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100-678: Big Huge Games, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Timonium , Maryland since 2000, known first for real-time strategy games such as Rise of Nations , later for the console RPG Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning , and more recently for mobile games such as DomiNations and Arcane Showdown . Throughout most of its history the company has been associated with its best-known founder, Brian Reynolds , whose prior career already included work as lead designer of Civilization II and Alpha Centauri , and co-founder of Firaxis Games . The studio's ownership has changed hands several times over

200-588: A database , Voice over IP , or add-in interface software; this is also known as middleware . Examples of this include SpeedTree and Havoc . Independents are software developers which are not owned by (or dependent on) a single publisher. Some of these developers self-publish their games, relying on the Internet and word of mouth for publicity. Without the large marketing budgets of mainstream publishers, their products may receive less recognition than those of larger publishers such as Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo. With

300-430: A "Gold Edition". Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends , a second real-time strategy game—this time fantasy and steampunk based, followed in mid-2006. Although this game had a positive critical reception, its sales underperformed, and it became the last full PC RTS from Big Huge Games. In the year following the release of Rise of Legends, Reynolds took on two smaller projects with parts of the team. The first, Catan Live ,

400-540: A buyer could be found. Maintaining the studio in this form cost around $ 15,000 per month. In September 2018, the Amalur rights and properties were acquired by THQ Nordic . In parallel with the bankruptcy, The Rhode Island State Police , the local attorney general's office, the U.S. Attorney’s Office , and the FBI began investigations into how the studio managed to get approval for the loan. Chafee ordered an outside firm to conduct

500-452: A culture of "toxic geek masculinity" within the workplace. In addition, the conditions behind crunch time are far more discriminating towards women as this requires them to commit time exclusively to the company or to more personal activities like raising a family. These factors established conditions within some larger development studios where female developers have found themselves discriminated in workplace hiring and promotion, as well as

600-609: A document showing available job applications within the industry was circulated through social media. Additionally a dedicated job fair was set up in Providence for industry promoters, and Rhode Island set up support for former employees so they could file for unemployment support. Former 38 Studios employees began receiving portions of their due salaries in August 2021, expected to range between 14 and 20 percent of what they were to make before bankruptcy. Several Big Huge Games employees formed

700-571: A first-party company. As a balance to not being able to release their game for other platforms, second-party developers are usually offered higher royalty rates than third-party developers. These studios may have exclusive publishing agreements (or other business relationships) with the platform holder, but maintain independence so that upon completion or termination of their contracts, they are able to continue developing games for other publishers if they choose to. For example, while HAL Laboratory initially began developing games on personal computers like

800-410: A fixed period and generally work similar hours as full-time staff members, assisting across all areas of video game development, but as contractors, do not get any benefits such as paid time-off or health care from the employer; they also are typically not credited on games that they work on for this reason. The practice itself is legal and common in other engineering and technology areas, and generally it

900-482: A forensic audit of the studio's finances. Rhode Island passed a law that protected those associated with the loan and its later legal issues from further independent prosecutions if they settled with the state. An attempt in 2014 to settle for some of the loan was initially blocked by those opposed to the law. One plaintiff, a member of the EDC, dropped his separate case due to a lack of resources and not wanting to distract from

1000-403: A game on schedule. The complexity of workflow, reliance on third-party deliverables, and the intangibles of artistic and aesthetic demands in video game creation create difficulty in predicting milestones. The use of crunch time is also seen to be exploitative of the younger male-dominated workforce in video games, who have not had the time to establish a family and who were eager to advance within

1100-406: A game's profits. Current examples of first-party studios include PlayStation Studios for Sony, and Xbox Game Studios for Microsoft Gaming . Second-party developer is a colloquial term often used by gaming enthusiasts and media to describe game studios that take development contracts from platform holders and develop games exclusive to that platform, i.e. a non-owned developer making games for

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1200-555: A new company under Epic Games dubbed "Epic Baltimore" in 2012, eventually buying back the Big Huge Games name and reforming the studio in 2013 with a focus on the mobile market. Following 38 Studios' bankruptcy, the Rhode Island government took over the company assets. The assets were put up for an auction; originally planned for November 2013, interest from the game industry prompted a delay to December. The Big Huge Games label

1300-437: A position in a medium to large video game company. An experienced game-development employee, depending on their expertise and experience, averaged roughly $ 73,000 in 2007. Indie game developers may only earn between $ 10,000 and $ 50,000 a year depending on how financially successful their titles are. In addition to being part of the software industry, game development is also within the entertainment industry; most sectors of

