It’s been a turbulent month for NIS. Beginning with an extremely troubled release of their mobile game Disgaea RPG that was then taken down and delayed, and a corresponding sharp drop in stock prices. Reports then began to surge that the company was not able to pay its employees anymore. In a last ditch effort to raise funds without incurring debt with banks or investors, NIS went into a moving strike warrant, a phenomenon in which a company sells its stock for laughably low prices to get any kind of money influx.
After NIS America announced plans to port Disgaea 4 to PS4 and Switch, it seemed somehow the company had avoided disaster and was ready to move forwards. However, a recently published shareholders’ report states that following the drop in stock price caused by Disgaea RPG’s troubles, NIS increased its compensation limits for executives up to 500%. This has caused speculation that NIS’s executive branch is paying themselves as much as possible before an imminent bankruptcy.
We’ve talked about the unfolding NIS situation on the podcast a few times, and this seems to be heading off to just about the worst end imaginable. Though it is worth noting that rumors of mistreatment of employees at NIS go all the way back to the exodus of the original Disgaea team to Idea Factory, it seems that whatever happened this time may well prove final. I’m not going to tear up over a corporate entity, but here’s hoping all the employees can land on their feet and hopefully get some sort of severance. If we’re really lucky some other publisher may pick up NIS stalwarts like Disgaea and Phantom Brave.