Schilling's 38 Studios Escapes Federal Charges

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I know a lot of people were hoping someone would be held accountable for this mess but, at least for now, it looks like no charges will be filed against Schilling and the crew.

No federal criminal charges will be brought in the case of the video game company owned by former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, which received a $75 million state loan guarantee before going belly up, the U.S. Attorney's office in Rhode Island said Friday. A state investigation continues.
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what i dont get it seems like they are trying to put all the blame on the business side of this this, its just as much as the states fault if not more imo... too bad the government cant file charges against themselves
 
Zarathustra[H];1039190855 said:
That's because last time I checked it wasn't illegal to fail at business.
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Taking the money and run isn't exactly failing a business. Investigation is still pending. He didn't escape federal charges, but rather they're not going to charge him at this time.
 
Azhar said:
Taking the money and run isn't exactly failing a business. Investigation is still pending. He didn't escape federal charges, but rather they're not going to charge him at this time.
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Uh, the collapse of 38 studios nearly bankrupted Shilling personally.

He hasn't taken any money and run. He invested just about all of the money he earned over his baseball career in that company, and it's all gone.

There's no money left to run with.

The RI state government is trying to find someone else to blame after they themselves made a foolish investment in a company that went belly up, when not even venture capital scavengers wouldn't touch it.
 
It's only $75 million. Just do the same stuff Washington state does; tax the stuffing out of cigarettes, candy bars, and soft drinks and call it a day. No one's gonna change their habits over paying a measly dollar or three extra for a can of Mountian Dew or like the $80 something they charge here for a carton of those icky cigarettes.
 
The way i heard it, the governor either didn't let the people decide if they wanted to take the gamble, or asked them--they said no--and he went ahead and did it anyway.

The gov of RI should be the one who gets charged filed against him for not following the rules of office.
 
Pressing charges against 38 Studios (anyone there) in this case is silly. It's the Government's fault that they invested poorly. What about the whole Wallstreet collapse where people literally did pocket the handouts?
 
Maplehamwich said:
Pressing charges against 38 Studios (anyone there) in this case is silly. It's the Government's fault that they invested poorly. What about the whole Wallstreet collapse where people literally did pocket the handouts?
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The Government never gets in trouble for the mistakes it makes, which is why governments should not be in the business of loaning money to businesses, esp for something silly like a video game studio.
 
Monkey God said:
The Government never gets in trouble for the mistakes it makes, which is why governments should not be in the business of loaning money to businesses, esp for something silly like a video game studio.
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I disagree, the government should be in the business of lending money, but not in $75 million dollar increments.

I mean seriously, can't a company get anything done with $5 million to $10 million anymore? Start small, make a name for yourself as an indie developer, and then ramp up into the big projects.

I don't think anyone should have charges pressed either, however. I can't even think of anything illegal, just bad management.
 
Zarathustra[H];1039190855 said:
That's because last time I checked it wasn't illegal to fail at business.
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This particular "business" was funded with money that was stolen from people at gunpoint by the state.
 
damicatz said:
This particular "business" was funded with money that was stolen from people at gunpoint by the state.
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Yea , I'm sorry I don't feel anything but animosity for Schilling and his business practices. He put people out of work and cost the state some serious money.

It's nasty stain that will follow any new game development studio across the country now. What a messy out come.
 
damicatz said:
This particular "business" was funded with money that was stolen from people at gunpoint by the state.
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OMG really? I'm surprised that wasn't a big news item since a headline about state employees pointing guns at citizens to get 75 million to fund a computer games company would be s huge attention-grabber.
 
SkribbelKat said:
OMG really? I'm surprised that wasn't a big news item since a headline about state employees pointing guns at citizens to get 75 million to fund a computer games company would be s huge attention-grabber.
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Perhaps they mounted a daring, daylight raid on Fort Knox on elephant back.
 
ballistic90 said:
Perhaps they mounted a daring, daylight raid on Fort Knox on elephant back.
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The sad part is that I'm pretty sure that's already happened and, because they used an elephant, everyone was like, "Squee! Carnival! Open the gate and let them inside!" never noticing that they were stealing gold and replacing it with spray-painted bricks.
 
pstang said:
what i dont get it seems like they are trying to put all the blame on the business side of this this, its just as much as the states fault if not more imo... too bad the government cant file charges against themselves
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Depends on how you look at it. If gov't could sue itself, then they'd spend even more time wasting OUR money...to fund BOTH sides of the suit!
 
damicatz said:
This particular "business" was funded with money that was stolen from people at gunpoint by the state.
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Uh, no. If those people didn't want to pay taxes they are more than welcome to move somewhere else. I hear Somalia is nice this time of year.