1400-472: A real-time strategy game entitled Rise of Nations released in 2003 and became a critical and commercial hit ultimately achieving over 2,000,000 lifetime sales. It received considerable critical acclaim and won awards including GameSpy 's 2003 Game of the Year for PC-RTS and GameSpot 's 2003 Best Strategy Game and 2003 Best PC. An expansion pack, Rise of Nations: Thrones and Patriots followed in 2004, along with

1500-624: A roundtable discussion with the International Game Developers Association (IGDA), the professional association for developers. Statements made by the IGDA's current executive director Jen MacLean relating to IGDA's activities had been seen by as anti-union, and Game Workers Unite desired to start a conversation to lay out the need for developers to unionize. In the wake of the sudden near-closure of Telltale Games in September 2018,

1600-407: A single publisher; one canceled game may devastate a small developer. Because of this, many small development companies are short-lived. A common exit strategy for a successful video game developer is to sell the company to a publisher, becoming an in-house developer. In-house development teams tend to have more freedom in game design and content than third-party developers. One reason is that since

1700-403: A strong STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) background for women at the secondary education level, but there are issues with tertiary education such as at colleges and universities, where game development programs tend to reflect the male-dominated demographics of the industry, a factor that may lead women with strong STEM backgrounds to choose other career goals. There

1800-540: A subsidiary in 2009. A Big Huge Games prototype was reworked into Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning (2012), a single-player RPG intended to introduce the Amalur setting. Also in development at 38 Studios was a tactical role-playing follow-up to Rise of Nations . 38 Studios relocated to Providence in exchange for a $ 75 million loan from the local government. A combination of factors led to 38 Studios declaring bankruptcy in June 2012 with debts totaling over $ 150 million. Handling of

1900-635: A unique case where nearly all parts of its labor force, including white-collar jobs such as video game development, may engage with labor unions under the Employment Protection Act often through collective bargaining agreements. Developer DICE had reached its union agreements in 2004. Paradox Interactive became one of the first major publishers to support unionization efforts in June 2020 with its own agreements to cover its Swedish employees within two labor unions Unionen and SACO . In Australia, video game developers could join other unions, but

2000-473: Is also a significant gap in racial minorities within the video game industry; a 2019 IGDA survey found only 2% of developers considered themselves to be of African descent and 7% Hispanic, while 81% were Caucasian; in contrast, 2018 estimates from the United States Census estimate the U.S. population to be 13% of African descent and 18% Hispanic. In a 2014 and 2015 survey of job positions and salaries,

2100-449: Is expected that this is meant to lead into a full-time position, or otherwise the end of the contract. But more recently, its use in the video game industry has been compared to Microsoft 's past use of " permatemp ", contract workers that were continually renewed and treated for all purposes as employees but received no benefits. While Microsoft has waned from the practice, the video game industry has adapted it more frequently. Around 10% of

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2200-533: Is generally illegal, companies often target their oldest workers first during layoffs or other periods of reduction. Older developers with experience may find themselves too qualified for the types of positions that other game development companies seek given the salaries and compensations offered. Some of the larger video game developers and publishers have also engaged contract workers through agencies to help add manpower in game development in part to alleviate crunch time from employees. Contractors are brought on for

2300-494: Is still their primary activity they are generally described as "publishers" rather than "developers". Developers may be private as well. In the video game industry , a first-party developer is part of a company that manufactures a video game console and develops mainly for it. First-party developers may use the name of the company itself (such as Nintendo ), have a specific division name (such as Sony's Polyphony Digital ) or have been an independent studio before being acquired by

2400-474: Is usually conducted in a casual business environment, with t-shirts and sandals as common work attire. Many workers find this type of environment rewarding and pleasant professionally and personally. However, the industry also requires long working hours from its employees (sometimes to an extent seen as unsustainable). Employee burnout is not uncommon. An entry-level programmer can make, on average, over $ 66,000 annually only if they are successful in obtaining

2500-639: The AFL–CIO writing an open letter to video game developers encouraging them to unionize. In January 2020, Game Workers Unite and the Communications Workers of America established a new campaign to push for unionization of video game developers, the Campaign to Organize Digital Employees (CODE), in January 2020. Initial efforts for CODE were aimed to determine what approach to unionization would be best suited for

2600-456: The International Game Developers Association (IGDA), are conducting increasing discussions about the problem; they are concerned that working conditions in the industry cause a significant deterioration in employees' quality of life. Some video game developers and publishers have been accused of the excessive invocation of "crunch time". "Crunch time" is the point at which the team is thought to be failing to achieve milestones needed to launch

