MMO Scandal That Destroyed An Economy 

For a channel named "Totally pointless". It sure knows how to captivate the viewer into interesting stories that I've never heard about

I’m from Rhode Island, and I was in college in Providence while this shit was going down. Let me tell you, from the perspective of someone who witnessed this firsthand, it was absolutely wild. No one actually thought it was going to make any money back. It was like watching a slow moving dumpster fire in action.

I remember playing Kingdoms as a kid and being so excited it was going to become an MMO, and then I never thought about it again until this video 💀

It's funny, at the point in the video where they filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy I said to myself, "They took $75 million of taxpayer money and they're allowed to file for bankruptcy but my comparatively piddly student loan debt is with me until I'm dead," and then the guy manages to say something incredibly hypocritical about student loan forgiveness just minutes later.

Whenever I hear the words "I have a love for gaming that goes way back" from a game developer team lead or a game company i look forward to these videos coming out

Ahh yes the killer of anything... Hiring family and friends instead of actual qualified canidates.

I kinda forget how hard it is to make an open world MMORPG. hell, making a good open world RPG by itself is difficult. Edit: Reaching the end of the video, oh my god i feel terrible for all of those artists, software engineers, programmers, etc. They really were just thrown out in the rain. They put all that time in for that :(

I heard Kingdoms of Amalur was meant to be a MMO but made single player as a "test" but I wasn't aware of how deep it went. Honestly a fun game though the level scaling/locking piss me off greatly.

I loved kingdoms of amalur, especially their version of elves with the ridiculous accents. Great to see more people talk about it, I'd greatly enjoy a sequel to the game.

My man has returned to deliver another God tier video

Props to Curt Schilling for going down in history as one of the biggest scumbags in two very different industries, most people don't even manage to get exiled from one.

I love Kingdoms of Amalur, I'm sad to see that the MMO it was supposed to spawn didn't go through, that'd have been insane. The game was so good, the lore was interesting, and I thought it was a shame that it didn't expand past the first game. I LOVED the fate system. I thought it was better than a typical skill tree. Like if you leveled magic and stealth, for example, there were things that combination could do that nobody else could. It was such a fun system to play around with and I always wanted to see more from it.

Nothing gets a project wildly out of control like an "ideas guy" being put in charge with nobody to reign them in.

I remember hearing vague things about what happened to the studio that brought out Kingdoms of Amalur (an absolute gem of a game btw) but my god, I had no idea what a rollercoaster of a story this would be. Really enjoyed this!

This is such a sad tale especially when looking at the gameplay videos and images because it genuienly doesnt look half bad and looks like it could actually be a successful MMO (Also you got to give that interviewer credit at the end for absolutely shutting him the hell up by just going "I'll be honest. Zero")

Dude from the title alone I did not expect this to be about Kopernikus. I love KOAR, I hope they do something with all this amazing work the MMO devs did

Curt did a lil shilling

Curt is definitely a guy who has big ideas, visions, and persistence. He just made the big mistake of thinking you can replace financial planning, in-industry experience, and marketing with big ideas, visions, and persistence.

Funnily enough, one of my coworkers was friends with one of the early developers of Everquest. She and her other friends essentially became the testers; new quests, loot systems, random bug squashing. She and her friends would log on after work (I think at the time she worked as a bartender) and help the devs polish up EQ. Pretty neat!

damn, Kingdoms of Amalur fucking slaps. Recently replayed the Re-Reckoning edition and it still holds up

I recently tried out the remaster of KOA and it still holds up and the fact that you can re spec your character and changes classes anytime makes it almost infinitely replayable

i thought this was gonna be a story i never heard about, but then you mentioned kingdoms of amular and i was like "oh i played that" and then you mentioned rhode island paying the company to come to their state and all the pieces came together in my head and my last two braincells rubbing together forced me to make the confused arthur face

Damn, with his name being Schilling you'd expect he'd use money in a better way.

That Fear and Hunger shot at 5:09!!!!! I'd absolutely love to see a deep dive into that game, it's an amazing one that's really blowing up right now!!!

Nothing beat watching your video on a cozy bed while it’s raining outside

You: Curt Shilling Every bostonian: oh god this can only go badly

There really isn't much that gets me as hype as a new TotallyPointlessTV video. 700% worth the wait every time.

I absolutely enjoyed every second of this video. I really didn’t expect that one of my favorite games during the PS360 era to have such a crazy development story.

Have you ever thought of a video on Murdered soul suspect? It's flawed as hell but I've never heard of anyone playing it

Love your video essays! Can tell you put a lot of time and effort into your work, and find myself laughing out loud as I watch too. Thanks for the hours of entertainment- keep it up!

Really enjoyed the deep dive! Great work! More like this! ❤

This is the first I've ever heard about this, thank you for actual ORIGINAL content, superb video, interesting story brilliantly told. Nicely done sir.

