bitComposer - Files for Insolvency

GamersGlobal.de reports that the German publisher bitComposer filed for insolvency. As of December 3rd 2014 the attorney Dr Robert Schiebe from Frankfurt/M. has been appointed as insolvency administrator.
Their source is the Bundesanzeiger, so the whole thing is official. Whether or not bitComposer will be able to stay in business remains to be seen.

bitComposer owns the Jagged Alliance franchise and published Shadows: Heretic Kingdoms are short time ago.

More information.

While I can't say I approve of all of bitComposer's actions or products, I feel that the loss of any publisher which is taking chances funding rpgs to be bad news.

I don't think it's bad news, if games/franchises are good, someone will buy so called intellectual property or something.

Happened recently with The Stick of Truth - it was good enough to be picked by another publisher and already got nominated in certain best of 2014. categories (at GA and on Escapist site).
Happened ages ago with Fallout where it's original publisher thought it's worthless and instead of pushing it forward, invested into crap products.

The problem is that the South Park license has mainstream appeal while hardcore RPG, strategy and adventure games have very limited appeal and very little potential to make money, if anything they are money losers.

These the same guys that cancelled Chaos Chronicles? They were bit-something (if they are maybe someone can grab their part of it so the game can be published?)

wolfing said:

These the same guys that cancelled Chaos Chronicles? They were bit-something (if they are maybe someone can grab their part of it so the game can be published?)

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bitComposer was the publisher. The trigger for the failure seems to be the departure of a founder from the developer, Coreplay. It's not clear that the fault is bitComposer's, or that a change of publishing rights would restore the effort. But failure to publish Chaos Chronicles probably didn't help their financial situation.

rjshae said:

bitComposer was the publisher. The trigger for the failure seems to be the departure of a founder from the developer, Coreplay. It's not clear that the fault is bitComposer's, or that a change of publishing rights would restore the effort.

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The fault is the Coreplay team accepting a contract that was impossible to fulfill and subsequently behaving like prima donnas, to tell the truth.

I like how folks say "they tried" and "took a chance" with Jagged Alliance, as if they are victims who succumbed to poor sales because they misperceived demand. The truth is that bitComposer, like Full Control, changed several fundamentals of what Jagged Alliance was all about, willingly, thereby shooting themselves in the foot by turning off fans of the franchise.

I guess I don't feel bad, here.

If you want to "try" to do something different, or "take a chance" on a project— do it with someone else's franchise, or create your own. Don't make your own game with your own rules and then slap someone else's name on it in an effort to guarantee a fanbase.