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[Cygnus X-1]

Monolithsoft is a developer of considerable size, with experience in developing RPGs on consoles and portables, with a proven sales record. Are you seriously attempting to compare Monolithsoft with Cing here? That's not just stupid, but completely illogical.

Monolithsoft was formed in 1999, the same year Cing was. Wanna take a look at their sales record to date in comparison?

2002 - Xenosaga Ep1 - 439k
2003 - Xenosaga Ep1 Reload - 14k
2003 - Baten Kaitos - 108k
2004 - Xenosaga Freaks - 25k
2004 - Xenosaga Ep2 - 256k
2005 - Namco x Capcom - 131k
2006 - Xenosaga I+II - 21k
2006 - Xenosaga Ep3 - 181k
2006 - Baten Kaitos II - 44k
2008 - Soma Bringer - 100k
2008 - Super Robot Wars OG Saga - 120k
2008 - Disaster - 27k
2009 - Dragonball Kai - 192k
2010 - Super Robot Wars OG Saga Exceed - 79k (first week)
2010 - Xenoblade - Upcoming

What do you think is more valuable to Nintendo? A developer who can actually release multiple games a year, every single year, and still generate good sales, or a developer who takes 2 years to make an adventure game which sells 30k?

Wow. You're right, but this post makes me think that Alphadream could be the next one going to hell if they fail just once.

 

[vgachi57]

Wow. You're right, but this post makes me think that Alphadream could be the next one going to hell if they fail just once.

oh man, that would be so sad if alphadream went down. that said, i hope cing pulls through past the bankruptcy.

 

[AniHawk]

dang, cing closed? Now what will I do when I can't fall asleep?

Retro's still around.

 

[Cygnus X-1]

Retro's still around.

That's 100% Nintendo. Or, better, as Michael Kelbaugh likes to repeat, Retro IS Nintendo. So, bankruptcy is out of question.

They didn't give Monolithsoft up though. They still own a chunk of Monolithsoft, it is a misconception that Nintendo owns 100% of the company. Nintendo bought a majority stake in Monolithsoft, but not all of it. Namco Bandai still uses Monolithsoft, as you can see from the SRW OG Saga and Dragonball Kai games.

I wonder what is the interest of Nintendo keep things this way. Or maybe was it a request from Monolithsoft?

 

[Twig]

How big is Monolithsoft compared to Cing?

I have no idea is why I ask.

 

[Cygnus X-1]

How big is Monolithsoft compared to Cing?

I have no idea is why I ask.

From Wikipedia: Monolithsoft 83 people. Cing was 29.

 

[duckroll]

How big is Monolithsoft compared to Cing?

I have no idea is why I ask.

They had 76 employees in 2002, 100 employees in 2004, 111 employees in 2007, 94 employees in 2008, and currently they have 83 employees.

 

[Celine]

Wow. You're right, but this post makes me think that Alphadream could be the next one going to hell if they fail just once.

Alphadream management of the Mario RPG franchise on handhelds proved to be highly successful.
Very few JRPG can break 1 million worldwide and M&L saga sell usually 2-3 million copies.
The only downside is that they are tied to that franchise for life.

 

[Shikamaru Ninja]

AlphaDream and Skip are the two companies originally bound to Nintendo by the Nintendo Venture Fund. A first-party version of Q-Fund by Hiroshi Yamauchi.

 

[radiantdreamer]

If I had a sadface variation of my avatar, I would post it in here.

 

[Stumpokapow]

They had 76 employees in 2002, 100 employees in 2004, 111 employees in 2007, 94 employees in 2008, and currently they have 83 employees.

Are you counting yourself or not?

 

[Twig]

They had 76 employees in 2002, 100 employees in 2004, 111 employees in 2007, 94 employees in 2008, and currently they have 83 employees.

Okie doke.

 

[duckroll]

Are you counting yourself or not?

Hush you!

 

[charlequin]

Wow. You're right, but this post makes me think that Alphadream could be the next one going to hell if they fail just once.

...the same Alphadream that just had a huge hit with M&L3? I think their latest game has sold more in the US than all of CING's games ever have sold combined in Japan.

 

[Gunstarheroes]

This is the worst news since Free Radical for me. I loved Hotel Dusk so much, and saw that a sequel was coming and couldn't believe it. Here's hoping some way i will be able to play this game without playing it in Japanese.

 

[Stumpokapow]

...the same Alphadream that just had a huge hit with M&L3? I think their latest game has sold more in the US than all of CING's games ever have sold combined in Japan.

M&L3 in the US has sold or is about to have sold (depending on off-chart numbers) more than all of CING's games ever combined, and worldwide. And that's not intended as a slight against CING, honestly!

 

[fernoca]

Nintendo should just acquire/absorb them or something, after all they've made some pretty good and unique Nintendo DS and Wii games. Oh well.