Clown had no business trying to make that whole deal work and he screwed over his entire staff. Glad they were able to secure new jobs at least after the scandal

hell yeah TPTV this was an awesome video!! i love deep dives into failed video game projects like this. you really know how to tell a story in an interesting way too! good shit!! keep it up!!

Absolutely loved the video mate. Keep up the great work!

I love your humor, your editing, and voice. A great mix. New channel to watch while I work or eat dinner. Keep it up!!

Your videos never cease to keep me invested the entire time. Great job! I never heard of Kingdoms of Amalur until now, I was too busy putting an ungodly amount of hours into Skyrim during that time it must have escaped my radar.

Ah, my favorite routine: Finished the new TotallyPointlessTV video, now to try and fill that empty void by rewatching prior videos. I think I'll go with Silent Hill 4: The Room. Although I may switch it up and go with Dead Space 3 because "Mom says it's my go on the Xbox." Yes I have seen it a few times before, why do you ask?

Love your editing my dude! Keep up the good work!

I love watching your vids! Been binging your older content and enjoy playing it in the background while I sleep.

Definitely different from your usual content but I enjoyed it nonetheless! Love hearing wacky stories being covered like this

Love your videos. This one was amazing to show that not everybody "can" make stuff(like a gamer "making" a videogame without being a programmer to know a game's limits) or manage a bussiness without knowledge, and some experience on the field(mistakes need to serve as teaching, and the baseball player didn't learned shait), this video has to serve as an example and a (history?) lesson. Amazing content, gonna wait for the next video, whatever it might be.

Great work!! Awesome video! Always love seeing more of you in your videos too 😊😍x

Keep up the good work man, makes my work day fly with your vids on the background.

I screamed when I saw there was a new video. Thank you for making content, more to watch & rewatch. 10/10

Honestly every video is worth watching, even about games idc about. The vids are always a pleasure to go through.

I just found your channel a few weeks ago and listened to your videos while setting up my classroom. Thanks for the new one -- real top class work!!

You ain’t slick, shadow dropping that fear & hunger reference into the video.

My thoughts throughout the video: - oh, hey, a documentary on a game I have never heard of. - oh, hey, a rich person I have never heard of. - oh, Amalur, I remember that. That was fun. Not the best RPG, but not bad either. It did some really interesting things. Now I know why if felt a bit mmo-esque. - oh, the spending habits of the video game industry - oh, politics that could never happen here - oh, now we're properly into money laundering and false promises - oh, now we're into croundfounding stretch goal lies territory - oh, now we're adding uncomfortable political positions on social media.

I actually loved Kingdoms of Amalor back in the day. I had no clue its game development company had such a wild history.

glad to see you back my bro love the vids keep it up!

Bro I love this channel so much. I keep rewatching old videos 'cause honesly I can't get enough of the stories behind the games, the way it is detailed and fun at the same time, cheff's kiss

your videos are something else!! i truly think that even a person not giving a single shit about videogames would be stick to the screen watching you such a talented storyteller you are

Hey TotallyPointless, this is your best video yet. Great work man

Love your videos, they're some of my favorite deep dives on YT and got me through some hard times. Thanks man.

That news interview clip is just... YIKES.

This was a great story! Keep em coming!

This was great! Anything you put out is goddamn great and insightful, keep up the absolutely amazing work and thank you for entertaining us!

Nicholas Hoult's younger brother strikes again!

Chronicles of Elyria, MMO that was funded by kickstarter that never made it to release. Owner of the project made many outlandish promises to make it the “Best RPG ever”, one where you could be a lord over a land of people that were all player filled. Every shop owner would be a real life person, your character would age and pass their legacy to their offspring. They have a website and a RU-vid. It’s insane how much was promised.

I love kingdoms of amalur, I had no idea that this guy made it

OMG this video, you're the best mate!! HAHAHA. Loving the video. 19:01 HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA, I had to go back and listen again. Dying here. Brilliant video as always mate, love the way you talk. Happy to see you in this path, keep at it you're doing great!

Really well made video, love stuff like this

The governor after Chaffee wanted to do a deeper investigation into how 38 Studios was even offered this deal. The state Congress rushed to seal all documents and halt any investigation.

Great content, totally pointless. You were born for this. Please keep it up, love your stuff

I legit was just watching The Room vid, and got the notification, love your content

Yoooo TotallyPointlessTV is maybe a fear and hunger fan?? 😳

lets not forget the fact that Al Bundy scored 4 Touchdowns in one Game in 1966 to secure the win against the "Andrew Johnson High School"

Damn, didn’t get recommended this video even though I’m subbed. I watch all your videos can’t miss even one!

