The Kingdoms of Amalur now belong to the state of Rhode Island. Bloomberg reports that the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation and the Bank of New York Mellon Trust Company have won a court approval to take hold of 38 Studios’ assets. The developer, founded by former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, publicly crumbled earlier this year, and is now bankrupt.
The motion was granted by United States Bankruptcy Judge Mary Walrath at a hearing in Wilmington, Delaware on Tuesday. Rhode Island and the Bank of New York Mellon Trust Company will now attempt to sell 38 Studios’ assets, which include intellectual property rights, to make back some of the controversial $75 million loan that brought 38 Studios to Rhode Island.
In May, industry analyst Michael Pachter estimated the worth of the Amalur intellectual property at $20 million, saying “nobody is buying MMOs after [Star Wars: The Old Republic fizzled].”
38 Studios shipped console and PC role-playing game Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning in February 2012 to a warm critical reception and sales of 1.2 million in its first 90 days. The company’s Amalur MMO–codenamed Project Copernicus–was reportedly being readied for release in June 2013.
According to the report, Rhode Island and the bank said they needed to take hold of 38 Studios’ assets because if someone at the studio was granted permission to ditch computer equipment “all or substantially all of the intellectual property could be irretrievably lost.”