 

[farnham]

Monolithsoft is a developer of considerable size, with experience in developing RPGs on consoles and portables, with a proven sales record. Are you seriously attempting to compare Monolithsoft with Cing here? That's not just stupid, but completely illogical.

Monolithsoft was formed in 1999, the same year Cing was. Wanna take a look at their sales record to date in comparison?

2002 - Xenosaga Ep1 - 439k
2003 - Xenosaga Ep1 Reload - 14k
2003 - Baten Kaitos - 108k
2004 - Xenosaga Freaks - 25k
2004 - Xenosaga Ep2 - 256k
2005 - Namco x Capcom - 131k
2006 - Xenosaga I+II - 21k
2006 - Xenosaga Ep3 - 181k
2006 - Baten Kaitos II - 44k
2008 - Soma Bringer - 100k
2008 - Super Robot Wars OG Saga - 120k
2008 - Disaster - 27k
2009 - Dragonball Kai - 192k
2010 - Super Robot Wars OG Saga Exceed - 79k (first week)
2010 - Xenoblade - Upcoming

What do you think is more valuable to Nintendo? A developer who can actually release multiple games a year, every single year, and still generate good sales, or a developer who takes 2 years to make an adventure game which sells 30k?

while i do agree with you in some points... you also have to take in consideration that CING is probably a lot cheaper for Nintendo to buy.. since they have gone bancrupt and they dont have a great track record sales wise... their development trackrecord (meaning reviewscores) on the other hand was pretty solid in the last few years.. which means there is a room to grow there.. im not saying that CING would be a good deal or anything.. but nintendo also has bought or worked with companies in the past that didnt really have a good track record and turned them around.. so who knows..

 

[Rebochan]

I am crying soft bitter tears to my copy of Little King's Story.

 

[Spiegel]

M&L3 in the US has sold or is about to have sold (depending on off-chart numbers) more than all of CING's games ever combined, and worldwide. And that's not intended as a slight against CING, honestly!

If only Cing would have made an adventure game starring Mario...

 

[Hero of Legend]

Wow. You're right, but this post makes me think that Alphadream could be the next one going to hell if they fail just once.

WTF? M&L3 did extremely well!

 

[djtiesto]

I had a lot of fun with LKS, and even though Trace Memory/Hotel Dusk aren't really my cup of tea, it's always sad when a small, niche publisher goes down.

 

[Hero of Legend]

AlphaDream and Skip are the two companies originally bound to Nintendo by the Nintendo Venture Fund. A first-party version of Q-Fund by Hiroshi Yamauchi.

Hmm, really? Interesting.

But Skip has smaller studios like Route24 that worked on the iPhone and such, or is Route24 sort of separate enough?

 

[Celine]

M&L3 in the US has sold or is about to have sold (depending on off-chart numbers) more than all of CING's games ever combined, and worldwide. And that's not intended as a slight against CING, honestly!

How good HD and AC sold in US ?

EDIT:

@Hero
Isn't Route24 Kenichi Niishi studio founded after he departed from Skip Ltd/Nintendo ?

 

[Hootie]

 

[snack]

Tough times for CING.

 

[JumpJeff84]

well shit.

I bought Hotel Dusk and LKS day one. Did my part.

I BLAME THE REST OF YOU!!!

 

[Hero of Legend]

How good HD and AC sold in US ?

EDIT:

@Hero
Isn't Route24 Kenichi Niishi studio founded after he departed from Skip Ltd/Nintendo ?

Apparently yeah, but Route24 still works with Skip, they worked on Captain Rainbow for example.

Niishi also worked on Wacky World of Sports as the planner or something.

 

[Ramenman]

WTF NOOOOOOOOOOO D:

They were awesome !

 

[Cow Mengde]

Wow. You're right, but this post makes me think that Alphadream could be the next one going to hell if they fail just once.

W-what the fuck? Are we thinking of the same Alphadream here?

 

[boiled goose]

I bought LKS, hotel dusk.

Would buy another code R and Trace memory if ACR was getting localized
Would buy HD2 if it got localized.


Cant really do much more :/

Another code R is already in fucking English. (as is freaking disaster)

Fuck NOA for its shitty localization practices this gen. Seriously, worst company ever when it comes to this shit....

Sure, some decisions would be either slightly unprofitable or neutral, but for a company that claims that they want to put smiles on people faces they sure do know how to fuck over their fans.

 

[snoopers]

This is a very, very sad news.

 

[trinest]

Would you have bought shares in CING?

Considering its a private company it just dosn't work that way.

 

[Deku]

Terrible news and the adventure genre continues to become irrelevant.

As for comments about their games not being marketed properly, Hotel Dusk was put on as a touch generitons title for a budget price, it probably moved an unknown, but substantial amount.

And Trace Memory R got TV adverts in Europe. The original Trace Memory for the DS was a launch title, which probably helped it sell more units than it otherwise would have in a more crowded field.

