For now the 10tacle Vienna site is still up, with a link directing to the 10tacle mothership and an ominous “coming soon” message. It appears we’re sadly scratching one more games studio out of the Vienna industry, good luck to all of those affected by this.

If anyone can confirm / dispel these rumors, has more info on the closure, or as to what 10t Vienna was working on, feel free to leave a comment below.

Update 1: The as-yet unconfirmed closure of 10t Vienna could have a lot to do with 10tacle’s financial problems, recently outlined in their restructuring press release from last week, where they announced a 25% reduction in marketing and non-product development staff. Read it after the jump along with a screencap of 10tacle’s 3 month share chart.

10TACLE STUDIOS AG agrees finance package with Hamburg-based private – CEO Michele Pes announces share purchase.

Darmstadt, Germany, March 17, 2008: 10TACLES STUDIOS AG has entered into an agreement with Hamburg-based ship owner Bertram Rickmers regarding a finance package for the company. Rickmers already holds approx. nine percent of the company’s shares. Over the previous weeks, market rumors had negatively impacted on the company’s refinancing options. The investment package tied up with one of the major stockholders also includes a convertible bond issue, for which a capital increase of 614,750 shares, having a subscription price of € 2.50 per share, is intended. There are no plans to grant subscription rights to any other stockholders. The Managing Board expects that, as a result of this agreement, other company projects could also be successfully implemented over the short term. This would have a positive effect on the company’s liquidity situation, which has of late been impacted by the uncertain market prospects.

At present, 10TACLE STUDIOS AG has overdue claims against at least three different fund investors, totaling € 13.4 million. The company’s management is proceeding on the assumption that the settlement of a large portion of these claims with its debtors will be feasible over the next 14 days. At present, it seems unlikely that these claims would need to be written down in the company’s annual financial statements for the 2007 fiscal year. The production-to-stock underlying these claims have a high intrinsic value.

However, falling short of the forecast published for the 2007 fiscal year can no longer be excluded. In its interim report of November 19, 2007, 10TACLE STUDIOS AG had already indicated that substantial delays have been incurred in the production of ELVEON and TOTEMS.

As the development of the console games ELVEON and TOTEMS has resulted in additional costs – as will be shown in the individual financial statements of the relevant subsidiaries –, a negative impact on the Group results must be assumed. Due to other compensating effects and a number of valuation issues still to be clarified, a binding statement with regard to achieving the projected figures for 2007 will only be possible at the end of March 2008. The company will release the preliminary figures for the 2007 fiscal year no later than Monday, March 31, 2008. The publication of the audited financial statements is planned for late April 2008. It should be noted that the delay in the above productions has in no way impacted on the – initially projected – intrinsic value of these products. This is confirmed by the fact that well known publishers have made offers for the global marketing of the game ELVEON in particular.

As a result of the effects described above, the 10TACLE Group experienced a strained liquidity situation. Without additional finance, the Group may not have been able to serve its medium-term liabilities. However, this threat has been averted thanks to the funding package agreed with the private investor Bertram Rickmers. Should the reduction in receivables, contrary to expectations, experience further delays, the company has a number of financing options at its disposal to safeguard liquidity.

Moreover, a comprehensive restructuring of the 10TACLE Group has been agreed upon in order to optimize the company’s organization, making it more transparent for market participants. At the heart of this re-alignment is the consistent positioning of 10TACLE STUDIOS AG as a development and production company. In the future, the classic tasks of marketing and sales will be performed almost exclusively by publishing partners. This measure, which has already been fleshed out by a number of cooperation agreements, has already brought about noticeable effects, both in terms of the capital invested in the prefinance of marketing costs and in terms of physical products. One welcome side effect for the company is the positive feedback received from publishing partners, as 10TACLE does not act in competition to traditional publishers, but has positioned itself as their cooperative business partner.

Cost savings have already been realized or initiated in the following areas:

Overall, 25% of the Group’s staff who are not directly involved in the product development (marketing, overheads, etc) will be made redundant. The company has been trying – and will continue to do so – to transfer these staff members into new positions with companies in related industries.

Furthermore, the company has decided to close its Bratislava site, which has been responsible for the ELVEON production up till now. The tasks for the finalization of production have already been assigned to other locations and the cooperation partner Climaxgroup in Southampton, England. The restructuring process will continue in full swing; the new cost and efficiency-optimized structure should be ready by no later than the summer of 2008.

The company’s management expects a strongly positive news flow for the company over the coming weeks.

