Nacon, a major French publisher and holdings company, has this morning revealed a dire situation. In a new press release, the company has revealed it has filed for insolvency after its parent company, Bigben, entered a period of financial difficulty.
In the release, it was stressed that Nacon will need to undergo a ‘rapid implementation of a financial restructuring’ to survive and has requested a judicial reorganisation review to facilitate this. Nacon’s ‘available assets’ are now substantial enough to meet its due liabilities, and it will now assess critical pathways out of this situation.
Nacon Could Shut Down If The Worst Happens
In the new press release, published this morning at 8 AM CET, Nacon’s representatives wrote:
To date, the Company reports that its available assets do not allow it to meet its due liabilities. In this ucontext, the Company will, as of today, file for insolvency (“déclaration de cessation des paiements”) with the Court and request the opening of judicial reorganisation proceedings (“redressement judiciaire”).
The aim of this procedure is to assess all possible solutions to ensure the sustainability of the Company’s activity under the best possible conditions, protect employees, and preserve jobs, while renegotiating with its creditors in a calm and constructive framework
The company’s shares have ceased trading on the Paris market, and a court hearing has organised for early March to review the next steps for the firm.
Nacon was founded in 1981, dabbling in publishing, software, and peripherals over the years. It famously had a stint of distributing Sega’s Dreamcast consoles at the turn of the millennium. The company was originally known as Bigben Interactive, but it restructured in 2019, consolidating resources under the new ‘Nacon’ banner to bring together a dedicated gaming brand.
Bigben Group became the majority shareholder in Nacon, assuming control of more than 76% of shares.
This insolvency threatens a whopping 11 studios, including Spiders, Daedalic, Big Ant, Cyanide, and Kylotonn, all of which sit under the Nacon banner.
Cyanide is best known for the recent release of Styx: Blades of Greed. Big Ant is a studio focused almost exclusively on sports titles, Kylotonn most recently released Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown, Spiders is the developer behind GreedFall, and Daedalic infamously developed The Lord of the Rings: Gollum most recently.
The company is yet to deliver on the publishing and release of multiple games:
- Gear.Club Unlimited 3
- GreedFall 2: The Dying World
- Cthulu: The Cosmic Abyss
- Endurance Motorsport
- Edge of Memories
- Dragonkin: The Banished
- Hunting Simulator 3
Nacon’s employees were notified of this news yesterday, February 24, and Nacon has promised to ‘keep the market informed as the situation and the proceedings develop.’
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For more Insider Gaming coverage, check out the news that Gray Zone Warfare is now a PvE-first shooter
Grant has been gaming for 30+ years and in the industry for 10+. You'll probably find him playing a post-apocalyptic game or an extraction shooter somewhere.
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