• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Majesco and its indie label Midnight City in serious trouble

O

Orniletter

Banned
New Jersey-based publisher Majesco is in serious trouble. That comes from multiple SEC filings that have been published in the last week, and word from industry sources both inside and outside the company.
Click to expand...
Majesco filed a report with the Securities and Exchange Commission, dated November 6, which refers to layoffs at the company. It states in part that "the reduction includes development and game-testing, selling and marketing, and support personnel. We are currently not developing any significant new games for release in fiscal 2015."

The filing concludes: "we have suffered losses that raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. Accordingly, we are evaluating various alternatives, including reducing operating expenses and personnel costs, securing additional financing for future business activities, and other strategic alternatives including a sale or merger of our company."
Click to expand...
Another filing, which appeared yesterday, reveals that the company has sold off its full stake in social casino studio GMS, which it established last year.

We're also hearing rumblings of trouble with Midnight City, its indie publishing label. GMS and Midnight City were Majesco's two main units in the wake of the collapse of its console game business, which largely relied on the Zumba fitness brand. Majesco discontinued its relationship with Zumba in January 2014.

Midnight City recently published Double Fine's Costume Quest 2, and has plans to bring Fullbright's Gone Home to Wii U.
Click to expand...

More at the link

Pamper me if old

Credits to the anonymous whistleblower
 
M

Moofers

Member
Oh man! That sucks. I thought it was really cool that Gone Home was coming to the Wii U. I wonder where things went wrong.
 
M

Mushroomer25

Member
Aw, that sucks. I thought what they were doing was a smart reach into the indie market, though neither of those projects sounded like guaranteed hits.
 
P

Psxphile

Member
If they go under will any games they published in the digital space disappear in a puff of smoke? Should fence-sitters be worried those games won't be available if and when they ever get around to buying them?
 
L

Little Nemo

Member
I guess I didn't know they were even still around. I assumed they died off last gen with the rest of the mid-tier publishers. I definitely didn't know they were publicly traded.
 
L

Lumyst

Member
^^ When browsing Amazon for PS4 games, I saw several Majesco games I never heard about before, as well. I get the impression that they are one of the last remaining retail mid-tier publishers.
 
T

Takao

Banned
Psxphile said:
If they go under will any games they published in the digital space disappear in a puff of smoke? Should fence-sitters be worried those games won't be available if and when they ever get around to buying them?
Click to expand...

Most likely. I'm sure some opportunistic publishers would buy some of their catalog, but I'm not sure about everything.
 
E

Eusis

Member
Takao said:
Most likely. I'm sure some opportunistic publishers would buy some of their catalog, but I'm not sure about everything.
Click to expand...
I would expect at a minimum SE takes the Mama games under their wing and continues to bring them out there, but then maybe those have outright flatlined in sales and we know how their reputation for bringing over games has been lately. I'm guessing they're relatively easy and cheap localizations though so it might be easy cash on the side.

Platform holders are better about self publishing now so I'm guessing either Double Fine will be, uhh, fine or will get help from someone else anyway, but that still leaves the question of what'll happen with everyone else's games.
 
F

frankie_baby

Member
I'd hope surely any indies would have a clause in their contracts giving them back publishing rights in the case of bankruptcy? That would be just common sense wouldn't it?
 
M

Matt

Member
frankie_baby said:
I'd hope surely any indies would have a clause in their contracts giving them back publishing rights in the case of bankruptcy? That would be just common sense wouldn't it?
Click to expand...

That's rarely true, if ever...if a company goes bankrupt, to repay its creditors it most likely needs to sell assets, which includes their publishing rights.
 
J

Joni

Member
Matt said:
That's rarely true, if ever...if a company goes bankrupt, to repay its creditors it most likely needs to sell assets, which includes their publishing rights.
Click to expand...
It often depends on who actually paid for the game. I doubt Double Fine would have given away the rights to Costume Quest again after having worked hard to get them back from Nordic.
 
J

jbug617

Banned
update from Destructoid
http://www.destructoid.com/majesco-...tml?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

According to anonymous sources familiar with the situation at Majesco, things are indeed pretty bleak for the company.

Our contacts confirmed a reduction in staff at Majesco and Midnight City, adding any attempts to get in contact with the publisher have been difficult or impossible in recent months. One source said Majesco has essentially gone dark, and those looking for updates on the situation find the company and its leadership to be increasingly reclusive
Click to expand...
 