The Group will expand in the area of investor relations, controlling and finance. In addition, the search for a suitable Chief Financial Officer (CFO) also continues unabated, with discussions currently under way.
Michele Pes, CEO of 10TACLE STUDIOS AG:

’10TACLE STUDIOS AG is a young enterprise. Regrettably, the delays in the production of ELVEON and TOTEMS have excessively undermined the trust placed in our company. Combined with the global crisis in the entire financial market, a situation has arisen in which we were penalized with unexpected harshness. In the view of the experts, including the research specialists analyzing our company data, our company’s market capitalisation is disproportionately low, despite the problems indicated. For a short while, the 10TACLE Group was traded at a value that corresponded to the value of one single large production in the console games area. The 10TACLE Group operates an integral studio network, produces for all common formats such as PC, X-Box, Playstation III and Nintendo DS, has a comprehensive line-up, and also holds an impressive range of valuable licenses for the production of games. Young in years, 10TACLE is still an exception in the market. Many competitors, some of which have a significantly longer history in the market as game development companies, have not yet been able to achieve the market position and relevance that we are already enjoying after only four years in business. Sure, we have made mistakes in our ‘youthful’ exuberance, but the result is nevertheless remarkable. We count the top names from the publishing world among our customers, with the world-leading publishing house Electronic Arts being one of our main partners. 10TACLE’s license portfolio contains high-caliber brands such as FERRARI. What’s more, 10TACLE has attained a promising position in the growth market for educational and advertising games, launching productions such as Happy Hippos World Tour and BMW World.

The staff of 10TACLE STUDIOS AG and its respective subsidiaries have created a company within a very short period of time that has rightly conquered its position in the market and will maintain this position despite the current challenges. The management thanks these staff members for their outstanding contribution. As the Chief Executive Officer, I am confident that the measures introduced will restore investors’ confidence and a fair valuation for staff, partners, and stockholders of 10TACLE STUDIOS AG.

Following the publication of this press release, I – as a manager of this company – will also acquire further shares in the company, to a degree that is disproportionately high when you take into consideration my financial situation.’

About 10TACLE STUDIOS AG

10TACLE STUDIOS AG, listed in the General Standard segment of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (German securities ID number (WKN): TACL10, ISIN DE000TACL107) is an independent development and production company for high-end computer and video games and a market leader in Europe. The products of 10TACLE STUDIOS AG meet the highest international standards and cover all the relevant high-growth segments of the games market. The company operates out of its headquarters in Darmstadt and its development sites in Berlin, Darmstadt, Duisburg, Hanover, Budapest, Charleroi, London, Singapore and Vienna.

Press release via Game Banshee

Editor’s Note: Please excuse our lack of posts lately. Playthrough and it’s sister blogs are in a transitional phase, with many changes behind the scenes taking place, which will all become apparent in the near future. Thanks again for your return visits and patience, we hope to get back to our regularly scheduled program shortly.

According to rumors from IGN, the upcoming sequel to Katamari Damacy, Beautiful Katamari, has run into trouble over at Namco Bandai. Sources are stating that the Sony PS3 version of the upcoming title has been axed, thanks to development issues and stalling sales of the extremely-overpriced PS3 console. Resources have supposedly been re-shifted to the Wii version of Beautiful Katamari.

Source: IGN

Rumors are swirling that 10tacle, one of Europe’s fastest growing developers, is still looking to expand through Europe, building more development studios to work on their internal and licensed projects. With studios already existing in Hannover (Germany), Bratislava (Slovakia), Charleroi (Belgium), Singapore and London and 10tacle being a German-based company, the search began for clues to where in Europe 10tacle would expand. Well, a handful of Google searches later brought about the answer. Vienna, Austria, once home to Rockstar Vienna, at one point one of the largest development studios in Europe and shutdown last year by parent company Take 2.

During this handy dandy Google search, we came upon http://www.10t-vienna.com/, what appears to be the landing page for the forthcoming 10tacle Vienna. Some questions remain. Like what exactly would 10tacle Vienna be doing? If development, what projects and what platforms are they looking to target? Vienna has an abundance of console and handheld development talent thanks to the Rockstar fallout, however, what talent would back 10tacle Vienna? Vienna’s (best and) most experienced developers have already been snatched up, with the creation of Team Vienna and Games That Matter, two new studios both formed by former high-level management from Rockstar Vienna, and the small successes of smaller local independent developers such as Xendex, Sproing, Greentube and last but not least, JoWooD, who all have been recruiting lately. There is little to no studio management-level experience left in Vienna, which means 10tacle would (hopefully) bring in external studio management and begin recruiting locally in Vienna by targeting the staff of other studios, which could be a risk for 10tacle’s local image if developers begin shifting companies.

Whatever the case, if it’s true, great for Vienna, Austria, a wonderful city with a tight little game development community who could really use new blood in the scene.

Update 1: Have now heard that the studio will focus primarily on production of 10tacle projects developed elsewhere. Snore. Also, it’s teamvienna.at not teamvienna.org.

Hmm?: 10tacle Vienna | 10tacle

As a kid, there was nothing more exciting than having a new issue of Nintendo Power dropped into my mailbox. NP was the end all, be all of NES gaming, featuring articles, ads and photos of the hottest new games coming out for one of the hottest video game systems of all time. If rumors along the mill are to be believed, the once king of gaming magazines is set to shut it’s doors, at least on a print version, soon. No official word is available yet on the demise, but I certainly hope they go the portal route with Nintendo Power, creating a Nintendo-centered social networking news and blogging site that extended with Wii browsing support, including the long rumored e-versions of NP back issues.

