38 Studios Had Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning 2 in Production

As if the news of 38 Studios’ abrupt closure wasn’t disappointing enough, news has surfaced that the company had been working on the sequel to Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. Joystiq reports that the game was in “pre-production,” and that it would more than likely not have been released even if 38 Studios had been purchased by another game company. Financial difficulties with the state of Rhode Island also haven’t helped, according to Alexander Sliwinski:

Even if the Big Huge Games team could be salvaged under a different banner, it is unlikely that they could work on Reckoning 2. The intellectual property, tech and code (the latter used as a springboard) required to make a sequel is still owned by 38 Studios for the time being, but will likely soon be owned by the state of Rhode Island. Sources close to discussions with Rhode Island tell us that the state’s asking price to release assets is too high.

It has also been reported by former employees of 38 Studios that the state of Rhode Island did NOT pay to develop Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, but that the $50 million provided by the state went straight into an MMO project.