Gizmondo Europe to be liquidated

High Court orders handheld manufacturer wound up, Tiger hoping to salvage some assets from subsidiary's demise.

In a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Tiger Telematics revealed that its Gizmondo Europe subsidiary has been ordered to liquidate under British law.

The company had filed a High Court application for administration in the UK in January. That would have protected the company from creditors while it underwent a financial restructuring, but it was denied last week. Now the matter has been turned over to a pair of liquidation firms. In its SEC filing, Tiger Telmatics said it now assumes the firms will fire all Gizmondo Europe employees, cease all its operations (including customer support), and sell off its assets. Between the court order and the liquidations of its development studios in Manchester and Sweden, Tiger Telematics said that these actions could make up for about $72 million of the roughly $90 the company claims in liabilities.

While things are grim for the company's European business, Tiger Telematics might be trying to salvage its domestic operations. The company said in its SEC filing that it is attempting to procure some funds from a lending agreement that would allow it to acquire some assets form Gizmondo Europe, and "is considering its available options with its Texas games studio subsidiary and its kiosk sales units." Continuing its business in the US would require substantial amounts of debt and equity financing, but Tiger is also looking into the possibility of selling the company as a whole, or merely its other assets, like intellectual property rights, patents, and game rights.

Whatever it decides to do, Tiger Telematics said it would report shortly on its restructuring plans.

61 Comments

  • SteveTwo

    Posted Nov 6, 2006 3:48 pm PT

    Firefly2040, you make some good points, but you type like a crack head. People will probably pay more attention if you use some basic capitalization and punctuation.

    What does the number of periods before the sentence refer to? Do they take the place of the period at the end of the sentence? Some of them start with three periods, some of them start with 6 or so! But from the context of the words, there doesn't seem to be a direct correlation. Huh.

  • anamnawshad

    Posted Oct 25, 2006 11:12 am PT

    firefly2040 Whoa I never knew Gizmondo had so many features!
    Too bad they %&*#$ up because of less games and bad marketing.....

  • grobe

    Posted Feb 14, 2006 12:06 pm PT

    Becuase releasing a platform with no marketing whatsoever and without any third party games is such a good idea.

  • Tron6691

    Posted Feb 12, 2006 6:05 am PT

    yeh but the point is its over for gizmondo it was a third party piece of crap it would of got no where in the hand held industry like the n-gage that was a dumb idea too

  • firefly2040

    Posted Feb 11, 2006 6:04 pm PT

    Well let me spell it all out for everyone ...First out don't judge a book by it's cover ..This system is Loaded with features that make a Price of 300$ a Great deal ....Let's see a Movie Player cost 100$ to 300$, Mp3 players costs 100 to 500$,GPS system will cost you about 300$ for a good one, A cheap Camera will cost about 20$ to 30$ plus at 400Mhz it's also faster then a PSP .....We all Know that a PSP has Horrible low sound also it's got Awful Load times and stop with Fireware upgrades SONY......mmm....funny that the PSP looks a lot like a TAPWAVE ???....All Facts .....So check out the Features ....Go buy one from Ebay ....I mine for about 200$ with 8 games,Headphone and a case (Brand New)....then be the Judge after you have Played Games like TrailBlazer,Sticky Balls,Toy Golf,Richard Burns Rally and more .....ANY QUESTIONS ??......
    TFT screen ~ 240 x 320 pixels
    400 Mhz ARM9 from Samsung
    128-bit 3D Graphics accelerator from Nvidia
    GPS tracking application
    GPS mapping application
    MP3 playback
    MIDI/WAV formats
    SMS
    Speaker
    Windows Media Player 9
    MPEG 4 video playback
    JPEG camera
    SD flash card reader
    Mini-USB client
    Bluetooth class 2 for multiplayer gaming
    Temperature range 0°C to 55°C
    Removable SIM card
    Removable battery
    Polyphonic ring tones
    Stereo headset socket for MP3 and games
    Flight Mode
    GSM tri-band
    GPRS Class 10
    WAP 2.0
    MMS receive and send

  • firefly2040

    Posted Feb 11, 2006 5:36 pm PT

    Well it's not over yet,they still have a HQ in Texas also try one before you talk it down....Richard Burns Rally Looks SWEET!!!

