Open Letters on 38 Studios Troubles
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We moved to Rhode Island at the end of December 2011. We opened our presents on Christmas Day, took down our tree on the 26th, and began packing and loading moving trucks on the 28th, all because my husband was hired by 38 Studios and told he had to start work as quickly as possible. We spent a month living out of a hotel searching day after day for a house to rent. My children could not get back into school and could not start a new life until we found a place to settle. Finally we found a place to live, paid deposits on the house, utilities, etc. and moved. We registered all three children at all three new schools, because we do have one in each - elementary, middle, and high school. Finally, our stuff is delivered and our life can start again. It's always hard to move and this is our second big move, but we finally made it to the point where we can re-build our support system and boy were we ready.
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So, on the 15th of May I sat down to pay bills and upon checking our bank account noticed we had not had our direct deposit made by 38 Studios. I called my husband and asked him to check on it when he got to work. When he came home that night he told me that he had to stay for a 5 o'clock meeting to find out they didn't make payroll. He was unhappy, but said that he was promised they were working on the problem and sure they would have it worked out by the next day.
The next day began at 7:30 am and ended at 7:00 pm. It took 10 1/2 hours to find out that they still could not pay him and didn't have any answers. On the May 16th-21st, my husband returned day after day, told to drive in to work and promised pay, but every day came home empty handed after late meetings and more promises. The longest day was 12 hours and each day we were spending more money on gas and more hope going out the window. During this time, we were also trying to keep our children from worrying while they spent each day hoping to catch a glimpse of their dad before they went to sleep.
By the 22nd we were really scared and feeling lied to, my husband decided it's time to work from home to save the gas money as did many others at the studio. At many times it occurred to us to just give up and move on, but we didn't. There was one main reason. If we left the company we would be responsible for the relocation costs of moving to Rhode Island from just five months ago and we did not have the funds to pay for that after not receiving paychecks. From May 22nd-24th, my husband worked from home trying to come up with ideas to get anything out the door and bring in some money to save 38 Studios. We also get another kick while we were down on May 22nd, when one of the employees' wives is at her pregnancy check up and is told that her insurance company has notified the doctor that it was ending at midnight on the 24th of May. When confronted, 38 Studios admitted they had been aware since the 21st of May that due to lack of payment for several months, insurance was going to be canceled on May 24th.
The situation in many ways is similar to that of EA Spouse, the anonymous wife of an Electronic Arts employee who wrote about the problematic, to use an euphemism, working conditions at EA, so Joystiq contacted the writer of the letter to ask her about the similarities:
"No, I was not aware at the time, but have now been enlightened," she told Joystiq. Although 38 Spouse has verified her identity to us, she wishes to remain anonymous to not "cause any problems" with her husband getting a new job. He remains unemployed, she said, "But there's lots of interest and we are hoping to have something soon."
"It took me some time to get over the shock to be honest. Also, I have been looking for a temporary job, since I am not sure if we are moving or not," she told us when asked why she sent the open letter. "It's been a month and I really felt that now was the time to hear a different side of this story. I wanted to explain and make people aware in any industry, not just gaming, that this kind of thing happened. These employees were not a statistic, but real people with families and they believe in what they do."
Steve Danuser, ex-creative director at the Rhode Island-based now-defunct studio, has also written about its demise, though focusing more on the emotional impact it had on him:
It's been hard to find the time necessary to process it all. As soon as the downward spiral began, we were plunged into a frantic period of resume building, job fairs, phone calls, and unemployment filings. The week of E3 was the first stretch where things got quiet disturbingly quiet. For me, not yet having secured a new job, that's when the anxiety really took hold.
Even after growing numb to the headlines and news broadcasts, little stings come along with clever ways to hurt me. I still find myself looking at my phone for new email. It used to be that pretty much any hour of the day or night, there was something to read: a bug report, a piece of art to approve, some copy to review, a silly thread on our miscellaneous list, or a NSFW link from a cohort. The absence of that 38 mailbox aches like a phantom limb.
I'm still angry about lots of things (did I mention being screwed out of thousands of dollars?), and I still get so very sad when I think of all that could have been. But mostly I've reached acceptance. Not an acceptance of being at peace I don't think I can ever be at peace with what happened but more an acceptance of resignation, the realization that things are so utterly fucked up as to be completely beyond my control. There's simply nothing I can do to save the company, to save the story of Amalur, to recover anything that I've lost. All I can do at this point is to look out for my brothers and sisters, the comrades I've been in the trenches with for all these years. I can try to help them however I can, even as I scramble to find my own landing place. Because if there's one truth I've learned over all my years of work, across the many careers I've undertaken, it's that the connections you make with good people end up being the greatest treasure.
