Comic-Con 2011 Live Schedule

38 Studios names, dates first project

EA-published Project Mercury redubbed Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning; single-player RPG due out in fall 2011.

Though its massively multiplayer title remains shrouded in mystery, 38 Studios today officially unveiled its upcoming single-player role-playing game. Formerly known as Project Mercury, the title will henceforth be called Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. It will ship in fall 2011 and will be distributed by Electronic Arts under its EA Partners banner for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.

38 Studios' day of reckoning will come in fall 2011.

38 Studios' day of reckoning will come in fall 2011.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is being developed by Rise of Nations studio Big Huge Games, which was bought by 38 Studios in 2009. It will be an all-new intellectual property cocreated by comic-book artist Todd McFarlane (Spawn) and fantasy author R.A. Salvatore (The DemonWars Saga). Both men helped Hall of Fame baseball pitcher Curt Schilling found 38 Studios--then called Green Monster Games--in 2006 and respectively serve as art director and "executive creator of worlds" at the Maynard, Massachusetts, studio--which may move to Rhode Island in the not-too-distant future.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning will be an open-world fantasy RPG in the vein of Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. That is no accident. Its project lead is Ken Rolston, who was lead designer on Bethesda Softworks' acclaimed high-fantasy RPGs The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and Oblivion. Several other Bethesda alumni are working on the project, as well as a senior designer from LucasArts' The Force Unleashed. Veterans of Civilization and Civilization II are also on board.

In conjunction with the name and date announcement, 38 Studios has launched an official site for its upcoming project, www.reckoningthegame.com. New details on the game may be announced at EA's studio showcase, the presentation for which will be streamed live on GameSpot later today. More information will be revealed at a special Comic-Con 2010 panel on Thursday, when the first trailer for the game will debut.

33 Comments

  • satvricon

    Posted Feb 6, 2012 1:43 pm GMT

    if this game play online

  • Ringx55

    Posted Jul 22, 2010 12:22 pm GMT

    Arghhh, that's a very long wait. Now we can also assume the MMORPG is coming out mid 2012 :\

  • apsalar

    Posted Jul 22, 2010 8:40 am GMT

    R.A Salvatore. Such a good writer.His books are really good. Hope his skills get transfered well in the game. The end result should be really good hehe

  • Urworstnhtmare

    Posted Jul 21, 2010 5:57 pm GMT

    Even I have heard of Salvatore. This game should be great.

  • Hellbishop

    Posted Jul 21, 2010 6:38 am GMT

    Talk about an all star cast from the magnificent Ken Rolston to Todd McFarlane and R.A. Salvatore along with all these experianced highly skilled talents from top notch game companies. This is something to look immensely forward too.

  • MrDouglas

    Posted Jul 21, 2010 1:41 am GMT

    That's an impressive gathering of talents from both the gaming, comic book and fantasy blockbuster writing*, let's they manage too cook up something really special!

    *I'm a big fan of Salvatore, for those who may not know, he created Drizzt Do Urden (hope I spelled that right), one of the coolest characters ever and his books are really good.

  • Gelugon_baat

    Posted Jul 20, 2010 10:46 pm GMT

    @Khalathwyr
    Honest, I did suspect it may be fantasy-based (and I did know about Schilling playing Everquest)! But the working title name threw me off. I suppose that my mistake was that I did not perceive "Project Mercury" as a metaphorical phrase then; now I know that it was used in a figurative sense, to convey a message of ambition (similar to the ambition for the actual Project Mercury) on the part of this game's creators. Silly, silly short-sighted me.

    Also, I wasn't exactly attributing the game to those former Bethesda designers. However, they do form a critical asset for the development of that game: its skilled workforce. They have experience working on fantasy-themed games, so I had formerly expected one, in addition to the clue provided by Mr. Schilling's past.

  • Khalathwyr

    Posted Jul 20, 2010 10:33 pm GMT

    @Gelugon_baat

    If you knew anything about Curt Schilling you'd have known from the start this was fantasy. He's a long time EQ and WoW player aside from being a major league baseball star. Making these games for him is like us normal (not rich) people dreaming about what games we'd make if we did become rich enough to do it. He retired from baseball and is now living that dream.

    So, it's not really the Bethesda folks as this is a Curt Schilling and R.A. Salvatore brain child.

  • Gelugon_baat

    Posted Jul 20, 2010 9:19 pm GMT

    From its previous name ("Project Mercury") and from what I could research about the context of that name, I had not expected it to be a fantasy-themed MMO!

    Still, I suppose that I should have seen this coming if former Bethesda designers had been involved.

  • fikkel

    Posted Jul 20, 2010 9:00 pm GMT

    Can't wait to see more of this game. I loved rise of nations, rise of legends and seeing ken rolston (morrowind!) working with devs that are civ veterans the game is showing a lot of promise. too bad brian reynolds has left big huge

  • ISuPrEmAcY32I

    Posted Jul 20, 2010 8:36 pm GMT

    the name of the game sounds a little like generic high fantasy to me, but that's alright. This is right up my ally. Definitely on my to watch list now. I won't get too excited until i see some gameplay and features discussion, but I love RPG's. Hopefully there will be good marketing and media coverage on this game.

  • JS0123456789

    Posted Jul 20, 2010 7:59 pm GMT

    An open world single player rpg - sounds as if it'll be right up my alley - this looks interesting. Also, not to nitpick, but, Curt Schilling isn't a Hall of Famer, it's debatable whether he should be.

  • FedCom

    Posted Jul 20, 2010 5:37 pm GMT

    Somehow I remember Todd not really helping much with Ultima Online 2. Pitty that sorta looked interesting but with him actually co-creating... even if this is a color in the lines, by the numbers midevil fantasy game at least it should look a bit gothic.

  • iceeman

    Posted Jul 20, 2010 3:22 pm GMT

    single player and a roleplaying game? wow my prayers have been answered !!
    i'm getting this for my PC and then some.

  • GravityDs

    Posted Jul 20, 2010 3:17 pm GMT

    holy crap. I had no idea the other people were working on this game from bethesda and lucasarts. This may be one of the greatest RPG/MMORPG to ever be created. I hope my expectations aren't let down.

  • MXVIII

    Posted Jul 20, 2010 3:10 pm GMT

    Why dont they just call it Amalur

  • N4Red_NYC

    Posted Jul 20, 2010 3:06 pm GMT

    The name of the title sounds ridiculously great if that makes sense lol, in short EPIC. Also the people on board for this project wins me over. I cannot wait for this game. Plus a MMO on the consoles, this will be interesting because of server problems. I guess they will have that planned out, so nothing to turn me away. Wow 2011 time to be broke for that department in entertainment spending smh too many great titles are coming out

  • Twiztid-Maddox

    Posted Jul 20, 2010 2:51 pm GMT

    I'm ready for this game already, sounds amazing judging by the people involved in making it... Todd McFarlane will create a masterpiece with this game, and I know the people that made Morrowind and Oblivion will help his ideas come to frutation... I'm more excited about this game than Dragons Age 2 to tell you the truth...

  • johny300

    Posted Jul 20, 2010 2:06 pm GMT

    What a name!!

  • BackSeatSuicide

    Posted Jul 20, 2010 1:51 pm GMT

    i think its an alright game title, I've definitely heard way worse, as I'm sure the rest of you had. And I don't Reckoning should be in a Racing Game title, that makes no sense lol, that sounds like it would be in an Action or RPG game. to reckon something is to make due on something that is owed. that would have nothing to do with racing hahaha