View Full Version : Digicube bankrupt!
CocoeBiz
11-26-2003, 09:31 AM
Hi everyone,
I just read the news that Digicube has filed for bankruptcy. Here is my translation of this news that was posted on Yahoo Japan today, November 26, 2003.
Please excuse my grammar. :(
Digicube, the game software wholesaler to convenience stores announced that it filed for bankruptcy at the Tokyo District Court on November 26, 2003.
Liabilities are about 9,500 million yen. Digicube was establish by Square (Square/ENIX, present) in February, 1996.
It dealt with wholesaling to convenience stores of game software titles, and according to Teikoku Databank, sales were about 46,800 million yen by selling game software at their peak, but they were in the red with debt of 3 billion yen. Also, they backed out of the music distribution at KIOSK (small convenience stores) terminal and they lost about 6 billion yen and this made thier financial situation worse.
In 2003, sales dropped considerably and they expected to be 2,700 million yen in the red and this will cause liabilities surpass assets and decided to file for bankruptcy. This also happened because the new Final Fantasy game sales date has been postponed.
Well, this is really bad news for all of us. :(
Thank you,
CocoeBiz
petev21
11-26-2003, 10:16 AM
Hi Kahori, do you know how this will affect DigiCube upcoming game music releases (FF VII Piano, and Front Mission 4/1st OST)? I always felt that DigiCube was one of the better game music publishers out there, mainly because of their cheaper prices and better packaging. I wonder if Square will publish CDs themselves now... :(
Holy Crap!!! *(o_0)*
This is certainly an un-expected occurance, something I didn't think would happen to such a well known and modern company...
Man, I wonder how Square will release their OST albums now?!??
Digicube always had good quality control with their albums, with nice packaging and great sound overall.
I just can't believe it yet, such a big player going under like that...
-Carl
cloudff7
11-26-2003, 10:20 AM
This is a damn shame for everyone in to VGM and I hope the FF VII piano soundtrack is still due Dec. 3rd. It's sad to see such a great game music publisher going away. We'll miss them...
XLord007
11-26-2003, 10:23 AM
Well, this really sucks. I hope Squenix finds a good replacement; and this had better not affect their willingness to publish GBA soundtracks.
yeah Pete, it'll be interesting to see how they handle that, I sure hope somebody knows what they're doing and can continue the SSCX releasing schedule as planned...
CocoeBiz
11-26-2003, 11:11 AM
Hello,
Yes, this was a very big surprise for the Japanese gaming market, too!
I don't know which publisher Squre/Enix will be using in the future, but I *guess* it will be Avex as we have seen Avex releasing many of the FF albums. As Digicube was established by Square, Square will hold the copy rights, if this is the case, they, SqureEnix can chose any Record Publisher. There are many game music Record Companies, so I really don't know about their future releases at this time.
About Digicube up-coming release, I don't know what will happen, so I
will keep my eyes on the news.
But, if a CD is planed to be released on the 2nd of December or any thime soon, the product must have been manufactured already, but because of this situation, they may have to change the packaging and re-produce it under another label.
I agree that Digicube makes good quality products.
Even though they went bankrupt, their products should be protected by
Square/Enix as the albums are related to game titles.
Anyway, I can't say anything for sure at the moment until more news become available in Japan.
Their website is gone already......., so we cannot order anything at all. :(
So, I have to go now but I will be posting as I get more news.
Thanks again,
Kahori
Yes Kahori, I also noticed that their main website and their shopcube sites are already taken down...
Must have been an 'effective immediately' decision that all their fuctions cease at once. =(
Oh no... please not Avex...
boo!!!!
That's like a nightmare becoming true....
Please keep us informed of any additional information!
XLord007
11-26-2003, 12:28 PM
Yes, lets all hope that they don't go with Avex. I think the only reason there were so many Avex FF albums this year is that they were all FFX-2 related and Koda Kumi (or is it Kumi Koda?) is an Avex artist. Hopefully Squenix will go with Pony Canyon or some other quality label.
Alcahest
11-26-2003, 01:03 PM
I wish they went back with NTT Pub!