I’ve been waiting for a new video. Great job

"Loan forgiveness??? Just work harder then you could pay it off yourself lazy millennials!!!" "Okay but what about your employees who worked their asses off? When are you going to pay them?" "SHUT UP ITS NOT RELEVANT I BET YOURE A COMMIE"

i really enjoy this video. You should absolutely make more like this!

Always good to see a new Totalist Pointilist vid!

Sad that they did not just rework/re-tool it into Kingdoms of Amalur 2.

It'd be interesting to see you cover the history and unfortunate end of the game Gigantic

That governor blowing the whistle like that is hilarious, he knew exactly waht he was doing lmao.

This is so bizarre because I have a personal connection to Kingdoms of Amalur but didn't even realize this vid would be about it until I clicked lmao. But Ken Rolston is a relative of mine (I'm actually watching this in the Amalur hoodie he gave me when we hung out one night I got him to speak at my college, also in Providence RI), so we talked on and off about this game and other projects of his. I enjoyed the game quite a bit, and could see Ken's fingerprints all over its writing, and I eventually found out about the hilariously messy development surrounding it- but from talking with Ken about it, it always just seemed like he was having so much fun with it. I think you can tell from his work on Morrowind and Oblivion, too, but he just loves writing for games, adores it in such a genuine way, and whenever I spoke to him about Amalur it's like he didn't care that it was a quirky little game that paled in comparison to his prior successful projects, or that development and management was such a mess. He was just having so much fun working with other creatives and making things for people to enjoy (I mean, I'm sure he wasn't happy with the financial fuckery going on over there at 38 either, but speaking from the purely-creative side). What a guy- seriously an inspiring dude to get to hang with.

I'm a simple man. I see totallypointlesstv, i click

did not know they made kingdoms of amalur, makes a lot of sense, when I was playing it for the first time I thought to myself "this just feels like an offline MMO"

always love your videos :)

I didn't expect a slight recap of the 04 ALCS Game 6 on this channel but I love it.

KoA was a really amazing game. I loved every single bit of it from start to finish and I was always sad that the dreams of this becoming an MMORPG never been realised. At least now I know why. Thanks for this great video dude.

if you ever wanna make a video on the topic of a failed MMO getting a redemption arc, you could always check out Final Fantasy 14 which was a huge failure on release back in 2010 but a singular man (Naoki Yoshida) managed to save it by starting from scratch and built it all back up within 2 years since it came out it has peaked at being the most played MMO with the most amount of active subscribed players during its last expansion (and as of writing it still has more active members than either WoW or WoW classic) of course there is more to it and all that but i dont wanna make a whole essay in the comment section but Yoshida really did manage to save a doomed broken mess and turn it into what it was suppose to be, he really cares about the game and it shows

31:55 “Big Huge Games were Big Huge F*CKED” I always love this line

Well well well look who is back with this awesome video

I don’t even have an idea what game is this. I just truly enjoy listening to totallypointlesstv.

If you're looking for another studio to cover with a (somewhat, and I use that word very loosely) story, Telltale Games comes to mind immediately. To my knowledge, the studio acquired too many IPs too quickly. The closure was so sudden, employees were given a 30-minute notice beforehand and no severance. It's a miracle the game they were working on, The Walking Dead: The Final Season, was acquired by Skybound Entertainment to be finished. Now, the studio truly feels like a shadow of its former self. It has promised games such as The Wolf Among Us 2, but there's been no news about it for four years - other than it has been delayed until 2024.

Another quality video. Appreciate you.

This is amazing! Emp Lemon vibes! I've subbed for a while, return to your video game content often, but love what you're doing here too! Fantastic editing. More than usual.

It was so funny watching this buildup waiting for the punchline because I have never heard about this mmo project before

Keep doing this and everything that you enjoy! My only criticism is 'please upload more often'. I've enjoyed almost every video you've uploaded and I look forward to your content as much as I do VaatiVydya's.

Lots of great bits here, but the best is TPTV's verbal handling of Curt Schilling and Rhode Island "Providence of Rhode Island," "Rhode," and "Curtis" as though they are fantasy nouns -- for a scandal built on runaway fantastical thinking

oh this is lovely, thank you for quality content once again!

What i like about AAA games,is that they promised alot of stuff but instead they made expensive shit like this that end up being a failure (not to the group of ppl who worked on this game of course)..

i never knew the whole story behind 38 Games, but i do believe that he had a sincere interest in making great games, and damn did he try. Kingdoms of Amalur is one of the best High Fantasy games ever made, with it's very fun and active combat and actual writing (Bethesda does not know what writing is). i do hope that the remaster did well enough for THQ to continue considering a sequel.

Thats such a cool video format please more of it🎉

Comment for that algorithm, love your content man

I'm still waiting for the Deadly Premonition 2 video

Really enjoyed this vid, thanks for all the content bro!

Bloody loved this!!! Adore your documentary-style content!