R

RumblingRosco

Member
I invested into Majesco (COOL is their ticker symbol) back in late-2008 when I saw they were gaining traction on the Wii. Sold all my shares around mid-2011 because I had that sinking feeling they'd be one of the publishers/developers to die with the rising costs of "next-gen" and well, I'm sad to see that I was correct, although to be fair it may have been more than just development costs that killed them.

Bummer. Best of luck to those that are/will be out of work. They did a reverse-split a while ago to try and bring their stock price up above the $1.00 minimum required by the NASDAQ, but it didn't take long for it to tank again. It's hovering around $0.74 now.
 
M

mclem

Member
Well, poop. I like Majesco, they're doing something that needs to exist, when few other companies are.

Might need to do a quick scan of various games to figure out what I ought to make sure I've secured.
 
J

jbug617

Banned
mclem said:
Well, poop. I like Majesco, they're doing something that needs to exist, when few other companies are.

Might need to do a quick scan of various games to figure out what I ought to make sure I've secured.
Click to expand...

B2vR_eMCAAE2Nfo.png

https://twitter.com/lifelower/status/534751871286513664
 
B

Banjo-Kazooie

Member
Ah damn. I really like the games they help bring to consoles. I especially was fond of Tales From Space Mutant Blobs Attack (dev by Drinkbox), and I've really been eyeing Costume Quest 2. I was waiting for a sale of the later, but I might grab it when I get home to help support them.
 
V

vermadas

Member
Mak said:
Midnight City published Wayforward's Bloodrayne Betrayal (2D sidescrolling action), and Double Dragon Neon (3D/2D tribute to the 80s and beat-em ups) for PC on Steam. Some of the core people that worked on those games went on to form Yacht Club Games and make Shovel Knight.

Bloodrayne Betrayal
http://store.steampowered.com/app/281220/

Double Dragon Neon (PC version added online co-op)
http://store.steampowered.com/app/252350/
Click to expand...

http://store.steampowered.com/search/?publisher=Midnight City

http://store.steampowered.com/search/?publisher=Majesco

Those two seem to be the big ones though.
 
H

HyperZone<3

Member
ya'all should strongly consider downloading Crash City Mayhem (Runabout 3DS) for the 3DS before it gets delisted, physical copies have gotta be hard to come by anymore. Its one of my favorite games for the 3DS.

81uGOE2zLcL._SL400_.jpg


you won't find better mission based driving on the system, and you certainly won't find a better butt rock soundtrack anywhere else on the system either. Its a bit janky, but tons of fun.

Thanks Majesco for bringing this out, I'm sorry it didn't pay huge dividends for ya.
 
digita1alchemy

digita1alchemy

Member
HyperZone<3 said:
ya'all should strongly consider downloading Crash City Mayhem (Runabout 3DS) for the 3DS before it gets delisted, physical copies have gotta be hard to come by anymore. Its one of my favorite games for the 3DS.

81uGOE2zLcL._SL400_.jpg


you won't find better mission based driving on the system, and you certainly won't find a better butt rock soundtrack anywhere else on the system either. Its a bit janky, but tons of fun.

Thanks Majesco for bringing this out, I'm sorry it didn't pay huge dividends for ya.
Click to expand...

I second this post and will add that this game is actually part of the awesome Runabout series of games (it was Runabout 3D in Japan), something that isn't apparent at first glance since they changed the title for NA:

heYhozs.jpg
 
O

OnionPowder

Member
Seems like I only hear about Majesco doing bad after they publish a Tim Schafer game. First Psychonauts and now Costume Quest 2
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Atari is bringing back the Infogrames publishing label
News
30
1K
coffinbirth replied
EA to lay off 5% of workforce, or about 670 employees
News 2
91
5K
CamHostage replied
Unity Software cutting 25% of staff (1,800 jobs) in ‘company reset’ continuation
News Game Dev
19
1K
RedC replied
  • Locked
Square Enix president says they will be ‘aggressive in applying’ AI in its develop.& publishing efforts.
Game Dev
2
406
MidGenRefresh replied
Indie Publisher Versus Evil Is Shutting Down, Entire Staff Laid Off
News Game Dev
19
2K
Xion_Stellar replied
Top Bottom