38 Studios’ Big Huge Games has been in the news quite a lot in the past few weeks owing to the dissolution that hit the company, and new information has now brought to the fore that the developer was at the ‘pre-production’ stage of Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning 2 when all this happened. The whole issue arose due to defaulted payment from 38 Studios to the Rhode Island state government on May 1.
Some sources in the know of Joystiq have told the website that a sequel to the much loved action RPG was indeed in the making at Big Huge Games. It is also being said that the developer was in ‘advanced’ talks with a publisher before the fiasco hit the company. For gamers wondering how dense the chances are of the project being retrieved, the situation doesn’t look good at all. That’s because even if former employees of Big Huge Games manage to regroup together under a different name, they still won’t be able to work on the Amalur sequel as the intellectual property, technology and code are all owned by 38 Studios.
“We had a good base to work from, and it was going to be all about improving everything. We listened carefully to fans and critics and were going to implement everything we possibly could,” revealed a source to the website on the condition of anonymity.
For Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning 2 , the studio was apparently working on elements like higher graphics quality, loading screens between zones, expanded and improved combat animations, fewer branching quests and greater effect on the world by players. The original game was released by EA in February this year for the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. It is an action RPG with hack and slash combat.
Fans of the earlier game can keep some hopes of Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning 2 manifesting, as the IP is expected to be owned by the Rhode Island state, and it is the government which will decide what to do with it.