That's something that always confused me (video games to an extent but also copyright law as a whole). X company goes belly up for whatever reason, but what happens to the IP itself? Does it remain held by the parent company (in this instance, Nintendo who may hold Custom Robo/Chibi-Robo/Fossil Fighters/Dillion(/Kyle Hyde? Was Cing also under Nintendo?), or is it a person at the head of said company that's dissolving who then owns these IP licenses?
Many are co-owned by Nintendo so Nintendo owns the IP completely after their demise. Custom Robo is an exception though, as Noise still exists in "skeleton" form just to keep the IP. Technically there is a chance for Nintendo to revive them without the original studio but they have never done so, probably never will. They'll use the IP's for legacy purposes, such as Smash appearances.
Also why Nintendo retained the rights to Rare's Donkey Kong (and Star Fox/Dinosaur Planet) characters and games post the Microsoft buyout.
As folks have said, it can get messy, but usually the publisher winds up with the IP. It looks like Vanpool is choosing to shut down, rather than going through some form of bankruptcy, so that's probably what happens here.
This is what I hope will happen.
In this case, I believe the Dillon IP is owned by Nintendo itself, hence they can make games with it if they so wish.
The saddest ya-ha-ha...
But otherwise thank you all for the write-ups and clarification, that does explain a lot! Hope everyone does land on their feet whether with HAL or elsewhere and these niche but beloved games find their way back into the spotlight one way or another.
Alpha Dream was unsalvageable based upon what we know. We don't know enough about Vanpool to know if this was a money issue or what.
yeah, the message is peculiar. it doesn't really seem like it was because of financial troubles, which would be odd because unlike alphadream who didn't really make any hits in their later years vanpool worked on two very successful kirby releases recently, and i don't see a studio like that just one day deciding to close shop and letting everyone go.
I genuinely think it’s either “CEO wanted to quit/retire and didn’t want to bother selling the company” or “someone ran off with all the money” or “key employees all quit/got headhunted” or something. I don’t think it was bankruptcy.
Exactly. Nintendo has no obligation to pay debts incurred by Vanpool or any other contractor, and they're not being obtuse for not doing so. If a contractor is floundering as a result of their own financial instability, it is not on Nintendo to prop them up. That just means the contactor ultimately owes Nintendo money instead.
