38-studios-copernicus posts

After months of debate and even some political sniping, game developer 38 Studios announced today that it is moving its main offices in Massachusetts to a location in downtown Providence, Rhode Island. The move was due to the developer, founded by former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, getting tens of millions of loan guarantees from Rhode Island's state government.

The new office, which should be fully operational in 2011, will be located in a six story building with 104,000 square feet of space. 38 Studios plans to hire 450 people for its new location where it will create its long-in-development fantasy MMO code named Copernicus. The loan guarantees were the subject of political debate earlier this year among some of the candidates for the governor of Rhode Island which opposed the approval of the loans.

It looks like MMO game developer 38 Studios won't be getting the full $75 million in loan guarantees from the state of Rhode Island. According to a report on the WPRI.com web site, the state's Economic Development Corporation has decided to approve $51 million in loans. Another $20 million will be used to pay off debts over three years as a result of the loan deal.

The deal is expected to be concluded by the end of the month, according to the report. 38 Studios will get $13 million up front and receive the other $38 million over the next 15 months if the game developer meets milestones on both job creation goals and the development of their long-in-the-works fantasy MMO game. 38 Studios is expected to move their offices to Rhode Island and create 450 jobs. The story states that 38 Studios will pay the state economic commission a "success fee" of between $15.3 million and $18.8 million but there's no word on what kind of conditions must be met to achieve that "success"

[Via GamePolitics]

The controversial decision by the state of Rhode Island to approve $75 million in loan guarantees to developer 38 Studios earlier this year is still generating lots of opposition from local political officials. GamePolitics reports that the state's general treasurer Frank Caprio has now fully thrown his hat against the deal after previously sitting on the fence.

Caprio, who also happens to be running for Rhode Island's governor seat for the Democratic party, has now said he wants credit rating firms Moody's and Standard & Poor's to "hold off on reviewing the project until a new governor can take office." Naturally some of his political opponents have accused Caprio of flip-flopping on his views. 38 Studios, which is currently based in Massachusetts, wants to move its main offices to Rhode Island in order to make its fantasy MMO title code named Copernicus.