Damaging public comments caused 38 Studios downfall, says Schilling

38 Studios founder Curt Schilling has broken his silence over the financial troubles of his Rhode Island-based company, stating that the desperate situation is, in part, due to broken promises from the state, and damaging comments from Governor Lincoln Chafee. The studio's ongoing financial struggles came to a head last week, when 38 Studios and its subsidiary Big Huge Games were forced to lay off their entire staff. In an interview with the Providence Journal, Schilling has now said that Rhode Island state officials reneged on a deal that would have allowed 38 Studios to claim film tax credits. He also said that the state went back on a deal by which the studio was to defer the $1.125 million payment that was due on May 1, so that it could meet its May 15 payroll. Elsewhere, Schilling said that Governor Chafee's public remarks about the studio's issues were "devastating," and he claims that a publisher pulled out of a $35 million deal to finance a sequel to Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning as a result of the comments. Schilling says that he is set to lose more than $50 million of his own personal savings as part of the failure of the venture.