Copernicus MMO from Kingdoms of Amalur dev would have been free to play

The planned massively multiplayer role-playing game from Kingdoms of Amalur developer 38 Studios, which closed down and filed for bankruptcy this summer, would have been free to play.

"We were going to be the first triple-A, hundred-million-dollar-plus, free-to-play, micro-transaction-based MMO," founder Curt Schilling told Boston Magazine. "That was one of our big secrets. I think when we eventually showed off [Project Copernicus] 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."

This news comes in response to some, like reporter Ted Nesi for Providence’s WPRI, who wondered how 38 Studios could even have charged players for the game.

Schilling believes that if Rhode Island governor Lincoln Chafee hadn't publicly disapproved of the company, the free-to-play model could have secured 38 Studios a financing deal that would have kept it afloat.

“Most investors wanted nothing to do with subscription-based products," he wrote to the magazine in a follow-up email. "They were all on the social media and free-to-play games as a means to revenue.”

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[Game Informer]