Issues with Disgaea on mobile platforms have apparently left Nippon Ichi unable to pay its staff. The company pulled the mobile edition of its classic turn-based strategy franchise after it encountered a number of issues at launch.
Nippon Ichi Software collaborated with Sony studio ForwardWorks to release Disgaea RPG for iOS and Android. However, the game suffered a number of serious issues at launch which forced the company to pull the game in April.
The company stated that fixing the myriad of issues with the game would take a long time. Part of the problem involved data from early tests getting mixed in with live data from players. As such, the development team decided that it would need to reset the entire game, providing everyone with a fresh start.
Since then, however, Nippon Ichi is yet to re-release the fixed game. Additionally, the company also refunded a number of players due to the issues. As a result of this, its staff has not yet been paid.
GamesIndustry.biz is reporting that in order to raise capital, Nippon Ichi has issued a stock warrant to Daiwa Capital in an effort to move some of its stock at a reduced price. This warrant allows the stock to be sold at said reduced price while making sure that securities companies don’t lose money as a result.
Nippon Ichi developed some of the most beloved turn-base strategy games from Japan, such as Makai Kingdom, Phantom Brave, La Pucelle: Tactics, and of course the Disgaea series. The games’s quirky style and memorable characters endeared the studio to quite a number of players. That the company is unable to pay some of the people behind these games is quite unfortunate news. Hopefully its efforts to raise capital pan out, Disgaea RPG for mobile is eventually re-released, and all of the studio’s employees finally get paid.