2700-508: The MSX , they became one of the earliest second-party developers for Nintendo, developing exclusively for Nintendo's consoles starting with the Famicom, though they would self-publish their mobile games. A third-party developer may also publish games, or work for a video game publisher to develop a title. Both publisher and developer have considerable input in the game's design and content. However,

2800-517: The Me Too movement and have tried to address the symptoms of these problems industry-wide, the video game industry has yet to have its Me Too-moment, even as late as 2021. There also tends to be pay-related discrimination against women in the industry. According to Gamasutra 's Game Developer Salary Survey 2014, women in the United States made 86 cents for every dollar men made. Game designing women had

2900-504: The Screen Actors Guild‐American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) union doing work for video games struck several major publishers, demanding better royalty payments and provisions related to the safety of their vocal performances, when their union's standard contract was up for renewal. The voice actor strike lasted for over 300 days into 2017 before a new deal was made between SAG-AFTRA and

3000-468: The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) brought separate charges of bank fraud against the EDC and Wells Fargo , the bank that approved the loan. The SEC alleged that both parties knew the loan was not enough to successfully fund the production of Project Copernicus . The SEC's fraud case was concluded in 2019 with a private settlement between the parties. In March, Wells Fargo settlement over $ 800,000

3100-552: The video game industry . He told the Los Angeles Times : "Someone who was part of the co-creation of that world and those characters isn't getting a credit or a nickel for the work they put into it. Maybe we need unions in the video game industry to be able to protect creators." 38 Studios 38 Studios, LLC was an American video game development studio and publisher based in Providence, Rhode Island . The company

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3200-510: The 2009–2013 years. More hires soon followed including many more alumni, and the new studio developed a mobile strategy game for tablets and smartphones called DomiNations , for release on iOS and Android . It is published by Nexon 's mobile gaming group. and was released for Android and iOS in April 2015. The game experienced major success; as of March 2016, it had been downloaded over 19 million times, and Big Huge Games actively continues to run

3300-590: The Amalur universe; McFarlaine and Salvatore oversaw the project, but the team were otherwise given creative freedom. Originally dubbed "Mercury", the game was eventually titled Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning . 38 Studios acted as co-publisher with Electronic Arts under the EA Partners program, with Electronic Arts contributing most of its development budget. In August, Close left 38 Studios, with former SVP of Business Development Jennifer MacLean taking over his position. Also in production at Big Huge Games during

3400-1046: The Big Huge Engine, in both Rise of Nations and Catan . The engine features support for a variety of applications and technologies, including physics, artificial intelligence , animation, and others. At the time of their move from THQ to 38 Studios, Big Huge Games was working on two large game projects, which were then canceled. Video game developer A developer may specialize in specific game engines or specific video game consoles , or may develop for several systems (including personal computers and mobile devices ). Some focus on porting games from one system to another, or translating games from one language to another. Less commonly, some do software development work in addition to games. Most video game publishers maintain development studios (such as Electronic Arts 's EA Canada , Square Enix 's studios, Activision 's Radical Entertainment , Nintendo EPD and Sony's Polyphony Digital and Naughty Dog ). However, since publishing

3500-446: The IGDA found that people of color were both underrepresented in senior management roles as well as underpaid in comparison to white developers. Further, because video game developers typically draw from personal experiences in building game characters, this diversity gap has led to few characters of racial minority to be featured as main characters within video games. Minority developers have also been harassed from external groups due to

3600-426: The Rhode Island loan prompted several legal cases, though none led to prosecutions. There was extensive media coverage surrounding the studio's final months, the canceled Project Copernicus , and its impact on former employees. The concept for 38 Studios was created by Curt Schilling , a professional baseball player who in private life was an avid gamer. He attributed his wish to create a game of his own to disliking

3700-546: The acquisition as a means for both companies to prosper within the same genre space. Schilling wanted to develop a large-scale title in the MMORPG genre, wanting a market competitor to World of Warcraft . He later noted that it might have been easier to design in another genre. This game, which was known as Project Copernicus , was based in the new fantasy world of Amalur. To create Amalur, Schilling brought in two well-known creators; fantasy author R. A. Salvatore who created

3800-521: The acquisition of Activision Blizzard , stated it supported these unionization efforts. After this acquisition, the employees of Bethesda Game Studios , part of Zenimax under Microsoft, unionized under the Communications Workers of America (CWA) in July 2024. Over 500 employees within Blizzard Entertainment 's World of Warcraft division also unionized with CWA that same month. Sweden presents

