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CING files for bankruptcy

schuelma

Wastes hours checking old Famitsu software data, but that's why we love him.
JoshuaJSlone said:
So are they actually GONE gone? Keeping the various types of bankruptcy straight is trouble enough in my home country, let alone understanding what it means internationally.


Yeah. Bankruptcy isn't always the end of the line at least in the U.S. Don't know if this is different.
 

Brazil

Living in the shadow of Amaz
But how can this be possible? I bought all their titles! I imported Another Code R!

There must be some misunderstanding.

:(
 
That's really bad news. AC:R and LKS were such great games as well... :(

Well, with their talent I'm sure they will be re-employed very soon...
 

thetrin

Hail, peons, for I have come as ambassador from the great and bountiful Blueberry Butt Explosion
This is fucking terrible. :(

Is Again still hitting America? Is Koei Tecmo still releasing that in the states?
 
I will gladly buy AGAIN and Last Window if and when they get released in America.

I would have also like to buy Trace Memory Wii but NoA doesn't want to release an already translated game. Bastards.
 
I can't help but feel partially responsible for this, as much as I was interested in Another Code, Hotel Dusk and Another Code R I never had the cash to get them when they launched and subsequently forgot about them completely.

I'll try and make amends by buying Another Code R next week.
 

Brazil

Living in the shadow of Amaz
thetrin said:
This is fucking terrible. :(

Is Again still hitting America? Is Koei Tecmo still releasing that in the states?
Yes. Nintendo Power reviewed it in their last edition (gave it a 7, I think).
 

JKTrix

Member
2agrp8z.jpg


I didn't care as much for the Another Code series, but I loved Hotel Dusk and what I played of LKS. Sad to see 'em go.
 

Tiktaalik

Member
For all the "Nintendo should buy them" folks if anything Cing going bankrupt is due to Nintendo not wanting to publish any more Cing games. A gaming company goes out of business when it can't get any new contracts to develop new games. Wouldn't you think that Nintendo would be the first company Cing would go to with a new game pitch?
 

Haunted

Member
FUCK!


EA should've given them 2.5 million to keep them running instead of buying that fucking superbowl spot. :(

Really puts things in perspective.
 

Neo C.

Member
What happens to the IPs? Another Code and Hotel Dusk are Nintendo's, aren't they? Hopefully Nintendo hires them and the loss wouldn't be as bad as it seems now.
 

loosus

Banned
duckroll said:
In Japan? :lol

A much bigger and richer developer like Level 5 is offering an average of 240,000yen (2.6k USD) per month on their recruitment page.
Hey, maybe they're not being paid anything! JAPAN! LOL

I look forward to CING's next brilliant hit, since there is no way they can possibly in financial trouble according to you! Maybe this is all made-up...JAPAN after all! LOL
 
Well this is a swell thing to wake up to. The dev responsible for my GOTY last year is bankrupt. And I was starting to get a tiny bit of hype for a sequel :(
 
What a shame... Hotel Dusk and Trace Memory had their flaws, but they were clearly the handiwork of a skilled developer steadily advancing in ability. To think it would be cut short like this.

Hopefully CING's personnel will find jobs elsewhere so its legacy can continue.
 
farnham said:
huh ??? casual games have nothing to do with CINGs demise..


Indeed.
It's just a fact of life that the point and click Adventure type games are pretty much dead (outside of Sam and Max, anyway).
 

Haunted

Member
AceBandage said:
Indeed.
It's just a fact of life that the point and click Adventure type games are pretty much dead (outside of Sam and Max, anyway).
Actually, there are plenty of point n click adventure making companies that are doing ok for themselves, so don't do that.

We haven't heard of any management problems (afaik), so the easiest assumption to make is that their games simply didn't sell well enough to keep getting new projects and keeping the company afloat. Doesn't need to have anything to do with the genre or casual/coreness of their games.
 

Crayons

Banned
This is terrible. :(

I bought LKS and Hotel Dusk, and now I'm trying to buy Trace Memory and Another Code R.

Why must the best always go? Hotel Dusk and LKS are some of my favorite games...
 

[Nintex]

Member
Skiesofwonder said:
Nintendo, do something......please??
Iwata: "Sorry I can't hear you over the sound of this money, oh man I love bathing in Yen bills, holy shit dollars and euros now too, I love all this money!"
 

Vexidus

Member
Wow, this is terrible news. :(

Hotel Dusk was one of my favourite gaming experiences ever, and I was really looking forward to Last Window getting a release here in NA. I hope it still does come here somehow. There's no English option on the Japanese version is there?
 

Johann

Member
schuelma said:
Yeah. Bankruptcy isn't always the end of the line at least in the U.S. Don't know if this is different.

The article seems to be about a declaration of bankruptcy and its formal proceedings. This probably means the judge will keep creditors from their back until they get their act together or carve up the company.

CING has been a very creative developer but there were tell-tale signs of this from their project management issues. I'd love for a big Japanese publisher to come and white knight them but most of them have money-issues of their own and CING's games aren't big-sellers or satisfy a publisher portfolio's shortcomings
 

WEGGLES

Member
At first I didn't realize who CING was. Then it dawned on me they made Hotel Dusk.


So much for America seeing Hotel Dusk 2.


Well this has ruined my march break.
 
Coincidentally I was browsing through some previous EDGE magazines today when I reread an article on CING and its key staff, now I read that they're filing for bankruptcy!? FUCK !

