Disgaea studio Nippon Ichi Software reportedly in financial trouble, as employees may soon go unpaid
Things appear to not be going well for Nippon Ichi Software, as reports, comments, and outcries of financial problems begin to crop up. NIS is not to be confused with its North American localizing and publishing branch, NIS America; NIS itself is the Japanese studio that develops titles such as Disgaea, Phantom Brave, Labyrinth of Refrain, The Witch and the Hundred Knight, and many other niche JRPGs. Currently, they are working on Disgaea RPG, a mobile phone game, which was delayed "indefinitely" earlier this year after a rocky launch that saw the game taken down entirely, causing company stocks to plunge in the aftermath. A month after the delay has now seen further complications for NIS, as blogs, news outlets, and even employees have come forward to say that workers will soon go without pay, as the company doesn't have the funds for salaries.
As reported in Japan, Nippon Ichi Software has gone through with a Moving Strike Warrant, meaning that they're selling their stocks far below value, in order to quickly make money at the cost of current stockholders investments in attempts to quickly generate enough to pay their employees. As Disgaea RPG has been in development for two years and wasn't ready for launch, there has been no income brought in to provide the development team with their wages. For the few Japanese players that bought in-game items before the game was pulled, they can now request a refund, through opening a support ticket on the official website, presumably occurring now rather than immediately after the game was pulled, as a result of the MS Warrant.
It is not currently known how this will impact future Nippon Ichi Software games, such as the in-development Disgaea 6.
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