Kingdoms of Amalur Staff Receives Final Paychecks 9 Years Later
Former staff members of defunct developer 38 Studios are starting to receive their final paychecks [...]
Former staff members of defunct developer 38 Studios are starting to receive their final paychecks for their work on Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. 38 Studios went bankrupt in 2012, leaving many employees waiting for the rest of their pay for nearly 9 years. According to reporting from Bloomberg, about 400 employees will receive checks, with the percentage differing based on which office the employee worked for. Rhode Island studio employees will receive just 14% of the pay owed to them, while Maryland studio employees will receive 20%. Some employees have apparently reported receiving the checks, while others are reporting that they've been sent to old addresses.
Former 38 Studios employee Bill Mueller shared on Twitter that he received a check for his past work, but according to the developer the amount "doesn't even cover the tax/penalties from the 401k we had to pull from to pay medical bills." Apparently, Mueller's wife was pregnant at the time, and the studio's sudden closure left them without health insurance.
It took 9 years but I finally got a check from what 38 studios owned me for the work I did but never got paid on. It was less than 15% what was actually owed. Doesn't even cover the tax/penalties from the 401k we had to pull from to pay medical bills.
— Bill Mueller (@BillsAudio) August 11, 2021
For many, this is a bittersweet ending. It's nice that employees finally received something for their hard work, but the paltry amount this many years later probably feels frustrating. It seems that many other employees faced similar struggles with bills related to the company's move from Massachusetts to Rhode Island. Mueller went on to join ZeniMax Online Studios as an audio lead, but it's unclear how many other former employees remained in the gaming industry following the closure of 38 Studios.
While 38 Studios is long gone, the rights to Kingdoms of Amalur were scooped up by THQ Nordic. Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning, a remaster of the game, is currently available on PlayStation, Xbox, PC, and Nintendo Switch.
Are you surprised it took this long for these developers to get paid? Were you a fan of Kingdoms of Amalur? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk all things gaming!