I will cherish my copies of LKS, Hotel Dusk and AC DS. I will cry a little inside if we don't get Hotel Dusk 2 here
 

CO_Andy

Member
NO! TAKE ME NOW LORD!

Had Cing released a couple of Doki Doki Majo Shinpan-like games to the side the company might still be afloat.
 
loosus said:
Hey, maybe they're not being paid anything! JAPAN! LOL

I look forward to CING's next brilliant hit, since there is no way they can possibly in financial trouble according to you! Maybe this is all made-up...JAPAN after all! LOL

Would it kill you to just admit you were wrong? Hotel Dusk was definitely successful from a sales and profit standpoint for CING. In fact it was successful enough for them to release several total bombs before going under.

It's kinda funny that their worst game was the most successful, but that's the way it goes sometimes.
 

Ushojax

Should probably not trust the 7-11 security cameras quite so much
Terrible news. For all their faults, I think most of their games have been excellent. I really hope this doesn't ruin the chances of Last Window coming to the US/EU. Maybe Nintendo can help, it seemed like they had a good relationship with CING.
 
Brazil said:
But how can this be possible? I bought all their titles! I imported Another Code R!

There must be some misunderstanding.

:(
Imports aren't tracked. I bought the first Trace Memory used, and I bought Another Code R pal from someone on gaf. I bought LKS at launch though. Guess I need to buy Again at launch. However, I think the publishers take the majority of the money. It's just like if you wanna support a musician you should go to the concerts. There's no way to support the devs I get. But 5th cell employees probably made six figures off of Scribblenauts, so who knows how it works.
 

GhaleonQ

Member
Guys, Cing had very little to do with Little King's Story (although revenue would go partially to them, obviously). They wrote the script and did the planning. Kimura/Marvelous still owns the I.P., I bet, and they probably weren't going to use Cing for the sequel, anyway. That's because they'll have to reassemble a team from scratch, again.

That said, their adventure games are among the best Japanese ones since Pax Softnica's. BOO. Even if Japan had quick bankruptcy turnaround, I doubt they'd do it. I bet they'll split up and do stories for other companies. *sniff* WHY MUST SO FEW LIKE GRAPHIC ADVENTURE GAMES?!

Edit: so, did their website go down because of this, or was it...was it down bef-...*sniff*

And yet Quantic Dream still lives.
 

Twig

Banned
AceBandage said:
Indeed.
It's just a fact of life that the point and click Adventure type games are pretty much dead (outside of Sam and Max, anyway).
This could not be farther from the truth.

Just because Telltale is the biggest does not mean they are the only successful company.
 

Shiggy

Member
520630-jeff2_2_large.gif


I still need to buy Another Code R and Little King's Story (as well as AGAIN if it will ever see a release in Europe). How could this happen!? I hope they'll join Nintendo as both Hotel Dusk and AC are one of my favorites.

So you'll all need to buy Last Window: Midnight Promise, at least NoE seems to release it.


:( :( :(
 

Shiggy

Member
wrowa said:
Well... these things happen...

... when people don't buy a company's games :p

I'm not entirely sure, but development was paid by the publisher (Nintendo, Tecmo), so they didn't get into debts because of these games.
 

hitsugi

Member
um...

..this doesn't mean no Hotel Dusk 2 for us, right? D: I'm sure worst case scenario it'll get a fan translation but god dammit.
 

Shiggy

Member
[Nintex] said:
I have a PAL copy of Little King's Story

That's nice, I do not because I do not prefer these long adventures. I preferred the "real" CING games: adventures.

@hitsugi
The European localisation is done in Frankfurt. They would only need CING if there were some major bugs.
 

wrowa

Member
Shiggy said:
I'm not entirely sure, but development was paid by the publisher (Nintendo, Tecmo), so they didn't get into debts because of these games.
Nintendo didn't want to fund another game by CING because their last games didn't sell well. If more people had bought their games, Nintendo (or Tecmo or whoever) would have funded a new game - but because of CING's recent sales history no one wanted to :p
 
Danielsan said:
Damnit. :(
Hopefully the Last Window (?) still gets released in Europe.
Joystiq and Siliconera reported last week that Nintendo just filed a trademark for "Last Window" in Europe, so that game could be getting localization in that region (could CING's bankruptcy affect this? Do original language developers have any role in localization? I don't know how that process plays out, but I'm assuming it is more a publisher responsibility)

If it does come to Europe, and they include English or French language options, then its import time for me... region free DS is the best idea ever.
 

Shiggy

Member
wrowa said:
Nintendo didn't want to fund another game by CING because their last games didn't sell well. If more people had bought their games, Nintendo (or Tecmo or whoever) would have funded a new game - but because of CING's recent sales history no one wanted to :p

Well, then I bought at least two out of three games ;)
Though I'll buy AC:R and Last Window too :)
 

Takuhi

Member
schuelma said:
Yeah. Bankruptcy isn't always the end of the line at least in the U.S. Don't know if this is different.

Japan Air Lines filed for bankruptcy and they're still flying!

The article says only that they've "entered into bankruptcy proceedings." It's possible that the bankruptcy administrator could determine that there is still value in the company and retain some or all of the staff to continue current projects and/or arrange the sale of portions of the company and its assets to other companies.

Maybe Nintendo will reach into the petty cash drawer and save them?
 

[Nintex]

Member
Shiggy said:
That's nice, I do not because I do not prefer these long adventures. I preferred the "real" CING games: adventures.
*reads again*, oh shit, you meant the game AGAIN, I thought you didn't know that LKS was released in Europe. Who came up with that name again?
 
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