You would think that selling 1.3 million copies of your first game would be enough to guarantee long-term success. However, that’s now how it’s happened for Kingdoms of Amalur developer 38 studios, who laid off its entire staff this week.

The issue here is that the government of the US state of Rhode Island spent US$75 million on bringing the studio to the island, and they failed to make a US$1.125 million repayment on that loan. In order for the game to break even, it would need to sell a massive 3 million copies. While that might be do-able for a big name studio bringing out a new entry in a much-loved franchise, it was always going to be a struggle for a new developer with a new franchise

The good news for the now-former 38 Studios employees is that the games industry has opened up its job applications board, and it seems likely that many of them will be able to find new work within the industry.