Business & Tech

REPORT: Curt Schilling's 38 Studios Lays Off Staff; RI EDC Vice Chairwoman Resigns

Medfield resident Curt Schilling's video game company, 38 Studios, has reportedly laid off its entire staff on the same day Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation Vice Chairwoman Helena B. Foulkes resigns.

BRISTOL-WARREN, R.I. – There's reportedly more trouble for Medfield resident Curt Schilling and the state of Rhode Island amidst the financial difficulties of the former Red Sox pitcher's video game company, 38 Studios.

_According to Fox 25_, Schilling's 38 Studios has laid off its entire staff, close to 400 employees.

On Tuesday, Schilling wrote the following statement on his Facebook page about his staff at 38 Studios:

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"The 38 team has shown breathtaking resilience through these incredibly challenging times," he wrote. "Helping each other with their daily lives, coming together like only a family would truly do. Their efforts to assist each other have been something beyond explanation and defying anything that could be called a 'job.' They are strong and resolute, and determined to stand together as hard and as long as they can. For this I thank them all, I am so proud of this team."

The controversy surrounding 38 Studios has also forced two Rhode Island state officials to resign in the last week.

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Economic Development Corporation Vice Chairwoman Helena B. Foulkes has resigned Thursday, reports the Providence Journal, the _

"I have discussed with the Governor his plans for the Board at the EDC, and I think it is best at this time I resign. I wish him good luck in this very difficult challenge," Foulkes said.

Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee appointed Foulkes to the EDC last year.

Foulkes' resignation comes a week after in the wake of the controversy surrounding Shilling's video game company.

The Medfield resident's video game company defaulted on a $1.125-million payment to the state on May 1, and faces financial turmoil after sales of its first game, "Copernicus," failed to meet expectations.

However, Schilling posted on his Facebook page Thursday that "Reckoning" exceeded expectations. 

"I wanted to clear up some misinformation around 38 Studios' first product, 'Reckoning,'" Schilling wrote. "Sales of 'Reckoning' OUTPERFORMED EA’s expectations and sold more than 1.2 million units in the game’s first 90 days in the market."

Regardless of Reckoning's market performance, Gov. Chafee criticized Schilling publicly last week, saying the company had been "stonewalling" the state.

In 2010, EDC approved a $75-million guaranteed loan to the videogame company following 38 Studios’ promise to bring 450 jobs to the state by the end of 2012 and moved its business from Massachusetts to Providence.

Amidst the 38 Studios dilemma, State Rep. Lawrence Ehrhardt (R – North Kingstown) introduced legislation to the General Assembly Wednesday that would prohibit the EDC from providing loan guarantees of more than $10 million to any one entity – a measure Ehrhardt attempted to submit two years prior. According to the Journal, Ehrhardt said he was dissuaded from proposing the cap at that time by Stokes who told him it would “upset a transaction” that the EDC was working on.

“I feel that I was substantially betrayed,” Ehrhardt told the Journal.


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