3900-572: The advent of digital distribution of inexpensive games on game consoles, it is now possible for indie game developers to forge agreements with console manufacturers for broad distribution of their games. Other indie game developers create game software for a number of video-game publishers on several gaming platforms. In recent years this model has been in decline; larger publishers, such as Electronic Arts and Activision, increasingly turn to internal studios (usually former independent developers acquired for their development needs). Video game development

4000-431: The closest equity, making 96 cents for every dollar men made in the same job, while audio professional women had the largest gap, making 68% of what men in the same position made. Increasing the representation of women in the video game industry required breaking a feedback loop of the apparent lack of female representation in the production of video games and in the content of video games. Efforts have been made to provide

4100-450: The company announced that Ken Rolston , the lead designer of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind , had come out of retirement to join the company as lead designer on an untitled role playing game (RPG). Later that May it was announced that THQ would publish the title in 2009. This marked the first title from Big Huge Games that was not distributed by Microsoft . On January 15, 2008, THQ acquired

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4200-405: The company was renamed to 38 Studios (Schilling's uniform number), with the stated aim being to give a "more accurate reflection" of its goals. By 2008, 38 Studios was terming itself as an "entertainment company" with project goals beyond video game development. In October of that year, the company acquired Azeroth Advisor , a dedicated newsletter platform for World of Warcraft . Close described

4300-416: The console manufacturer (such as Rare or Naughty Dog ). Whether by purchasing an independent studio or by founding a new team, the acquisition of a first-party developer involves a huge financial investment on the part of the console manufacturer, which is wasted if the developer fails to produce a hit game on time. However, using first-party developers saves the cost of having to make royalty payments on

4400-503: The console. This established the use of licensing fees as a model for third-party development that persists into the present. The licensing fee approach was further enforced by Nintendo when it decided to allow other third-party developers to make games for the Famicom console, setting a 30% licensing fee that covered game cartridge manufacturing costs and development fees. The 30% licensing fee for third-party developers has also persisted to

4500-441: The dark about executive affairs so they could focus on game development. The studio was later described as "hemorrhaging cash" by EDC executive director Saul Kaplan. On June 7, 38 Studio filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy . According to the filing, 38 Studios and its subsidiaries owed $ 150.7 million to 1,079 creditors, with the largest sum owed to the EDC for a $ 115.9 million secured debt. At the time of bankruptcy, Project Copernicus

4600-535: The design of the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) EverQuest II (2004). Talking about his frustrations with people he knew at Sony Online Entertainment, he began discussing the possibility of founding his own game studio. Schilling wanted to gather high-profile game developers for his venture, with it later being compared to gathering a "super star" group. Later staff noted that Schilling's celebrity status and persuasion techniques brought many notable staff on board early on. The studio formation

4700-444: The developer if the game is not meeting expectations. When each milestone is completed (and accepted), the publisher pays the developer an advance on royalties . Successful developers may maintain several teams working on different games for different publishers. Generally, however, third-party developers tend to be small, close-knit teams. Third-party game development is a volatile sector, since small developers may depend on income from

4800-477: The developer. On July 30, 2008, Grant Kirkhope joined the Big Huge Games team as an audio director. He had previously worked for Rare , composing for the Banjo-Kazooie and Perfect Dark games (among others). On March 18, 2009, during the height of that year's Great Recession , THQ announced that due to declining economic conditions, it would close Big Huge Games unless an outside buyer could be found in

4900-417: The developers are the publisher's employees, their interests align with those of the publisher; the publisher may spend less effort ensuring that the developer's decisions do not enrich the developer at the publisher's expense. Activision in 1979 became the first third-party video game developer. When four Atari, Inc. programmers left the company following its sale to Warner Communications , partially over

5000-467: The entertainment industry (such as films and television ) require long working hours and dedication from their employees, such as willingness to relocate and/or required to develop games that do not appeal to their personal taste. The creative rewards of work in the entertainment business attracts labor to the industry, creating a competitive labor market that demands a high level of commitment and performance from employees. Industry communities, such as

5100-428: The executive staff as "pretty much like Titanic [survivors] clamoring at driftwood, trying to get ahold of things". Several approaches were made by Schilling to Sony Online Entertainment president John Smedley about selling Project Copernicus , but Smedley turned him down due to the market not looking good for MMOs at that time. Schilling later felt that the studio suffered from "significant dysfunction" for which he

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5200-536: The findings of the audit. The case ended in 2017 with parties agreeing to settle for a total of $ 61 million. The case was in the Rhode Island Superior Court 's Business Calendar, a specialized business court track, before Associate Justice Michael A. Silverstein . Following settlements with the other defendants, and after payment of legal fees, Rhode Island was left with a debt of over $ 38 million, which had to be paid with public money. In March 2016,