Did the government seriously waste a significant portion of money? Yes. Should the state government have made the loan in the first place? Definitely not. But did Schilling do anything illegal? Not from what I can tell. The guy invested upwards of $50 million of his own cash.
 
SkribbelKat said:
It's only $75 million. Just do the same stuff Washington state does; tax the stuffing out of cigarettes, candy bars, and soft drinks and call it a day. No one's gonna change their habits over paying a measly dollar or three extra for a can of Mountian Dew or like the $80 something they charge here for a carton of those icky cigarettes.
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Oh sure, hit the nerds where it hurts. :D
 
SkribbelKat said:
The sad part is that I'm pretty sure that's already happened and, because they used an elephant, everyone was like, "Squee! Carnival! Open the gate and let them inside!" never noticing that they were stealing gold and replacing it with spray-painted bricks.
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Well, we did let the Octopussy circus bring a Soviet nuke into our base during the Cold War...


Wait, that wasn't a documentary? ;)
 
FaRKle0079 said:
Well, we did let the Octopussy circus bring a Soviet nuke into our base during the Cold War...


Wait, that wasn't a documentary? ;)
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I thought that was one of those government-produced what-if training videos that got leaked to the public by someone with a handycam hiding in the back of the theater during final screening.
 
SkribbelKat said:
OMG really? I'm surprised that wasn't a big news item since a headline about state employees pointing guns at citizens to get 75 million to fund a computer games company would be s huge attention-grabber.
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If you truly believe this, I invite you to refuse to pay taxes and see what happens to you.

Rizen said:
Uh, no. If those people didn't want to pay taxes they are more than welcome to move somewhere else. I hear Somalia is nice this time of year.

Did the government seriously waste a significant portion of money? Yes. Should the state government have made the loan in the first place? Definitely not. But did Schilling do anything illegal? Not from what I can tell. The guy invested upwards of $50 million of his own cash.
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Somalia is most certainly not libertarian; every problem in Somalia today is caused by fighting between rival groups of statists (those who would implement socialism and those who would implement a theocracy) with the innocent civilians getting caught in the middle. It has produced some libertarian-esque side effects in that the two warring governments are too busy fighting amongst themselves to focus on "governing" the people and while the two have been busy fighting and ignoring everything else, the economy has thrived. (See : http://mises.org/daily/5418/Anarchy-in-Somalia).

38 Studios demonstrates precisely the problem with government. A private individual or organization would have been more cautious about investing in 38 Studios because they stand to actually lose should the business fail. A private investor would have most likely demanded a greater amount of checks and a greater amount of control over the process. Government, on the other hand, has no money other than what it forcibly takes from people and, as such, it HAS nothing to loose on bad investments. If a government looses a bunch of money on a bad investment, they can simply recoup their losses by taxing the people even greater amounts and taking even more of their money.
 
damicatz said:
If you truly believe this, I invite you to refuse to pay taxes and see what happens to you.
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After I figure out how to be a tax exempt Skribbel, I'll totally do that! I think if I made me into a charity organization for freeloader cats, I could probably do it. Or maybe I could get Skribbelism recognized as a religion....hmmm
 
damicatz said:
Somalia is most certainly not libertarian; every problem in Somalia today is caused by fighting between rival groups of statists (those who would implement socialism and those who would implement a theocracy) with the innocent civilians getting caught in the middle. It has produced some libertarian-esque side effects in that the two warring governments are too busy fighting amongst themselves to focus on "governing" the people and while the two have been busy fighting and ignoring everything else, the economy has thrived. (See : http://mises.org/daily/5418/Anarchy-in-Somalia).
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My point was simply that Somalia doesn't have a central government, and while they obviously have some economic "freedoms", it's still not necessarily a nice place to live. Their economy, while possibly better than before, is still not going to approach first world countries if only because of limited infrastructure and stability.

