Schilling Bolts Massachusetts for Rhode Island (Updated)

Unable to resist a $75 million dollar loan from Rhode Island, former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling will pull up stakes and move his videogame development company 38 Studios to the Ocean State.

Boston.com reports that the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation approved the loan guarantee yesterday, because the addition of 38 Studios to Rhode Island “offered growth opportunity and could help drive the state's economy.” Massachusetts officials didn’t give up without a fight, as talks had been ongoing with the company to see what could be done to keep it in the state, but incentives offered couldn't match those of their neighbor to the South.

Schilling stated, “I’ve invested a significant amount of my life’s earnings in 38 Studios, and I will protect the loan guarantee that’s been given by the state with the same passion and interest that I’m protecting my own investment in this company.”

38 Studios said it would bring 450 jobs to the state by the end of 2012. It would pay a penalty if it failed to reach that goal.

Schilling unveiled the company’s latest game—Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning—at last week’s Comic-Con.

If Schilling does get home sick, he can always visit the Triple-A affiliate of his former team, the Pawtucket (Rhode Island) Red Sox.

Update: Massachusetts Independent candidate for Governor (and current state Treasurer and Receiver-General) Tim Cahill blasted Rhode Island, saying the state made a “bad decision.”

Also, a piece on the American Spectator called the deal “corporate socialism,” describing it as “one of the most obscene cases of using public money to back private business.”