38 Studios “Project Copernicus” Was To Be Free To Play
38 Studios was the development company created by former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, and was responsible for creating Kingdoms of Amalur, which was released earlier this year to modest success. As you may recall, the company went under in a horrific fashion a couple of months ago, and the entire staff was laid off in one fell swoop. At the time, the studio was developing a project code-named “Project Copernicus”, and until now not a whole lot was known about it.
“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,” Schilling said to the Boston Daily. “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.”
Schilling also revealed that Copernicus nearly saved 38 Studios, as investors were becoming intrigued by the idea of a free to play MMO. Apparently, most investors wanted nothing to do with the subscription based products, as they were looking toward cashing into the trend of social media and free to play games that’s been sweeping the landscape. As we all know, however, that little bit of interest just wasn’t enough, and so we’ll never know exactly how well Copernicus would have done on the market.