Sweet baby Jesus I hope this is true. As the Star Wars license wallowed away under the steaming pile that was the prequels and the horrible mess that Star Wars Galaxies became, Knight of the Old Republic was a bright shining star of the Force. Even the sequel, “Sith Lords”, though rushed and extremely buggy, was of higher quality than Galaxies. I remember thinking, self, this needs to be an MMO. Well, it seems that dream will come true. Rumors are flying around the gaming press about a recent news report from CVG stating that BioWare has recently begun forming an online team to work on a Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic MMO. Though no true details have emerged, just the fact that it appears BioWare is behind the development can only mean it will be perfection.

Read more: Knight of the Old Republic MMO in the works?

Seems we were so excited to actually have a reason to use our PSP again that we might have jumped the gun on our previous post saying Gish PSP was on it’s way. Ignoring the DVDboxoffice and Amazon listings, some rumors (read: forum posts) are stating that the deal for the PSP version of Gish fell through at the last minute, after sales had already sent out the announcements to a few retailers.

Boo. With no official announcement (yet) we can only just wait and see, but, here’s to hoping we can get Gish on a handheld console soon (preferably the DS).

Read more: Gish coming for the PSP, or not? (Thanks Simon!)

According to French-language news channel Canoe, Eidos / SCi Entertainment have chosen Montreal as the location for a new Canadian development studio. The rumor, learned through job postings, is saying that Eidos will announce a decision on the studio formation next week, followed by a round of hirings which will no doubt displease Ubisoft, EA and A2M who are also located in Montreal. Eidos spokespeople have gone on record as being unable to confirm or deny the rumor.

Horrible Babelfish French to English translation after the jump..

Tempting Lara Croft should unload soon in Montreal. Its editor, Eidos, should announce during next weeks the opening of a new studio of video games in Montreal. According to what the Newspaper could learn, the editor SCi Entertainment Group, better known under the name of Eidos, would have chosen Montreal to establish a new studio. The rumour of the arrival of Eidos started to circulate there are a few weeks near employees of some other studios of video games. It made also much jaser with the North-American registered office of Eidos, in San Francisco. It is however with the registered office of London that the decision returned and it was taken recently, it was possible to learn. The name of Eidos is especially recognized in the world of the video game for the series Tomb Raider, which puts in the high-speed motorboat the character of Lara Croft. Born in 1996, the series Tomb Raider is one of most popular of the history of the video game. Inter alia by-products, it inspired two films putting in the high-speed motorboat Angelina Jolie in the role of Lara Croft. The series Hitman and Commandos Strike Forces, inter alia, are also published by Eidos. Currently, the principal studios of Eidos are located in California, in Denmark and in England. It was impossible to know which width would have the new studio montréalais. It would constitute however the fourth large pillar of the local industry of the play, with the studios of Ubisoft, Electronic Arts and A2M. A spokesman of Eidos joined yesterday in San Francisco was not able to confirm or deny the news.

Read more: Rumor: Eidos opening development studio in Montreal

With HD-DVD currently under fire from modders who have recently began “backing up” their HD-DVD movies, rumors are starting to pour in that an early exploit has been discovered for the PS3. HDTV Blogger reveals that multiple independent sources are reporting that an exploit has been found via the PS3 which reveals title and volume keys for Blu-ray disks via the PS3. The procedure requires some minor modding of the boot process and Linux. We’ll post more information as it becomes available, *if* this rumor (did I mention it’s just a rumor so far?) develops.

Read more: Rumored Blu-ray exploit via PS3 discovered

Yeah! That’s what I’m talking about, some great looking box art for the upcoming Zelda: Twilight Princess for the Nintendo Gamecube and Wii. Though I think the Gamecube version looks so much better, I’ll be getting the Wii version I’m afraid. Oh, who am I kidding, I’ll be getting both, I knew I couldn’t sneak that one past you all.

See the boxart after the jump..

We were sold on Wii Virtual Console when we read about the first batch of rumoured titles, but now we’re starting to get all antsy over here! A recent search on the ESRB ratings page shows that there are a handfull more mega-classic titles coming for the Virtual Console, this time from the publisher of every fanboy’s dreams, Sega! By visiting the ESRB search page and performing a search by platform (choose Wii, duh), you’ll see at the bottom of the list, 6 classic Sega titles, which one can only assume is coming for the VC.

Read the short list for the lazy after the jump..

Ecco The Dolphin (Sega)
Altered Beast (Sega)
Toe Jam & Earl (Sega)
Golden Axe (Sega)
Columns (Sega)
Sonic the Hedgehog (Sega)
Ristar (Sega)

Read more: ESRB (via Codename: Revolution)