5300-557: The first video game-specific union, Game Workers Unite Australia, was formed in December 2021 under Professionals Australia to become active in 2022. In Canada, in a historic move, video game workers in Edmonton unanimously voted to unionize for the first time in June 2022. In January 2023, after not being credited in The Last of Us HBO adaptation, Bruce Straley called for unionization of

5400-421: The founders, Reynolds principally specialized in game design, Train in production, Inscore in art direction, and Coleman in engineering. Although Brian Reynolds was also a founding member of Firaxis Games , he and the others left Firaxis to found the new company based on their desire to apply the complexity and concepts of the turn-based strategy genre to the real-time strategy genre. The company's first game,

5500-573: The game and develop features for it as recently as summer 2020. In the wake of DomiNation's successful launch, Nexon announced on March 9, 2016 that it had acquired Big Huge Games; the studio would continue to produce new titles and maintain DomiNations . Arcane Showdown , the next major game from the studio, was released in summer 2020 on mobile platforms and Steam . It was shut down on May 29, 2021. Throughout its first decade, Big Huge Games made extensive use of its internally developed game engine ,

5600-404: The gaming industry, while a 2017 IGDA survey found that the female demographic in game development had risen to about 20%. Taking into account that a 2017 ESA survey found 41% of video game players were female, this represented a significant gender gap in game development. The male-dominated industry, most who have grown up playing video games and are part of the video game culture , can create

5700-452: The industry by working long hours. Because crunch time tends to come from a combination of corporate practices as well as peer influence, the term "crunch culture" is often used to discuss video game development settings where crunch time may be seen as the norm rather than the exception. The use of crunch time as a workplace standard gained attention first in 2004, when Erin Hoffman exposed

5800-438: The industry. In May 2009, 38 Studios acquired developer Big Huge Games as a subsidiary. Originally owned by THQ , Big Huge Games were known for their work on Rise of Nations (2003). The studio had been developing a game prototype since 2007 but were faced with closure before the buyout due to production and financial difficulties. Under 38 Studios, the prototype was repurposed into a single-player RPG that would introduce

5900-431: The lack of respect that the new management gave to programmers, they used their knowledge of how Atari VCS game cartridges were programmed to create their own games for the system, founding Activision in 1979 to sell these. Atari took legal action to try to block the sale of these games, but the companies ultimately settled, with Activision agreeing to pay a portion of their sales as a license fee to Atari for developing for

6000-472: The loan and grant $ 6 million in tax credits, pulling out when Rhode Island refused. Ted Nesi of news service WPRI-TV , which was covering the studio's issues, highlighted brain drain from other developers as another potential threat. On May 24, all employees were let go without warning, causing development to halt on Project Copernicus . The message from Thomas, described as written in "terse" language, caught employees unaware as they were generally kept in

6100-479: The lore and ten millennia of backstory, and comic book artist Todd McFarlane to handle its artistic direction. The world and lore of Amalur would be the basis for a multimedia franchise , with Schilling comparing it to a modern-day Lord of the Rings . Project Copernicus was initially scheduled for a 2011 release, with 38 Studios projecting annual profits of over $ 100 million from its revenue. 38 Studio's ambition

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6200-475: The main legal issues. The case concluded in 2016 with no criminal charges filed due to insufficient evidence of criminal wrongdoing, with Rhode Island State Police Colonel Steven O’Donnell commenting that "a bad deal does not always equate to an indictment." A civil suit was filed in November 2012 by the Rhode Island government against Schilling and thirteen other defendants−both individuals and firms−in response to

6300-551: The movement again called out for the industry to unionize. The movement argued that Telltale had not given any warning to its 250 employees let go, having hired additional staff as recently as a week prior, and left them without pensions or health-care options; it was further argued that the studio considered this a closure rather than layoffs, as to get around failure to notify required by the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act of 1988 preceding layoffs. The situation

6400-448: The nature of the video game culture. The industry also is recognized to have an ageism issue, discriminating against the hiring and retention of older developers. A 2016 IGDA survey found only 3% of developers were over 50 years old, while at least two-thirds were between 20 and 34; these numbers show a far lower average age compared to the U.S. national average of about 41.9 that same year. While discrimination by age in hiring practices

6500-529: The news, there have typically been followup discussions towards the potential to form a union. A survey performed by the International Game Developers Association in 2014 found that more than half of the 2,200 developers surveyed favored unionization. A similar survey of over 4,000 game developers run by the Game Developers Conference in early 2019 found that 47% of respondents felt the video game industry should unionize. In 2016, voice actors in

