Data East goes Bankrupt....

Frame Gride 2 · Jul 7, 2003

<a href="http://www.gamespot.com/gba/action/metalmax2kai/news_6071057.html" target="_blank">http://www.gamespot.com/gba/action/metalmax2kai/news_6071057.html</a>

The financially troubled company officially declares bankruptcy.

According to Softbank Games, Data East Corporation has been declared bankrupt by the district court of Tokyo. The declaration was made on June 25 and revealed to the public today. Data East has been in financial trouble since 1999, when the company requested a settlement in the district court in order to reorganize its finances because of a 3.3 billion yen ($28 million) debt.

Data East was founded on April 20, 1976. The company is well known as a software publisher and an electronics manufacturer. It has released a variety of arcade machines, including one of the first cartridge-based arcade game systems, the Deco Cassette System, which made its debut in 1980. On the software side, Data East is known for a number of famous games such as Chelnov, the Metal Max series, and the Fighter's History series. Its last known new release was Side Pocket for the WonderSwan in November 1999.

[ July 07, 2003, 04:12 PM: Message edited by: Frame Gride 2 ]

roker · Jul 7, 2003

They had some cool double dragon like beat'em ups in the 80's and early 90's. I was a fan. Not to mention I still enjoy a little Kid Niki every now and then for my NES.

That's too bad.

Another 2D company that never went 3D and payed the price.

Blue Mary Mania 8 · Jul 7, 2003

O NO!

Bad Dudes will never go to PS2...

Hey man you left out the Magical Drop series, I love all of them. ^_^

R.I.P. Data East... You died too soon.

TriShield · Jul 7, 2003

No big loss.

I'dBuyThatForADollar · Jul 7, 2003

TriShield:
No big loss.

It's always a big loss when a game manufacturer goes down: Even if they only made a coupla good games, or even if they didn't, there would have been potential for them to design that one great game in the future.

[ July 07, 2003, 04:53 PM: Message edited by: I'dBuyThatForADollar ]

O C · Jul 7, 2003

another playa goes under.

Dem games back in the mid 90;s for the neo were some dope shits.

Man U got a nigga all depressed an shit now.

Damn its hot up in here....ready to break out this mofucker.

HPMAN · Jul 7, 2003

Companies dies, developers stays.

SilverAngel · Jul 7, 2003

crying cruel world

OrochiEddie · Jul 7, 2003

the only data east game i ever played was Joe and Mac for SNES. IT was one of my favorite games which makes it sad to see them go

Rade K · Jul 7, 2003

TriShield:
No big loss.

Then why are you posting here? Data East Published a lot of good, and worthwhile software.

It's an unfortunate thing.

Neo-Arcadia · Jul 7, 2003

it is a great lost to the gameing world.cause now all the great old titles probably wont get released or updated,but they did make a good run when they made games for the nes,genesis,snes,neo,and arcade.........R.I.P Data east....I loved your side pocket series......

RabbitTroop · Jul 7, 2003

On a side note... who owns Ghost Lop's IP now?

-Nick

The Auction Sniper · Jul 7, 2003

No real suprise to me. I wonder why they pulled out of publishing games in the west after the 16-Bit era.

I hardly ever heard of them after Magical Drop III.

evil wasabi · Jul 7, 2003

Ah crap, this sucks, Joe and Mac not making a come back then

I wish they would have done more, loved Fighter's History and Bad Dudes. No more Magical Drop too I guess frown

qube · Jul 7, 2003

No Data East means no Windjammers 2 crying

Hopefully someone picks up the copyright and makes my day annoyed

Buro Destruct · Jul 7, 2003

It's a surprise to me as I didn't even know Data East was still in existence until this article. Really a shame though, I was secretly hoping that one day my "badness" for saving the president would be tested again. frown

Lets Gekiga In · Jul 7, 2003

This is very unfortunate. I was actually visiting their website, <a href="http://www.dataeast-corp.co.jp" target="_blank">http://www.dataeast-corp.co.jp</a> a few times every month wondering what their status was going to be.

I remember looking at the Revive... game they released for Dreamcast, and I really wish I bought it back in '99 since the last game I bought was Joe & Mac from them.

This is such terrible news though, we'll miss you forever Data East!!

Baseley09 · Jul 7, 2003

This sucks hardcore, i'm real upset, really.

When i was a lad, Data East were as strong a force as Taito (literally neck n neck) in arcades (robocop anyone).

I would pick up every arcade conversion for my Amstrad, Robocop(ocean) n Bad Dudes were particularly awsome.

Their neo output is worthwile too, tho i least remember them for that.

Big loss......not enough mmorable releases since i can remember.....bad management....

*cries*

TriShield · Jul 7, 2003

Rade Kuruc:
Data East Published a lot of good, and worthwhile software.

10 years ago perhaps, but recently? Not that I've heard of.

No tears shed here.

snkool · Jul 7, 2003

This is bad news indeed. Data East was one of my favorite companies. Fuckin' loved Robocop. Someone needs to buy them (or their properties) quick.

SonGohan · Jul 7, 2003

TriShield:

Rade Kuruc:
Data East Published a lot of good, and worthwhile software.

Click to expand...

10 years ago perhaps, but recently? Not that I've heard of.

No tears shed here.

Magic Drop is one of the greatest games... ever.

Neotokyobikerkid · Jul 7, 2003

That sux Bad dudes was cool!!!

Long live dead japanese game developers

Maybe they should of released a bad dudes 3 on MVS instead of stupid magical drop games!

SSS · Jul 7, 2003

SonGohan:

TriShield:

Rade Kuruc:
Data East Published a lot of good, and worthwhile software.

Click to expand...

10 years ago perhaps, but recently? Not that I've heard of.

No tears shed here.

Click to expand...

Magic Drop is one of the greatest games... ever.

Exactly, one of the greatest puzzle games of all time. This is VERY bad news, although they dropped off the radar a while ago, I was still hoping they were around.

TriShield if you can't appreciate Data East (Magical Drop, Spinmaster, Windjammers), then you should not even be on these boards. One of the greatest developers for the Neo Geo goes under and all you can say is "No big loss". Maybe it's because I am addicted to MD3, but your statement really ticks me off. So cram your opinion up your ass and go to Gamefaqs.

[ July 07, 2003, 08:45 PM: Message edited by: SamuraiShodownSensei ]

JHendrix · Jul 7, 2003

Sad, very sad indeed. But you can look at this in a possitive way.

They dropped off the radar a while ago.

Now that they've gone bankrupt someone can buy their IP's and produce modern updates to the games you like.

So yeah it can work out nicely in the future with any luck.

xonox · Jul 7, 2003

Sucks...
Psykio died, data east dies, compile died (or got bought by aiky).

Could anyone tell me who bought psykio, i think they were bought at least...

Let's hope another company buys data east and get them to produce more good games...

I'm hoping for the best... Wishful thinking heh...

Data East goes Bankrupt....

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