[Trickless]

Just read this over at the Neogaf forums

http://www.data-max.co.jp/2010/03/post_9070.html (Japanese)

On 1st March 2010, Cing (the developer of Another Code, Hotel Dusk, Little King's Story) filed for bankruptcy in Japan. The company has suffered liabilities totaling 256 million yen (about 2.5 million USD).

Don't know what to say

[Matan]

That's the worst news ever!!!!

I say everyone at adventuregamers chip in so we can collect those 2.5 million dollars and get cing back on their feet!

Does anyone know if this has any implications for "AGAIN" and "Hotel Dusk 2"?

[HaroldO]

Damn... they were one of my favorite developers. I was a bit worried when I saw the Last Window sales were too low but I didn't see this coming.

I wonder what will happen to their IP's.

[Trickless]

Originally Posted by Matan

Does anyone know if this has any implications for "AGAIN" and "Hotel Dusk 2"?

I don't think this will affect the release of AGAIN, which should be out on 30th March. The website is up and running, and some Tecmo staff have already given interviews to promote the game.

Don't know if this will affect the chances of an english Last Window ('Hotel Dusk 2')

[PhoenixWrong]

Nintendo should buy them out. They done great work for their systems.

[potan]

Oh noooo............ whyyyy.............

man i keep hearing a company who make adventure game closing left and right.

[pointandcliklover]

this means another 3 is out of the question then.
from all the adventure companies cing was one of my favs

[Intrepid Homoludens]

They weren't making enough money, I take it? Sad news, but a sign of the reality of our times.

[HaroldO]

Originally Posted by pointandcliklover

this means another 3 is out of the question then.
from all the adventure companies cing was one of my favs

It certainly makes matters more complicated but maybe other company buys them out or their IPs. I'm really sad though. Hotel Dusk was the first adventure I've played and one of the reasons it's my favorite genre today. Cing work on the DS was awesome, with games that made use of the ds features in ways I couldn't imagine before like

Spoiler:

those puzzle were the solution involves moving the lid.

[GhaleonQ]

They and Capcom nearly brought back Japanese-style adventure games for the 1st time since the NES/SNES. Sad.

[orient]

Yeah I read about this a few days ago. Saddest gaming news in a long time. Lets hope they overcome it. If The Last Window doesn't get localized, my soul will be crushed! Hotel Dusk is one of my favourite games. I'm definitely going to support Cing by buying AGAIN, even if I have to import it from the US.

[Platyphyllum]

Wow, if this is for real, then this is really terrible news.

Cing is one of the companies that helped rekindle my interest in the adventure genre with their DS games after all. I really hope that they can overcome this somehow. I'm definitely buying Again as soon as possible if it'll help.

[rtrooney]

Originally Posted by Trickless

Don't know what to say

How about saying that yet another adventure company has found itself unable to make a profit.

There may be some sadness here, which I don't share, but it isn't as if this hasn't happened before. Think Sierra.

Just read another thread that stated the Agatha Christie series found the same end.

It is disheartening, but it is what it is.

[potan]

seriously.... is the adventure market really this bad

i mean Cing's games maybe not the best, but they're quite a decent game, and has some hardcore follower (self included )

I wonder if there is some kind of curse that will happen when a company develop adventure game

[HaroldO]

Originally Posted by rtrooney

There may be some sadness here, which I don't share, but it isn't as if this hasn't happened before. Think Sierra.

That's the point actually. It's specially upsetting because this keep happening to adventure game developers.

[ozzie]

I'm not sure how you can compare this to Sierra. The Williams sold the company in 1996, at which point it was still quite healthy. After this different management took over that made one bad decision after another.

It had nothing to do with the profitability of adventure games. I think with a good management we might have seen more successful attempts at 3D adventures. Instead we only got KQVIII, which was even more action than adventure, and Gabriel Knight 3, which bears the marks of its ill fate.
Sierra shovelled its own grave since it killed off all its franchises which it was renowned for and fired most of the talented developers. Basically, management butchered the company, maybe in an ill-conceived attempt to restructure it. In 1996 Sierra had a big share of the PC games market, but in later years it depleted.

Anyway, sad to hear that Cing goes away. I don't own a DS though, so it doesn't affect me much.

[rtrooney]

And your point is?

[fov]

No need to be confrontational. Ozzie's point was that Sierra's downfall wasn't solely due to the profitability of adventure games, which your post (intentionally or no) suggested it was.

[thejobloshow]

Originally Posted by potan

seriously.... is the adventure market really this bad

Not this time around... a lot of gaming companies are taking a hit given the economy. I'm not even entirely sure it was the 'adventure market' that took the hit back in the late 90s/early 2000s - it was a lot of consolidations followed by the dot com crash that hurt everyone. A lot of bad financial people running around - like Sierra where its owners, Cendant, ended up being indicted for fraud. But I didn't see anyone mourning the demise of Gremlin or GameTek

[rtrooney]

Originally Posted by fov

No need to be confrontational. Ozzie's point was that Sierra's downfall wasn't solely due to the profitability of adventure games, which your post (intentionally or no) suggested it was.

This has been discussed so many times before. Sierra did sell when it was profitable for them, (the Williams') to sell. When they did sell there was only one "real" game still in the pipeline, GK3. When that hit the stands, everything preceeding it collapsed into the bargain bin.

If your point is that Sierra's downfall wasn't due to the adventure industry downfall, I will agree. The downfall of Sierra, after Sierra ceased to becom "Sierra" is solely due to mismanagemant and a lack of understanding of the adventure game market of the numerous owners of the franchise.

Let's also remember that Vivendi is only the last of a multitude of companies that had ownership of the Sierra franchise.

No confrontation intended. But there is more than one point of view.