Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning 2 was in pre-production, sources told Joystiq. Currently, the IP is owned by 38 Studios, and it’s very likely that the recent controversy surrounding the company will result in the state of Rhode Island government obtaining ownership of the franchise. It really is a shame that that’s the case, because Kingdoms of Amalur was well received by critics and managed to sell reasonably well.

The sequel would be created with the idea of addressing issues from the first game, one anonymous source stated. Graphical improvements, combat tweaks, load times, and players’ impact on the game world were all elements that Big Huge Games was looking into for the Kingdoms of Amalur follow-up.  “We had a good base to work from, and it was going to be all about improving everything,” said the source. “We listened carefully to fans and critics and were going to implement everything we possibly could.”

Despite a lot of misconceptions surrounding the matter, Kingdoms of Amalur was not developed using Rhode Island government money, confirmed one source. Funding was provided by publisher EA, and any money from the state of Rhode Island was used for 38 Studios’ MMO title.

The future for the Amalur IP is uncertain at this point, and it’s very possible that we’ve seen the last of it. It’s a shame, really, because the series could only have gotten better.

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