Meta:The Near Bankruptcy of Chunsoft

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The Near Bankruptcy of Chunsoft is an event that took place in the early 2000s. This page covers known information about the fallout and aftershocks of their financial crisis, as well as their recovery.

The most reliable source directly addressing the crisis is an interview with Koji Malta, in which he mentions that Chunsoft was going through tough times, with many employees being told to either leave or accept a lower salary. Koji Malta also mentions how the release of Game Boy Advance/Nintendo DS Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red and Blue Rescue Team turned out to be a surprising success.[1]

Another important source of information is a 2channel thread from 2004, in which information on the company was leaked. This was the first public mention of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, under the name Mystery Dungeon: Pokémon World: Pikachu's Great Adventure(UT) - This is an unofficial translation..[2]

Another, perhaps more dubious, claim from the leak, was that there would not be any more Torneko games because Chunsoft had allegedly sold the rights of Torneko to Square Enix. Young Yangus was released not too long after, however, it was not published nor developed by Chunsoft. While it is true that the Dragon Quest Mystery Dungeon series stopped receiving new entries, it is unknown what the exact reason is, or if Chunsoft ever owned any rights to Torneko. Despite the lack of concrete evidence, Japanese fan communities generally accept the sold copyright rumor/leak as a well-known fact.[3] There is at least some evidence that they either owned the rights or had some level of freedom with the Torneko series as they did sell Torneko's Great Adventure guidebooks via their website, One Click Content Shop.[4][5][6] They referred to the Torneko 3 "fan book" as the "The first official fan book of the Torneko's Great Adventure series, a sister work of the Shiren the Wanderer series", and they did a promotional Torneko event/giveaway which was hosted on a sub URL of the Asuka the Swordswoman PC Official Website. Players who purchased the guidebooks and sent in a clipping could be eligible for prizes.[7][8] They also held in-person demo events.[9] When their new Sega-hosted online shop Chun. was launched in May 2006, Torneko merch was nowhere to be found, nor were there any (archived) mentions of it or any soundtracks.[10]

Timeline

After January 22, 1998
The poor reception of Machi on Sega Saturn is the pinpoint of when the company started losing money in an important scale.[11]
After July 18, 2002
The poor reception of Kamaitachi no Yoru 2 on PlayStation 2 accelerated this crisis.[11]
November 2003
Game Boy Advance/Nintendo DS Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red and Blue Rescue Team began development thanks to a collaboration between Tsunekazu Ishihara and Koichi Nakamura with Tetris 2 + BomBliss, and Ishihara's positive experience with the Mystery Dungeon franchise.[12][13]
2004
Chunsoft games released in that year, such as Game Boy Advance Dragon Quest Characters: Torneko's Great Adventure 3 Advance: Mystery Dungeon(UT) - This is an unofficial translation., Game Boy Advance Shiren Monsters: Netsal(UT) - This is an unofficial translation., and 3-Nen B-Gumi Kinpachi Sensei: Densetsu no Kyoudan ni Tate!, were not helping the situation.
2005
Dwango purchased Chunsoft.
July 1, 2005
In financial trouble, Chunsoft closed the One Click Content Shop[14][1], ended online support for Windows Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer - Monster of Moonlight Village (PC/Internet Version) and Windows Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer Gaiden - Asuka the Swordswoman for Windows, and made offline patches for both games.
September 1, 2005
End of sales for the Asuka the Swordswoman.
September 9, 2005
SEGA announces they'll be publishing Chunsoft games in Japan.[15]
October 1, 2005
The One Click Content Shop is officially closed.
Asuka the Swordswoman online services are closed.
Moonlight Village PC internet services are closed.
Before November 17, 2005
The company were losing employees due to the backlash of the situation.[1]
November 17, 2005
Rescue Team released in Japan. Its success saved the company.[1]
January 13, 2006
They start the Chunsoft x SEGA project, with Sega publishing their games, merch, and deluxe editions, hosting Shiren websites for them.[16]
May 25, 2006
Chun., hosted by SEGA Direct, is opened. Successor to the One Click Content Shop.[17][18]
April 3, 2008
Sega closes down SEGA Direct.[19]
January 20, 2009
The Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series has sold over 10 million copies worldwide.[20]
August 26, 2010
Chunsoft announces they will be returning to publishing, and creates a new website.[21][22]
April 2012
From Dwango's decision, Chunsoft merges with Spike.[23][24]

See Also

v • e
Meta Topics
Bootlegs • Discounts • DLC • Fan service • Grim Reaper • Indie Wiki Buddy • Kasa • Kimono • Limited Run Games Controversy • Mystery Dungeon references (in other media • to other media) • Magazine • NicoNico Stream • Official Hashtags • Passwords • Pre-order Bonuses • Sales • Shi-Ranger • The Near Bankruptcy of Chunsoft • Titles Currently Available For Purchase • Torneko's Great Adventure Rights • Trademarks
Crossovers AI: The Somnium Files • Danganronpa • Sound Novel
Nintendo Nintendo Channel • Nintendo Museum • Nintendo Today! • StreetPass

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 https://www.1101.com/intern/kobune_2020/interview/malta/malta03.html
  2. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20220306060334/https://game8.5ch.net/test/read.cgi/ghard/1080403545/ Archived version of the 2channel thread.
  3. ↑ https://ameblo.jp/yamaneko20-01/
  4. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20020806195528/http://www.shiren.jp:80/news/news100000043.html
  5. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20040825084304/http://www.shiren.jp/news/news100000060.html
  6. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20040601141456/http://www.shiren.jp/news/news100000092.html
  7. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20030801230556/http://asuka.shiren.jp/hako/
  8. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20040601141456/http://www.shiren.jp/news/news100000092.html
  9. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20030212052248/http://www.chunsoft.co.jp/event/01.html#t3play
  10. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20060612203539/http://segadirect.jp/Catalog/CustomPages/CustomDetail3.aspx?File=chun.html
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9BTGr_EsR8
  12. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20051124040645/http://www.pokemon.co.jp/game/ds/dungeon_special.html
  13. ↑ http://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/#/3ds/pokemon-mysterydungeon-gti/0/0l
  14. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20051102025227/http://www.chunsoft.co.jp:80/1clickinfo.html
  15. ↑ https://www.ign.com/articles/2005/09/09/sega-teams-up-with-chunsoft
  16. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20060213095330/http://chun.sega.jp
  17. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20060612203539/http://segadirect.jp/Catalog/CustomPages/CustomDetail3.aspx?File=chun.html
  18. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20060614085916/http://segadirect.jp/Default.aspx
  19. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20080408170438/http://segadirect.jp/Catalog/CustomPages/CustomDetail3.aspx?File=goods_mamuru.html
  20. ↑ https://www.4gamer.net/games/082/G008299/20090120014/
  21. ↑ https://www.inside-games.jp/article/2010/08/26/43940.html
  22. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20100827084730/http://www.chunsoft.jp/
  23. ↑ https://www.spike-chunsoft.com/company/
  24. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20140310021429/http://info.dwango.co.jp/english/history/
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