cluster of video-game-related industries in the capital city.
