Wow. This story is wild. I have to be careful because it hits literally every confirmation bias I have. Rich white guys who are incompetent and waste tons of money. Republicans making shady deals and screwing people over. Right wing punditry as fall back. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-04-23/project-copernicus-the-collapse-of-curt-schilling-s-38-studios-video-game?utm_source=pocket-app&utm_medium=share

"I got rich playing baseball. I bet that qualifies me to run a video game studio."

Check.

"A Republican governor is offering me 10s of millions of dollars to move to his state and create jobs. Seems legit."

Check.

"This loan has terrible terms and we're burning through capital at an accelerated rate. Better spend harder."

Check.

"Huh. When our new investors found out we were out of money and weren't going to deliver the game, they backed out. That's unexpected."

Check.

"I wonder if anybody will notice that we didn't pay them today."

Check.

"Well, that didn't go well. I have no choice but to pursue a career in right wing media by becoming a huge bigot."

Check.

I can't handle this level of schadenfreude y'all. It clouds the mind.

"the move to Rhode Island represented a potential hardship, so Schilling and his management team offered to pay for home closing costs. More remarkably, they said that anyone who owned a house in Massachusetts and couldn’t sell it would have the option to sell it to 38 Studios"

"Instead, on May 24, an email went out to everyone who worked for 38 Studios, telling them it was their last day. The note came not from Schilling, but from Bill Thomas, the studio’s chief operating officer—and also the uncle of Schilling’s wife."

Help. I cannot.

"Hundreds of former 38 Studios employees were left stranded in Rhode Island, where there were no other video game companies or jobs. Those who wanted to stay in the video game industry had to again uproot their lives and move to new cities."

This is Republicanism at it's finest.

I think I'd feel pretty different about this story of it weren't for the thing with the loan from Rhode Island's Republican Governor.

That's what allowed this to go from a lark from some rich asshole that ended quickly to a massive boondoggle that hurt a lot of people.

I keep calling out that the folks involved are Republicans. Because from my understanding, this is exactly how they want things to work. This is their platform made manifest. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Also this part.

"he put together an estimated release schedule. Even his most conservative estimate showed that there would be no way for Copernicus to come out that year.

Johnson brought the schedule to one of 38’s VPs, who shut the door and asked him who else had seen it."

My guy made the *critical* mistake of doing his job without running it by the bozos at the top first. Shit went downhill from there.

"Word spread among the other VPs and execs, who would barge into Johnson’s office and interrogate him about the disappointing document."