38 Studios posts Prov. job openings

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) - 38 Studios has started posting job openings at its soon-to-be headquarters in Providence.

Curt Schilling's video game company is in the process of renovating One Empire Plaza, a six-story, 104,316-square-foot downtown building that's been vacant since Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island moved to a new facility near Providence Place mall.

38 Studios has said it will begin moving into One Empire Plaza by May 1.

About 34 positions were listed on the company's website as of Friday, including openings for designers, engineers, and artists. 38 Studios has pledged to create 450 jobs in Rhode Island by 2013, as part of a loan guarantee by the state's Economic Development Corporation .

So far, 38 Studios has received $22.4 million, or 30 percent of the $75 million in loan money guaranteed by Rhode Island taxpayers, in two installments.

The company's first game, "Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning," is scheduled to be released in the fall.

38 Studios will receive another $17.2 million once it relocates to Rhode Island and employs 80 full-time workers here, according to a review of bond documents by WPRI.com.

38 Studios' employees are "incredibly excited" about the move to Providence, Schilling told the gaming website Joystiq earlier this week.

The company is taking "a Disney approach" as it spruces up its new digs, the former Red Sox ace said. "There’s no detail too small for us in the new studio to make it a place where people walk in and say, ‘I wanna work there,' " he said.