Right on the heels of some positive economic news for the amusement industry in India, comes some negative amusement related news from Japan. Kevin Williams of The Stinger Report has the rundown on Seta Corp. and Jaleco Ltd. closing up, both of which have had their hand in the amusement/arcade sector with a number of games released in the past, although arcade gaming has not been their primary focus for some time now. Hit the post break for the story.
22/1/09 – LONDON – (from Kevin Williams, KWP) – Shrouded in mystery, sources in Japan and Europe have finally be able to shed some light on recent problems at veteran Japanese amusement, gaming and consumer software developers. It was revealed that both Seta Corp., and Jaleco Ltd., had shuttered their offices, or been closed.
Seta Corp., was a 20 year veteran of the mah-jong, pachinko and amusement scene, that had also started a consumer game publishing operation – having gone public in 1985, the company had seen 26% of its assets acquired by fellow amusement company Aruze. It was broken by a number of web sources that the company had closed its doors and laid-off its entire workforce, though no official statement had been received raising concerns.
At the same time it was revealed that Jaleco Holdings (previously PCCW) had decided to sell the Jaleco Limited consumer game developer and publisher to Game Yarou for a single Yen (this agreement repaying a previous loan made by the company to Jaleco). The news means that Jaleco, a 35 veteran of the amusement scene in Japan, will now no longer be involved with the entertainment industry, closing the head office and laying off staff.
The shuttering of two veteran amusement company – even though they had moved away from primary arcade development for consumer game and slot machine manufacturer, still represents a clear picture of the turmoil existing in the market under the current financial conditions, and the how it is impacting the most vulnerable.