 

[Drkirby]

W-what the fuck? Are we thinking of the same Alphadream here?

Yeah, the one that made the two Hamtaro games that were so bad that Nintendo declined to publish them after having made three great Adventure games with the series, already disproving "IF THEY MAKE JUST 1 DUD, BANKRUPT!"

 

[Mailenstein]

One of the most unique game designs I've ever seen. Sad news.

 

[Vinci]

Nintendo should just acquire/absorb them or something, after all they've made some pretty good and unique Nintendo DS and Wii games. Oh well.

Why do people keep saying this? Some members of CING might end up at Nintendo, but no, Nintendo is not going to bail out the company outright. Of course they're just as likely to end up anywhere.

 

[farnham]

Terrible news and the adventure genre continues to become irrelevant.

As for comments about their games not being marketed properly, Hotel Dusk was put on as a touch generitons title for a budget price, it probably moved an unknown, but substantial amount.

And Trace Memory R got TV adverts in Europe. The original Trace Memory for the DS was a launch title, which probably helped it sell more units than it otherwise would have in a more crowded field.

i agree that CING got pretty good advertisement

at least the nintendo published ones

 

[SlipperySlope]

Nintendo does let some of their developers go wild; aka skip Ltd. I was referring more to getting their games more attention and polishing the gameplay to appeal to a larger audience. You act like making a game more mainstream is a bad thing entirely; mainstream games can still be excellent. New Super Mario Bros. Wii is a good example. Besides, Nintendo still has new Metroid games developed right? Nothing mainstream about the Metroid franchise.



I wouldn't say Rare fell apart under Nintendo. Rare was starting to have problems, but seeing it continued under Microsoft they weren't to blame. Nintendo essentially let them make the game they wanted to just with Star Fox thrown it for franchise recognition.

Nintendo never owned a majority stock in Left Field, just a minority. Left Field in 2002 bought out all of Nintendo's shares. Nintendo is not responsible for any of their games past 2002.



Cheap. Why the fuck pick up Monolith Soft? Nintendo doesn't need a reason.

Metroid may not be mainstream, but it's definitely not niche. They consistently sell like 800K-1 million per installment WW.

 

[donny2112]

Or, better, as Michael Kelbaugh likes to repeat, Retro IS Nintendo.

This is bad news. The last company head that said they and Nintendo were the same thing, and you shouldn't even think of them as separate entities ending up splitting from Nintendo and making Too Human for Microsoft.

 

[trinest]

Terrible news and the adventure genre continues to become irrelevant.

As for comments about their games not being marketed properly, Hotel Dusk was put on as a touch generitons title for a budget price, it probably moved an unknown, but substantial amount.

And Trace Memory R got TV adverts in Europe. The original Trace Memory for the DS was a launch title, which probably helped it sell more units than it otherwise would have in a more crowded field.

And they sold well- even in Japan.

Its the rest which didn't that put them on a downward spiral.

 

[Cygnus X-1]

This is bad news. The last company head that said they and Nintendo were the same thing, and you shouldn't even think of them as separate entities ending up splitting from Nintendo and making Too Human for Microsoft.

:lol That's true.

 

[trinest]

I'll trade Retro for Cing sure.

 

[[Nintex]]

This is bad news. The last company head that said they and Nintendo were the same thing, and you shouldn't even think of them as separate entities ending up splitting from Nintendo and making Too Human for Microsoft.

The difference is that Nintendo bought Spangenberg's Love Hotel for $1 million.

 

[Datschge]

What did they do in LKS? Anyone know, exactly?

They did the programming, scripting, text and additional design together with townfactory. Credits Of the credits Mobygames has (which lacks Again and Last Window) Akane Sugimoto (lead 2d designer), Takuya Miyagawa (line producer), Makoto Kikuchi (sound programmer) and Junpei Fukuura (scripter) are confirmed to have worked on other CING games.

 

[bttb]

Cing Bankruptcy Filing Report:
http://www.tsr-net.co.jp/new/sokuho/1199593_717.html

FYE 2008.08
Net Sales: 577.00 million yen
Net Profit: 10.15 million yen

- Net sales peaked with contributions from Monster Farm (DS) and Another Code (Wii).

FYE 2009.08
Net Sales: 284.12 million yen
Net Loss: 119 million yen
Excess Debt: 159 million yen

- Net sales halved due to a decline in game software demand during the global recession. Long development times rapidly increased expenses and caused an overall deficit.

 

[Stumpokapow]

How good HD and AC sold in US ?

We don't have up to date numbers because HD got reprinted with the orange bar and thus is likely continuing to sell, but AC was around 100k the last time we saw a number (which I believe to be final) and HD was around 175-200k the last time we saw a number. I think both numbers were updated as of January 2008 by a leak who provided LTD updates on CAG forums.