Following a fight he won for state backing for his new video game company, Red Sox star Curt Schilling is up and running in Providence.
Schilling's out with his first new game, and he showed his 38 Studios for the first time to NBC 10.
The company takes up six floors of the old Blue Cross building and has room to expand.
"We're filling it. We've been hiring since the day we got in here," Schilling said.
The company has hired 280 workers, just a fraction of what the place can hold, and the building's older than most of the staff.
"If you're over 30, you've been around a while. And we have a good mix. The kids coming out of RISD. The kids coming out of Brown and New England Institute of Technology. Harvard. This is what they want to do," Schilling said.
The workspace is quiet and filled with computers. The sleek interiors and subtle lighting give like-minded co-workers a place to create and collaborate.
It's a young person's game. Most of the workers are in their mid-20s. A lot come from California. They don't punch a clock. They have monthly goals to work. Some work 10 hours a day; some work less.
Schilling said sometimes it's a challenge recruiting to Providence. The industry is on the West Coast. But he said if they won't come, they're not for him.
The company's first game, "Kingdoms of Amalur," was released earlier this month. How's is it doing? What are the numbers?
"The response has been incredible. From the public, the players, the reviews. We had a tremendous write up in the New York Times," Schilling said. "People are loving it."
True, the Times review was strong. Others have been mixed. It's fair to say he's off to a good start with a "Lord of the Rings"-like medieval fantasy meets future.
On the business side, it's fantasy meets reality.
"If you're a pre-revenue start-up, which we are, you don't overpay people to come work at your company. You have to be fiscally responsible, and so we have to give them other things," Schilling said.
Schilling's company gives them a foot in the door and a chance to get in the ground floor.
It seemed obvious walking into 38 Studios that Schilling's fate and fortune depends on the genius sitting behind the computer screen.
Schilling's aware he has to get as much creativity out of his workers as possible.
"They have to come here and want to be here. And they have to want to push themselves. I think that's the other thing is I push these people. I want to push them to make them understand, like I realized, that you have no idea what you're capable of," Schilling said.
Schilling reportedly invested $30 million of his own money, but he agreed it was a leap of faith for Rhode Island to back his company with loan guarantees.
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