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Update: CEO Harald Riegler is claiming that instead of Insolvency, and has instead claimed the developer is using "a formal restructuring process" after the cancellation of a big project, allowing Sproing to continue to operate, albeit as a smaller studio, saying in an emailed statement that this restructuring "doesn’t jeopardise the studio per se."
Original Story: Austria’s biggest game development site, Sproing Interactive, is reportedly now insolvent, with multiple sites reporting the company have liabilities amounting to roughly €2.8 million.
Numerous sites in Austria are reporting on the Vienna-based studios insolvency, including Games Wirtschaft, Die Presse and Golem. Der Standard are reporting that creditor protection outfits AKV Europa and KSV 1870 are already involved, trying to handle Sproing’s debts and help two thirds of the studio find new jobs after they were laid off – nearly 100 employees.
In a statement to Der Standard, the firm said that: "A total of two development teams will be dismantled. The employees in the other teams will be retained by the company and will continue to work on the current projects."
Reports suggest that Sproing fell into trouble after the loss of a major contract and a failed project that the company had invested heavily into hit at the same time, putting the company into peril. A reorganisation plan has been drawn up to offer creditors a 20 per cent rate, with the debts being payable in two years.
Sproing was founded in 2001, and worked on free-to-play titles like Asterix and Friends, Skyrama and Silent Hunter Online along with many others.
We reached out to Sproing Interactive for comment.
