Rhode Island governor Lincoln Chafee isn’t impressed by 38 Studios' Amalur MMO Copernicus, which failed to sell at auction last week. Speaking on a public affairs show on WJAR-TV (via The Associated Press), Chafee claimed that the project is nothing more than “a lot of junk” at this point and that he’s not surprised it hasn’t sold.
A controversial 2010 $75 million loan guarantee that was given to 38 Studios before Chafee took office makes this a state issue, and the new mayor feels it shouldn’t have been the taxpayers’ burden to bare in the first place. A very small portion of that debt was recouped when 38 Studios subsidiary Big Huge Games properties Rise of Nations and Rise of Legends sold during the auction for $320,000, but that’s just not enough capital to make an impact.
The initial loan was meant to bring new jobs and economic opportunities to Rhode Island, but Chafee sees it as nothing but "insane" and a "historically bad" decision.
"People just panicked and gave a retired baseball player a huge amount of taxpayer money with no experience in this industry or any other businesses," Chafee said. "There was this whole groupthink across the business communities."
Of course, studio founder and former Boston Red Sox pitcher, Curt Schilling, doesn’t exactly agree with the political figure.
"Any decision that loses is 'bad' in hindsight. Bet RI would like a 'redo' on Gov election too," he wrote, calling out Chafee's reported 11 percent approval rating. "He has no clue what he's talking about. Never did."
The state will continue to search for new buyers for Project Copernicus.