6600-445: The next 60 days. As fate would have it, a buyer was found and the studio remained open, while THQ itself went on to file for bankruptcy in December 2012. On May 27, 2009, 38 Studios announced that they were acquiring Big Huge Games and retaining 70 employees out of approximately 120 who were at THQ. From mid-2009 to January 2012, Big Huge Games developed a single player role playing game titled Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning , which

6700-549: The period was a game dubbed Rise of Nations: Tactics . Being developed for iOS using the Unity game engine, the project was led by staff member Stuart Jeff based on his love of tactical role-playing games. He wanted to use the Rise of Nations assets and world to create a more tactical title. The game was described as "roughly" complete by early 2011, and Jeff had hoped to make it cross-playable across more platforms. Staff at 38 Studios took on

6800-694: The present, being a de facto rate used for most digital storefronts for third-party developers to offer their games on the platform. In recent years, larger publishers have acquired several third-party developers. While these development teams are now technically "in-house", they often continue to operate in an autonomous manner (with their own culture and work practices). For example, Activision acquired Raven (1997); Neversoft (1999), which merged with Infinity Ward in 2014; Z-Axis (2001); Treyarch (2001); Luxoflux (2002); Shaba (2002); Infinity Ward (2003) and Vicarious Visions (2005). All these developers continue operating much as they did before acquisition,

6900-414: The primary differences being exclusivity and financial details. Publishers tend to be more forgiving of their own development teams going over budget (or missing deadlines) than third-party developers. A developer may not be the primary entity creating a piece of software, usually providing an external software tool which helps organize (or use) information for the primary software product. Such tools may be

7000-602: The project later, but the project was shelved in early 2012 so work could focus on Project Copernicus . Similarly in 2010, 38 Studios closed down the Azaroth Advisor service to focus on Project Copernicus . Due to uncertainty surrounding the market and the studio's goals, local venture capital firms declined to invest. Funding instead came from Schilling's personal fortune and smaller private donations from industry people such as Doug Macrae. Some potential investors were turned down by Schilling as he felt they did not value

7100-429: The publisher's wishes generally override those of the developer. Work for hire studios solely execute the publishers vision. The business arrangement between the developer and publisher is governed by a contract, which specifies a list of milestones intended to be delivered over a period of time. By updating its milestones, the publisher verifies that work is progressing quickly enough to meet its deadline and can direct

7200-463: The publishers. While this had some effects on a few games within the industry, it brought to the forefront the question of whether video game developers should unionize. A grassroots movement, Game Workers Unite , was established around 2017 to discuss and debate issues related to unionization of game developers. The group came to the forefront during the March 2018 Game Developers Conference by holding

7300-477: The risky nature of the venture. A vocal opponent of the loan was Lincoln Chafee , who later became state governor. The loan agreement was completed in November 2010, and the company had successfully moved its offices to One Empire Plaza in Providence, Rhode Island by April 2011, meeting agreed move times and job creation targets ahead of schedule. The studio was also developing Helios, a platform for integrating multiplayer and social media. Operating expenses for

7400-612: The spouse of a former employer as "[offering] very real, very heartbreaking human faces" to the studio's collapse. As part of a different 2012 article going into the studio, Gamasutra 's Leigh Alexander noted the community spirit reported among employees, who felt the studio's collapse was due more to executive and political factors than Schilling personally. Employee stories were also highlighted in reports by Boston Magazine in 2012, The New York Times in 2013, and Bloomberg News in 2021. Brendan Sinclair, writing for GamesIndustry.biz in 2022, highlighted 38 Studios and

7500-470: The studio instigated a temporary hiring freeze, which caused issues for some new members including Andy Johnson, who had joined as localization director in January. MacLean left the company on indefinite leave of absence in March, officially resigning in May. Also in March, two new staff members were hired, both veterans of MMO development; John Blakely joined as senior vice-president of development, while Mark Hansen

7600-482: The studio totaled $ 118 million between 2006 and 2011. By 2012, the studio had three subsidiaries; Big Huge Games, Mercury Project, and Precision Jobs, and around 400 employees. Reckoning released in February 2012 to critical praise, and its sales exceeded Electronic Arts's expectations. However its sales of 1.3 million copies were not enough, as 38 Studios needed two million in sales to break even. In February 2012,

