While Nacon has confirmed that it is essentially bankrupt, the company has now come under fire from French video game union Syndicat des Travailleureuses du Jeu Video. The union has called out Nacon for several of its studios, including GreedFall: The Dying Light developer Spiders, Styx: Blades of Greed developer Cyanide, and WRC developer Kylotonn also having filed for insolvency.
In a statement, the union has said that Nacon’s leadership had a disdain for video game production, which worked alongside their “incompetence” to “actively sabotage” its studios.
“Years of mismanagement and strategic nothingness, both at the group and company levels, have blocked studios from modernizing, organizing and developing themselves,” said the union. “Today, even after completely emptying its studios coffers – dozens of million euros which should have ensured ensured studio stability and safe jobs! – Nacon comes out with a deficit.”
“Makeshit solutions like canceling all recruitments and raises for more than a year, or snake oil solutions like ‘AI,’ which Nacon is gradually forcing on its studios without even knowing what for, will not save money and clean up the company accounts. The deterioration of working conditions in the last years, and the creation of new studios with the barely hidden goal of sabotaging existing ones, were already convoluted ways of reducing headcount and they only made matters worse.”
Syndicat des Travailleureuses du Jeu Video has gone on to call for the removal of Nacon’s executive team. Along with this, the union also wants better working conditions, updated tools and processes, and a policy to prevent further talent drain across studios under the company that would involve fighting turnover rates.
Nacon had announced its filing for insolvency back in February, happening due to majority shareholder Bigben Interactive being unable to make a partial repayment of its bond loan. The shareholder blamed “unexpected and late refusal” from its banking pool. In its filing, the company requested a “rapid implementation of a financial restructuring” go beyond simply restructuring debt under court supervision.
A report from earlier this week had indicated that Nacon had paused payments to employees at Cyanide Studios, Spiders and Kylotonn. At the time, an estimated 320 game developers were affected by these lack of payments, with the three studios becoming part of the publisher’s court-ordered restructuring. In its more recent press release, Nacon has outright confirmed that four of its subsidiaries – Spiders, Kylotonn, Cyanide and motion capture company Nacon Tech, had filed for insolvency with the Lille Métropole Commercial Court. More details are slated to be revealed as proceedings evolve.
The insolvency comes in the light of Nacon having suffered major failed game releases under its belt, including 2023’s The Lord of the Rings: Gollum. The company has also acquired several studios, including Neopica, Midgar Studio, Ishtar Games, and Big Ant Studios, among others. Along with Gollum, Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown also saw an underwhelming reception, which likely contributed to the company’s current financial position.
That’s not to say that Nacon hasn’t published well-liked games, however. We recently saw the release of GreedFall: The Dying Light, as well as 2024’s co-op hack-and-slash roguelite title Ravenswatch.