Anyway, a page is turning in the VGM History, that's a fact ;/
*RIP SSCX10000-10112*
Later,
Alcahest
Dragon God
11-26-2003, 02:57 PM
Wonderful..... now I gotta grab everything that I'm missing before it all dissapears ><
RIP DigiCube, a company of many quality soundtracks.
I think if Square got their albums published by Super Sweep, it would be a good choice to go. NTT Pub and Pony Canyon are good too !
*Holds on to his 70+ Digicube OST
Thanks for letting us know, Ms. Ezaki. This is truly a shame :(
Schala
11-27-2003, 02:03 PM
Yeah, I'm not too thrilled at the possibility of FF CDs being published by Avex, although I do love their Eurobeat stuff...*sigh*
Eriol
11-27-2003, 04:53 PM
If they go to Avex, they've permanently lost me as a customer. I do not want copy prevention controls in my CDs.
Emperorsblackbones
11-27-2003, 04:53 PM
I'll miss Digicube but nothing lasts forever. I don't mind if AVEX picks up Square Enix music from now on because copy protected cd's work fine in my DVD player.
I just hope the Front Mission 4 plus 1st OST still comes out.
Timt99
11-30-2003, 12:13 AM
With the declaration of bankruptcy from Digicube, is it possible that the soundtracks under the Digicube label that are already released will start to increase in rarity, therefore, go up in value? Just a thought. Does anyone else think this may happen? I am predicting it will, so I may be holding onto my Digicube CD's for the sake of profit in the future. :)
Eriol
11-30-2003, 12:11 PM
Most of the Digicube soundtracks probably won't increase in value that will make it worthwhile to speculate. The limited edition FFs might, but most old soundtracks seem to only gain at most 25% above retail.
Mikal Aganti
02-13-2004, 02:00 PM
Square should go back to NTT. I was well pleased with my Chrono Trigger OST.
does anybody know who will publish the final fantasy soundtracks then? should i try to grab a digicube one while they are still on EBbay and such or what... amazon.com has the final fantasy VII soundtrack labelled as by a company called 'jms' and the FFX sountrack by "polygram int'l" should i get that? amazon is a good company (except for high prices) but they only sell the real stuff.. .so does this mean that squareenix has already decided on the new label? i'm confused....
XLord007
03-19-2004, 09:15 AM
does anybody know who will publish the final fantasy soundtracks then? should i try to grab a digicube one while they are still on EBbay and such or what... amazon.com has the final fantasy VII soundtrack labelled as by a company called 'jms' and the FFX sountrack by "polygram int'l" should i get that? amazon is a good company (except for high prices) but they only sell the real stuff.. .so does this mean that squareenix has already decided on the new label? i'm confused....
Square Enix has not made any obvious choice as to a new label for their game CDs. You will probably see a variety of labels used based on the label associated with the singer who provides the vocal song for a given game (for example, Avex does the FFX-2 CDs while Pony Canyon did the FFCC CDs). However, if Squenix does choose one label, it will most likely be one of Sony's labels.
thanks.. that helps alot...
Eriol
08-17-2004, 10:27 PM
Square Enix has chosen to release their past catalog under their own label. The catalog number starts with SQEX.
cubed
08-19-2004, 05:58 PM
will they rerelease every single soundtrack? I'm more interested in a Chrono Cross and a Legend of Mana soundtrack.
Eriol
08-21-2004, 12:22 AM
From what I've been reading, it looks like they are releasing albums within the last 2 years, excluding the recent FF games. The recent FF albums seem to be on a perpetual print run.
TerraEpon
08-22-2004, 12:11 AM
From what I've been reading, it looks like they are releasing albums within the last 2 years, excluding the recent FF games. The recent FF albums seem to be on a perpetual print run.
Which isn't exactly an uncommon practice at ALL. Popular stuff gets kept in circulation, because not only does it sell, but it's made enough profit that the only cost left is that which is associated with the reprinting, and so on.
Another good Japanese example is the Miyazaki soundtracks.
-Joshua
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