7700-422: The studio's bankruptcy, who started pushing for a quick release despite his insistence that more time was needed for development. A sequel to Reckoning , intended to address criticism of the original, had entered pre-production. An unnamed video game publisher was close to approving $ 30 million in funding for the sequel, but withdrew the offer. Another investor offered funding if Rhode Island agreed to renegotiate

7800-415: The studio's final collapse. Schilling was also blamed by some former employees due to apparent efforts to exploit the situation to gain sympathy. Schilling, who lost $ 60 million with the bankruptcy, later admitted to and apologised for the poor treatment of staff. Neither Salvatore nor McFarlane held ill will over the failed venture. Alexa Ray Corriae of Polygon described her 2012 article concerning

7900-460: The studio's goals. An anonymous employee stated that while the company required a lot of money, these generally went to development tools and salaries. In July 2010, Schilling successfully negotiated a financial agreement with the state of Rhode Island ; in exchange to moving to new premises in the state, the state would provide a loan to fund its projects. Schilling's pitch was to establish a new video game industry based in Rhode Island. The loan

8000-464: The studio, or some part of the studio, running. In June 2012, Epic Games announced the opening of a new studio in Baltimore called Epic Baltimore. The studio consisted of a significant portion of ex-Big Huge developers. The nascent studio was later renamed Impossible Studios, but the reboot effort was ultimately short-lived and Impossible Studios officially closed on February 8, 2013. In October 2013, it

8100-545: The target of sexual harassment. This can be coupled from similar harassment from external groups, such as during the 2014 Gamergate controversy . Major investigations into allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct that went unchecked by management, as well as discrimination by employers, have been brought up against Riot Games , Ubisoft and Activision Blizzard in the late 2010s and early 2020s, alongside smaller studios and individual developers. However, while other entertainment industries have had similar exposure through

8200-484: The toxic nature of the video game culture. This racial diversity issue has similar ties to the gender one, and similar methods to result both have been suggested, such as improving grade school education, developing games that appeal beyond the white, male gamer stereotype, and identifying toxic behavior in both video game workplaces and online communities that perpetuate discrimination against gender and race. In regards to LGBT and other gender or sexual orientations,

8300-487: The use of crunch time at Electronic Arts , a situation known as the "EA Spouses" case. A similar "Rockstar Spouses" case gained further attention in 2010 over working conditions at Rockstar San Diego . Since then, there has generally been negative perception of crunch time from most of the industry as well as from its consumers and other media. Game development had generally been a predominately male workforce. In 1989, according to Variety , women constituted only 3% of

8400-504: The video game industry typically shares the same demographics as with the larger population based on a 2005 IGDA survey. Those in the LGBT community do not find workplace issues with their identity, though work to improve the representation of LGBT themes within video games in the same manner as with racial minorities. However, LGBT developers have also come under the same type of harassment from external groups like women and racial minorities due to

8500-678: The video game industry. Whereas some video game employees believe they should follow the craft-based model used by SAG-AFTRA which would unionize based on job function, others feel an industry-wide union, regardless of job position, would be better. Starting in 2021, several smaller game studios in the United States began efforts to unionize. These mostly involved teams doing quality assurance rather than developers. These studios included three QA studios under Blizzard Entertainment : Raven Software , Blizzard Albany , and Proletariat; and Zenimax Media 's QA team. Microsoft , which had previously acquired Zenimax and announced plans to acquire Blizzard via

8600-504: The workforce in video games is estimated to be from contract labor. Similar to other tech industries, video game developers are typically not unionized . This is a result of the industry being driven more by creativity and innovation rather than production, the lack of distinction between management and employees in the white-collar area, and the pace at which the industry moves that makes union actions difficult to plan out. However, when situations related to crunch time become prevalent in

8700-513: The years, and it became briefly defunct in May 2012, but it was revived by Reynolds along with several original alumni and new partners. The company is presently owned by Nexon , and actively runs its mobile titles DomiNations (released April 2015) and Arcane Showdown (released June 2020), while continuing to develop new games. The company was incorporated in December 1999 and was first announced in February 2000 by Brian Reynolds along with partners Tim Train, David Inscore, and Jason Coleman. Among

8800-422: Was an Xbox Live version of Klaus Teuber 's famous The Settlers of Catan boardgame, with an AI and console interface co-designed by Teuber and Reynolds. The second, Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties was an expansion pack for Microsoft's famous real-time strategy game. Meanwhile, for its next large project, Big Huge Games turned to roleplaying games and another famous videogame designer. In February 2007,

