Imageepoch

Stella Glow developer Imageepoch files for bankruptcy

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stella glow

After suffering millions in losses, employees heading to other companies, and last month’s disappearance of their CEO, Imageepoch will be filing for bankruptcy.

Founded in 2005, Imageepoch enjoyed moderate success as a JRPG developer. Some hardcore SEGA fans may know them through their work on the DS’s Sands of Destruction. They also developed the 7th Dragon series, which was produced by Skies of Arcadia and Phantasy Star creator Reiko Kodama and published by SEGA. The company was set to celebrate their 10th anniversary next month with the release of the SEGA-published 3DS JRPG Stella Glow.

The company was doing well through September 2011, when they reported 1.7 billion yen in profit. Unfortunately, not long after the company announced they would start self-publishing some of their games, they began to run into problems. Just two years later, the company reported a mere 400 million yen in profits. Many of their self-published games were met with mediocre reviews and sold poorly. Now, the company has 1.1 billion yen in debt owed to 43 creditors, with an additional 3 million owed to five creditors through affiliate company Smile Online.

According to Siliconera, this bankruptcy won’t affect the release of Stella Glow, which has been completed for some time. Stella Glow was originally announced as a self-published title, before SEGA picked up publishing duties in mid-March.

If you want an in-depth look at the fall of Imageepoch, you might want to take a look at this article. I’m not familiar with the website, but a lot of the information inside it seems to check out with what I’ve read elsewhere.

Stella Glow will be released by SEGA on June 4. It’s set to be localized by Atlus later this year.

[Via: Siliconera]

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SEGA’s Stella Glow stream shows an extensive preview of the game

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If you have been living under a rock and missed the news that SEGA was going to publish Imageepoch’s 3DS SRPG Stella Glow, now you know. Another good piece of news is that the game is also coming to the west thanks to Atlus later this year.

Above is a Japanese live stream that shows off what you can expect form the game when it comes out. Including a look at the artistic graphics, variety of places to visit and much more. Also, lots of anime babes (if that is your thing).

So what do you guys think about this game? Worth your time?

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Atlus bringing Stella Glow to North America

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Stella Glow, an upcoming JRPG by Imageepoch that’ll be published by SEGA in Japan, is getting an English version thanks to Atlus. Right now there aren’t any details about the North American release, aside from that it’ll be released later this year. This’ll be the first time Atlus has handled the western release of a SEGA game since they were bought by the company.

SEGA had announced that they’ll be publishing the game in Japan earlier this month, where it’ll be coming to stores on June 4th. If the game will be coming to European stores as well hasn’t been announced yet.

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SEGA published SRPG Stella Glow gets first gameplay footage

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A few days ago we posted that Stella Glow, an SRPG 3DS game was being published by SEGA and developed by Imageepoch. Outside of a few screenshots, we didn’t really know what the game would look like in action, until now. Above is the brand new trailer showing off some anime cutscenes and later on the first gameplay.

The in-game graphics remind me a lot of Imageepooch’s last game they created with SEGA titled 7th Dragon, more specifically the sequel called 7th Dragon 2020. The game is set to release in Japan on June 4th, no western release dates have been announced and seeing as Imageepoch’s past couple SEGA published games never made it west; I wouldn’t hold my breath.

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SEGA developing 7th Dragon sequel, this one on PSP

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1up reports, via Famitsu, that Imagepoch is developing a sequel to the DS RPG 7th Dragon, which never saw release in North America. Called 7th Dragon 2020, the follow-up is looking to take place in a futuristic version of Tokyo, a contrast to the original game’s more medieval style. The game is said to feature a revamp in art direction and character design, and will supposedly release this year.

SEGA will once again be publishing it, though since they never localized the first 7th Dragon, chances of the West getting this one seem pretty slim.

Check out the official site.

[Source: 1up.com]

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