Little King's Story, Hotel Dusk developer Cing files for bankruptcy

by Griffin McElroy on Mar 7th 2010 5:30PM

Well, this is about as far from how we wanted to start out the week as humanly possible -- a Japanese news site called Data-Max reports that Cing, developer of precious gems such as Hotel Dusk and Little King's Story, has filed for bankruptcy, suffering liabilities of 256 million yen.

It really sucks when a developer has to take such desperate measures to deal with its economic hardships, but it double-sucks when one of said developer's games -- in this case, Hotel Dusk sequel Last Window -- is still due for an American localization. Here's hoping Cing can recover from what's proven to be one of the most painfully slow sales seasons for the company to date.

[Via NeoGAF]

Source

Tags: bankruptcy, cing, financial, hotel-dusk, japan, last-window, little-kings-story

Reader Comments (43)

i love hotel dusk. i wish more people played it.

Probably the greatest novel game on the DS to date.

I'm not afraid to admit it; I nearly broke down at the end. It was pretty freakin emotional for me.

I've been trying to find a copy of it for years now.

Hotel Dusk was fantastic, and I even liked Trace Memory (pretty sure that was them, too). I'll import Last Window if I have to, but this news really sucks.

Well geez, now I might actually have to go and buy Last Window instead of downloading it.

it's a little late now to take this approach, eh?

Piracy has no victims, eh?

Companies have survived for a long time having their games pirated.

Wow, Hotel Dusk is probably my favorite DS game, and i couldn't wait for the sequel. This...sucks....

Are they filing for Chapter 11, which means they'll restructure but still live, or are they filing for Ultimate Bankruptcy? The word 'bankruptcy' has been tossed around a lot, usually to refer to Chapter 11, so it's lost its scare factor. Hopefully they still have a chance to make it through this.

Last night I refused to pour one out for someone....but today..... THIS ONE IS FOR YOU!!

*Cries and pours out his cream soda*

We'll always have Little King's Story....

eww.... cream soda. That's on the same level of nasty as carbonated water.

I'm with you on carbonated water. Perrier makes me want to vomit.

No...dammit, this company made on of the best translated games of all time and they gotta go outta it. I said I was going to buy it instead of downloading but I may just have to buy two and another copy of hotel dusk.

It's a damned shame...the DS is chock full of shovelware but a company that actually succeeds in making a great game has to go under whilst the likes of "Imagine" continue.

Wow. Little King's Story is just that little gem that nobody played.

Hopefully this will encourage some to pick it up.

You know what really grinds my gears?

Small companies that put out unique and interesting games are the ones who have to suffer, while the Activision Sequel Factory® has to hollow out mountains just so they can have a place to store all their ill-begotten cash.

Yeah, but the factory may have foundation problems, with an earthquake iminent.

While I agree with the sentiment, lets be honest, Activison's wealth is not ill-begotten, countless puppies were butchered for it.

God damn. Little King's Story was an amazing game and it's embarrassing that so few people played it. Deserved ten times the recognition it got.

No to shit on them, because hearing the closing of a studio always sucks, but I just can't help but think this: "256 million yen or, you mean, 2.8 million USD."

These vast currency differences just remind me of Ricky Gervais the comedian's bit, "We raised thousands of pounds, or, a couple hundred dollars. How does it feel to be a third world country?" (referring to United States)

WHY? WHY DID THIS HAPPEN?

*curls into a fetal position and sobs miserably*

Why must so many good video game companies die just when they're getting interesting?

So what does this mean for the Japanese release and the European translation?
Can Nintendo step in?

It's all my fault... I HEARD how good Little King's Story was, but I never even tried it! NOT EVEN ONCE *breaks down*

Please... I need a minute...alone... with my ellipses....

This is so sad.

It seems that, more so than even a decade ago, a mediocre type of staidness gets a welcome pat on the back whilst any whiff of ambition is all too often financially punished. This has been a really rotten generation for companies that try to shoot a few feet above their station.

Hotel Dusk was one of my favourite games of 2007, and I'm sure I'll still be playing the game through to 2017 and beyond.

http://www.nooooooooooooooo.com/

I WANT MOAR HOTEL DUSK! MOAR THAN LAST WINDOW! ... At least Last Window, please?

Dammit. I hope Nintendo buys them out. It sounds like they could've been better managed; they certainly took their time over the last few releases they've made. But $2.5m is nothing, they value of the brands they've made should be worth that. Plenty of companies blow much more on marketing for a single game.

They have some talented people, they just need to tighten up really I should think. The sales they've made on their games would've been okay, if they'd made them on time and in budget in the first place.

I hope you guys dont mind.

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

yeah... they're obviously so successful

I think this one is another case similar to Rockstar: bad management. Could explain Little King's Story's insane development time (i remember hearing about it as early as 2006)

But the rumor in the pipeline is that they did have severe management troubles

I hope that somehow Last Window can find it's way over to America. I need to play that game.

The only company I ever sent a letter to thanking them for a game. Guess my game tastes are more eclectic than I thought. Hope they work it out.

Hotel Dusk was an awesome game!

Wow, doubly interesting for me - as a fan of Hotel Dusk and a San Diego bankruptcy lawyer. But, as most people know, companies can return from bankruptcy.

Sad, I bought Little King's Story just two days ago.

How many times did I almost buy Hotel Dusk.. darn :( Well, this seals the deal. I'm buying it.

I wonder how many people went out and bought CING's games after this story came out.

I just felt a disturbance in the force, as if thousands of gamers suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced....

That really sucks. I bought Hotel Dusk, but never finished it. I also bought and finished Trace Memory but the sequel never came. And now this? :(

I could play this game since I know Japanese, but its not even interesting to me.

Damn :(

They haven't had any really good sellers in recent years, have they? I guess Hotel Dusk only did okay, and by all accounts not enough people bought Little King's Story - those games were both excellent, but life's usually not fair. (And nobody ever got rich relying on the good taste of the game-playing public...)

Assuming bankruptcy works the same in Japan as in the UK, rather than the US version (I have no idea which it is, or something totally different obviously), the company's now gone down unless somebody buys it. Hopefully, Last Window localisation would be sitting in the 'assets' pile - i.e. will be carried out so as to pay off some of the creditors - but who knows. :(

winning

AUGH! D8
this better not mean Last Window is getting trashed. Please no D: D: D: D:

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Little King's Story, Hotel Dusk developer Cing files for bankruptcy

Reader Comments (43)

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