8900-561: Was announced on September 8, 2006. Originally called Green Monster Games , it was based at 5 Clock Tower in Maynard, Massachusetts . Schilling was chairman , while Schilling's uncle by marriage Bill Thomas was president and chief operating officer . Among its hires between 2006 and 2008 were industry veteran Brett Close as chief executive officer (CEO), former Electronic Arts staff member Jon Laff as chief technology officer (CTO), and EverQuest lead designer Travis McGeathy. In 2007,

9000-541: Was appointed senior vice-president of operations & business. In early May 2012, the studio defaulted on a loan repayment installment to Rhode Island. The studio's situation and associated publicity were exacerbated by hostile comments from Chafee regarding the loan. While Project Copernicus director Steve Danuser described the studio atmosphere during this time as optimistic, the unnamed wife of an employee described 38 Studios as having "a disharmonious work environment" hinting at growing troubles. Johnson described

9100-451: Was approved by a federal judge. Several staff members attributed the studio's collapse to overspending money, excessive optimism around the studio's core project, and a lack of new funding. While later accused by the EDC to pushing the studio into bankruptcy, Chafee stated he wanted to do whatever possible to keep the company afloat except investing more money. Schilling and other employees blamed Chafee's negative comments for triggering

9200-660: Was argued to be "exploitive", as Telltale had been known to force its employees to frequently work under "crunch time" to deliver its games. By the end of 2018, a United Kingdom trade union, Game Workers Unite UK, an affiliate of the Game Workers Unite movement, had been legally established. Following Activision Blizzard 's financial report for the previous quarter in February 2019, the company said that they would be laying off around 775 employees (about 8% of their workforce) despite having record profits for that quarter. Further calls for unionization came from this news, including

9300-422: Was described as 75% complete. The collapse of the studio and letting go of employees without warning caused distress among the staff, and many were left with financial obligations from moving to Rhode Island; due to the bankruptcy, they were also left without final paychecks or insurance. In response to the job losses, other game studios and publishers reached out to provide new jobs for the former employees, and

9400-575: Was founded in Maynard, Massachusetts , in 2006 as Green Monster Games by baseball player Curt Schilling . Schilling's goal was to create an original fantasy property, collaborating with writer R. A. Salvatore and artist Todd McFarlane on the fantasy setting of Amalur. From its inception, 38 Studios worked on a massively multiplayer online role-playing game known as Project Copernicus , intended as their main product upon which other Amalur properties would be based. The company continued to grow its staff during its lifetime, acquiring Big Huge Games as

9500-428: Was negotiated with the state's Economic Development Corporation (EDC), being granted to 38 Studios as bonds; the loan's amount, $ 75 million, was given by Schilling as the lowest possible to allow for relocation and continued development. Both EDC staff and politicians following the process were concerned about the risks associated with such a large loan. There was general controversy due to Rhode Island's low finances, and

9600-456: Was noted in 2009 in light of competition in the MMO market, and its high amount of spending without a single release. The studio's actions drew attention from the wider video game industry and media, with veteran Jason Booth noting that ambition was a requirement for success in the industry. Schilling tried to minimize his direct involvement with production, leaving that to other staff members from within

9700-489: Was purchased by Reynolds to reform the company, while Rise of Nations and associated properties including the Tactics game were sold to an unknown buyer. The Amalur properties did not sell, and the auction raised $ 320,000, which fell short of Rhode Island's expectations. Subsequently, Jeff Easley was described as the studio's only remaining employee, tasked with keeping the technical aspects of Project Copernicus running until

9800-434: Was released in early February 2012 and published by Electronic Arts (EA) and 38 Studios for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. The game is set in a fantasy world created with input from R A Salvatore and Todd McFarlane . It was reported on May 24, 2012 that the studio and their parent company 38 Studios had laid off their entire staff. Briefly, it appeared that the remaining Big Huge Games development team had found backing to keep

9900-546: Was revealed that Reynolds and Train had revived Big Huge Games, having reacquired the trademark at auction from the state of Rhode Island, which owned it following the bankruptcy of 38 Studios. This name was given to their new venture founded in 2013, which was formerly briefly known as SecretNewCo. In addition to Reynolds and Train, the new owners included Bryant Freitag and Dan Halka, both Big Huge Games alumni, and Vinh Trinh who had worked with Reynolds during his time as Chief Game Designer at Zynga , where Reynolds had spent much of

10000-409: Was ultimately to blame due to his lack of business experience. By this point, the projected release of Project Copernicus had moved forward to 2013. On May 18, the repayment check totaling over $ 1 million cleared, with the new funds attributed to suspending employee payroll and letting go of non-essential staff. Johnson remembered showing Rise of Nations: Tactics to executives in the weeks before

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