While there still hasn’t been any word on the disappearance of Imageepoch CEO Ryoei Mikage, it’s been revealed that the company, alongside their affiliate company Smile Online Games, filed for bankruptcy earlier this month, according to a report from corporate research provider Teikoku Databank, Ltd.
The report indicates that Imageepoch and Smile Online Games began bankruptcy procedures on May 7th at the Tokyo District Court. The case will be administrated by a lawyer named Tsuyoshi Nakano. The two companies will have until June 4th to report their credit, and are scheduled to have a property advisory meeting on July 30th at 10am JPT.
Since its founding as a development company in 2004, Imageepoch have produced titles such as Time and Eternity, 7th Dragon, Black Rock Shooter: The Game, and more. The developers boasted a 1.7 billion yen of profit, which was revealed during their annual income back in September 2011.
In two years, the company saw a significant drop in profits, as the annual income figure dropped down to 400 million yen by September 2013, largely due to problems regarding high development costs and sales not going as expected.
Without being able to make a recovery, Imageepoch have stopped a substantial amount of their activities. At the moment, Teikoku Databank reports that Imageepoch are in a debt of around 1.1 billion yen that is owed to about 43 different creditors. Meanwhile, affiliate company Smile Online Games is in debt of 3 million yen owed to five creditors. Together, they’re in a debt of 1.103 billion yen between the two companies.
While this isn’t a confirmation by any means, it’s safe to assume that Imageepoch’s vast debt has something to do with the company CEO Ryoei Mikage’s sudden disappearance. You can read more about that in our earlier report.
Photograph courtesy 4Gamer.
