Hardware Game Creator And Publisher Nacon Files For Insolvency Due To Bigben’s Financial Troubles – WGB
Nacon is in serious trouble following the failure of majority shareholder Bigben Interactive to repay part of its bond loan to its bondholders. According to Nacon, this was caused by “unexpected and late rejection by its banking pool”.
Nacon works as a hardware manager (mainly controllers) and as a publisher that publishes titles made by their own developers, as well as third parties. Their latest article, for example, was Styx: Blades of Greed I’m actually in the middle of a review. Other recent topics include Hell Us again Robocop: Unfinished Business.
Filing for bankruptcy does not necessarily mean that the company is shutting down, but it does indicate that it is currently unable to pay its debts and is at risk of closing its doors unless they can right the ship.
Nacon says that this situation “requires the immediate implementation of financial and credit restructuring to ensure the continuity of its operations”.
Currently, the company is operating as usual and is still set to hold its Nacon Connect exhibition next month.
Nacon suffered a setback last year with parent company Bigben when Nintendo won a €7 million judgment against Nacon in a 15-year-old patent infringement case involving third-party Wii Remote controllers that copied the device’s motion-sensing design.
Some people have pointed to this as the cause of Nacon’s current problems, but simply put, €7M is small potatoes for the company. Although it did not help, there is no indication that it played a major role in the current situation.
No, the problems come from Bigben Interactive, the majority shareholder of Nacon. The company owns 56.7% of Nacon and 65.8% of the voting rights. Bigben caused the crisis by defaulting on a €43 million bond due on 19 February 2026. Banks refused to withdraw €43M from the credit facility citing alleged breach of contractual disclosure obligations. Bigben disputes the claim and called the move “unexpected”.
Between this and the game’s weak sales, such as the disaster it was GollumBigen is in a difficult situation, and as Bigben’s main source of income, Nacon is the first in line to feel the blowback.
Here’s a timeline of everything so far, as far as I can tell.
A timeline of the disaster
- February 13: Banks reject €43M withdrawal, citing alleged data breach (disputed by Bigben).
- February 17-19: Bigben announces inability to repay €43M of partial redemption on 2021 €87M bonds (convertible to Nacon shares).
- February 20: Trading suspended in Bigben/Nacon shares and bonds; liquidity crunch hits Nacon operations.videogameschronicle+1
- February 25: Bigben calls for “peaceful reconciliation” through creditors’ talks; Nacon files for legal restructuring.
If Nacon were to close its doors or sell the studios it would be a huge blow to the single-A and double-A space, so let’s hope Bigben can do its job and fix its financial problems.
