From its inception, 38 Studios worked on a massively multiplayer online role-playing game known as Project Copernicus, intended as their main product upon which other Amalur properties would be based.

There was extensive media coverage surrounding the studio's final months, the canceled Project Copernicus, and its impact on former employees.

The concept for 38 Studios was created by Curt Schilling, a professional baseball player who in private life was an avid gamer.

Talking about his frustrations with people he knew at Sony Online Entertainment, he began discussing the possibility of founding his own game studio.

[11] In 2007, the company was renamed to 38 Studios (Schilling's uniform number), with the stated aim being to give a "more accurate reflection" of its goals.

[18] 38 Studio's ambition was noted in 2009 in light of competition in the MMO market, and its high amount of spending without a single release.

[20][21] Under 38 Studios, the prototype was repurposed into a single-player RPG that would introduce the Amalur universe; McFarlaine and Salvatore oversaw the project, but the team were otherwise given creative freedom.

[29] Due to uncertainty surrounding the market and the studio's goals, local venture capital firms declined to invest.

[18] In February 2012, the studio instigated a temporary hiring freeze, which caused issues for some new members including Andy Johnson, who had joined as localization director in January.

[41] Schilling later felt that the studio suffered from "significant dysfunction" for which he was ultimately to blame due to his lack of business experience.

[3] On May 18, the repayment check totaling over $1 million cleared, with the new funds attributed to suspending employee payroll and letting go of non-essential staff.

[42] Johnson remembered showing Rise of Nations: Tactics to executives in the weeks before the studio's bankruptcy, who started pushing for a quick release despite his insistence that more time was needed for development.

[44] Ted Nesi of news service WPRI-TV, which was covering the studio's issues, highlighted brain drain from other developers as another potential threat.

[7] The message from Thomas, described as written in "terse" language, caught employees unaware as they were generally kept in the dark about executive affairs so they could focus on game development.

[3][47] Former 38 Studios employees began receiving portions of their due salaries in August 2021, expected to range between 14 and 20 percent of what they were to make before bankruptcy.

[52] Subsequently, Jeff Easley was described as the studio's only remaining employee, tasked with keeping the technical aspects of Project Copernicus running until a buyer could be found.

[35] Rhode Island passed a law that protected those associated with the loan and its later legal issues from further independent prosecutions if they settled with the state.

[56] One plaintiff, a member of the EDC, dropped his separate case due to a lack of resources and not wanting to distract from the main legal issues.

"[58] A civil suit was filed in November 2012 by the Rhode Island government against Schilling and thirteen other defendants−both individuals and firms−in response to the findings of the audit.

[62][63] Following settlements with the other defendants, and after payment of legal fees, Rhode Island was left with a debt of over $38 million, which had to be paid with public money.

[8][39][44] While later accused by the EDC to pushing the studio into bankruptcy,[31] Chafee stated he wanted to do whatever possible to keep the company afloat except investing more money.

[16][17] Alexa Ray Corriae of Polygon described her 2012 article concerning the spouse of a former employer as "[offering] very real, very heartbreaking human faces" to the studio's collapse.

[3] Brendan Sinclair, writing for GamesIndustry.biz in 2022, highlighted 38 Studios and the production of Project Copernicus as a cautionary tale of over-ambition and an example of bad employer practices within the gaming industry.

[68] Other industry figures cited the collapse of 38 Studios and Project Copernicus as part of a wider trend in the market away from the MMO genre.