Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee recently spoke out against 38 Studios and its Project Copernicus MMO calling it, "a lot of junk," among a handful of other unfriendly terms.
Chafee recently made an appearance on a local public affairs television show and had some choice words for 38 Studios and its founder, former MLB player Curt Schilling. Chafee called its Project Copernicus MMO, which it was developing when the studio went bankrupt, "a lot of junk," and called the decision for the state to invest in the developer, "insane," and, "historically bad."
"People just panicked and gave a retired baseball player a huge amount of taxpayer money with no experience in this industry or any other businesses. There was this whole groupthink across the business communities," Chafee told WJAR-TV. Chafee was not the governor when the decision to invest in 38 Studios with the state's money was made.
Speaking with AP reporter Michelle R. Smith about Chafee's interview on the show, Schilling offered the following tweets.
38 Studios filed for bankruptcy last year after accepting money from the Rhode Island government to help fund the studio. Following the filing, the state of Rhode Island sued Curt Schilling for unpaid debt.
[Source: Daily Journal, via Polygon]
Our Take
Chafee certainly has appropriate reasons for being upset with Schilling and 38 Studios. His state has incurred a large amount of debt from 38 Studios' failed projects. Despite 38 Studios falling apart more than a year ago, we're still hearing about the continuing issues surrounding the deal, and it doesn't seem like it will be stopping anytime soon.