Canned Kingdoms of Amalur MMO would have been free-to-play

In an interview with Boston Magazine, 38 Studios founder and former pro-baseball player Curt Schilling has spilled a few details regarding Project Copernicus. The Kingdoms of Amalur MMORPG was in the works for several years before 38 Studios and Big Huge Games went bankrupt in June, and Schilling revealed the developer intended to surprise the industry by taking the freemium route.

“We were going to be the first triple-A, hundred-million-dollar-plus, free-to-play, micro-transaction-based MMO. That was one of our big secrets. I think when we eventually showed off the game for the first time, the atom bomb was going to be free-to-play. When we announced that at the end, that was gonna be the thing that, I think, shocked the world,” he said. Schilling added that he initially had doubts about the F2P model but “went 180 degrees”, and that investors had become very wary of subscription-based games.

The Kingdoms of Amalur IP and all associated assets were awarded to its debitors, the state of Rhode Island, and will be sold on, potentially enabling another publisher to complete and release Project Copernicus.

Source: Boston Magazine