38 Studios demonstrates precisely the problem with government. A private individual or organization would have been more cautious about investing in 38 Studios because they stand to actually lose should the business fail. A private investor would have most likely demanded a greater amount of checks and a greater amount of control over the process. Government, on the other hand, has no money other than what it forcibly takes from people and, as such, it HAS nothing to loose on bad investments. If a government looses a bunch of money on a bad investment, they can simply recoup their losses by taxing the people even greater amounts and taking even more of their money.
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*lose ;)

But yes I know and I agree with this, my point was merely that using language like "the government is taking your money at gunpoint!" is hyperbole, and you aren't going to convince people of the truth of your statements like that. Most people (myself included) don't have a problem with taxation insofar as the money is used appropriately for things like infrastructure and public utilities (police, roads, firefighters, schools, etc, components of modern society), so I don't think that phrasing is going to latch on with most people who have no understanding of economics, particularly anarcho-capitalism or the Austrian school.
 
chockomonkey said:
The way i heard it, the governor either didn't let the people decide if they wanted to take the gamble, or asked them--they said no--and he went ahead and did it anyway.

The gov of RI should be the one who gets charged filed against him for not following the rules of office.
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this +1
 
SkribbelKat said:
After I figure out how to be a tax exempt Skribbel, I'll totally do that! I think if I made me into a charity organization for freeloader cats, I could probably do it. Or maybe I could get Skribbelism recognized as a religion....hmmm
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"forum trolls needs love too" foundation
 
i actually feel bad for schilling. they obviously were starting off way too ambitious. the move to rhode island was a gigantic mistake and a very bad business decision.
 
Zarathustra[H];1039190940 said:
Uh, the collapse of 38 studios nearly bankrupted Shilling personally.

He hasn't taken any money and run. He invested just about all of the money he earned over his baseball career in that company, and it's all gone.

There's no money left to run with.

The RI state government is trying to find someone else to blame after they themselves made a foolish investment in a company that went belly up, when not even venture capital scavengers wouldn't touch it.
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Yep. I'm surprised they even wasted taxpayer dollars on this garbage. They need to fire the guy that approved the loan to the studio. Its a real shame because KOA was actually a decent game with potential. Not sure what happend. I payed full price and got my moneys worth.
 
Trimlock said:
"forum trolls needs love too" foundation
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That's a good idea, but it's important to remember that forum trolls should give love too! It isn't fair that they're in a situation where they take love and never return it even if they are still giving back to the community through their insightful, thought-provoking posts.
 
fdiaz78 said:
Yep. I'm surprised they even wasted taxpayer dollars on this garbage. They need to fire the guy that approved the loan to the studio. Its a real shame because KOA was actually a decent game with potential. Not sure what happend. I payed full price and got my moneys worth.
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This is what kind of bothers me. KOA was a really fun game. HUGE, actually, and truly the WoW for those who don't want a monthly fee. The reviews weren't that bad. Was it timing maybe? Did something huge come out the same week?
 
Modred189 said:
This is what kind of bothers me. KOA was a really fun game. HUGE, actually, and truly the WoW for those who don't want a monthly fee. The reviews weren't that bad. Was it timing maybe? Did something huge come out the same week?
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KOA sold around 300,000 copies. The problem was that they bit off more than they could chew. Developing an MMO as your first title with no revenue stream is a really bad business idea. They were developing KOA at the same time as Project Copernicus. They should have done a couple KOA teams with a smaller dev team until they had enough money/revenue to do an MMO.
 
Ah, I did not know about P.C.
In otherwords, they may a decent first title, and shot for the moon with an MMO before learning the lessons that a studio needs to learn. Not to mention that said moon was, in fact, Pluto's moon, and armed with laser-defense satellites.

AS SW:ToR has discovered.
 
Modred189 said:
Ah, I did not know about P.C.
In otherwords, they may a decent first title, and shot for the moon with an MMO before learning the lessons that a studio needs to learn. Not to mention that said moon was, in fact, Pluto's moon, and armed with laser-defense satellites.

AS SW:ToR has discovered.
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That, except they didn't even make a decent first title.

They bought the company that was developing KoA, and a launch ready developed product landed in their laps.

Essentially, the very difficult large scale Project Copernicus was their first real title.

It was doomed to fail.
 
Zarathustra[H];1039190940 said:
Uh, the collapse of 38 studios nearly bankrupted Shilling personally.

He hasn't taken any money and run. He invested just about all of the money he earned over his baseball career in that company, and it's all gone.

There's no money left to run with.

The RI state government is trying to find someone else to blame after they themselves made a foolish investment in a company that went belly up, when not even venture capital scavengers wouldn't touch it.
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well I'd say its very possible that after losing most of his personal money he could have shifted some of the loan money around to recoup his loses
 
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