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Suffering liabilities of 256 million yen ($2.8 million U.S. dollars), Cing Inc., developers of Hotel Dusk have filed for bankruptcy, Japanese blog My Game News Flash reported earlier today.
The company began preparations for the filing on March 1, 2010. Originally founded in 1999, Cing’s first project was Glass Rose, a Playstation 2 suspense adventure game published by Capcom. 2005 marked the developer’s first collaboration with Nintendo in the form of Trace Memory on the Nintendo DS. Expanding the same universe, Hotel Dusk: Room 215 released in 2007 and quickly went on to become a niche favourite among DS owners.
In 2009, Cing collaborated with Marvelous Entertainment and TownFactory to develop the critically-acclaimed Little King’s Story for the Nintendo Wii. The company’s last project was Last Window: Midnight Promise, the latest in the Trace Memory / Hotel Dusk line of games. Again: Eye of Providence, another Nintendo DS game, will make its debut North America later this month. It’s terribly unfortunate to see such a talented team burdened by a financial crisis when every product they’ve put out in recent years has ranged from good to absolutely spectacular. We wish them the very best of luck.
On a slightly brighter note, there are ways for the firm to continue operating despite its legal troubles. One option is to file for court protection from creditors under the Civil Rehabilitation Law, similar to Chapter 11 in the U.S., which would allow existing management to reconstruct the company.