  • Paul_TheGreat

    Posted Feb 8, 2006 8:06 am PT

    Poor Gizmondo, never had a chance.

  • Sociologist

    Posted Feb 8, 2006 8:05 am PT

    It's beyond me to understand why ANYBODY would think that people would pay 300+ dollars for a portable game console that FORCES you to watch targeted ads between levels loading on games and such. Also, GPS? WTF were these people thinking? At least the PSP has functions that a consumer will use...Besides, the unit looked like a football anyway, and was a pitiful device to say the least.

  • Seraphim_24

    Posted Feb 8, 2006 7:25 am PT

    See it took electronics juggernaut Sony to thwart Nintendo's dominance of the game industry (though Sega came pretty close in the early 90s, the Genesis was eventually outperformed by the SNES) and it took software juggernaut to sufficiently challenge new market leader Sony, and Nintendo is still hanging in there doing well enough not to need to call it quits with hardware like Sega did. What does this tell you? Unless you're already a super mega giant of a company with billions in the bank like Sony or M$, don't bother trying to create a new console or handheld. You won't have the name recognition, the brand loyalty, and you'll either end up with vaporware (Phantom) or a paperweight that no one buys (Gizmondo). Either way bankruptcy seems inevitable.
    At least groups like Tiger could try to establish themselves as software developers like Nintendo and Sega did before they made their own machines... Too many people are too eager to capitalize on the multi-billion dollar videogame industry, and most aren't smart about how they do it. The competition is already pretty fierce, and with handhelds reaching new levels of expensive (thanks to PSP) they're starting to cost nearly as much as consoles so really the last thing we need is yet another must have handheld cutting into people's resources. I’d rather see developer attention focusing on making games that don't suck for that expensive PSP than have to worry about someone else fool heartedly trying their hand at the handheld market.

  • chrisdojo

    Posted Feb 8, 2006 5:48 am PT

    whoops!!!

  • ewjim

    Posted Feb 8, 2006 2:52 am PT

    i think it's NOT GOOD for Tiger Telematics, but it's not bad for us...

  • RandomHajile2

    Posted Feb 7, 2006 11:52 pm PT

    in london there was a gizmondo lauch party last march, bussta an mini me was there, free booze an a show!

    but as bad as it is, i thought it would out last n gage!

    looks like DS an PSP helped dead this handheld, but hey, i guess it would make a great prop for a film

  • s0l0123

    Posted Feb 7, 2006 10:16 pm PT

    Those employees would be pissed.

  • Kravyn81

    Posted Feb 7, 2006 9:14 pm PT

    You mean the Gizmondo failed? I'm SO shocked....Really, who couldn't see this coming a mile away?

  • killa-k

    Posted Feb 7, 2006 8:46 pm PT

    good hype and that's all i think it will ever b, just a good hype nuthin' more

  • ben_grasso

    Posted Feb 7, 2006 7:23 pm PT

    You have to question their inteligence of such a move to even release such a device in a game market where the game giants rule the market share.

  • 0diablo0

    Posted Feb 7, 2006 7:02 pm PT

    WOW THIS IS THE MOST FREAKIN EXCITING NEWS OF THE YEAR...............................................

  • forever_blank

    Posted Feb 7, 2006 6:52 pm PT

    lol... ShAzAm!

  • Light_of_Spira

    Posted Feb 7, 2006 6:01 pm PT

    Wow, even N-gage lasted longer than this thing. That's just...pathetic. I feel bad for all the workers though.

  • jihwane

    Posted Feb 7, 2006 5:52 pm PT

    Poor Gizmondo ... but it's their time to go...

  • StillWingless

    Posted Feb 7, 2006 4:25 pm PT

    raise your hand if you saw this coming.

  • deleteuser

    Posted Feb 7, 2006 4:21 pm PT

    they should have stayed out of the competition. they think they could win with Nintendo and Sony out there.

  • Khimarhi

    Posted Feb 7, 2006 4:18 pm PT

    i didn't think the gizmondo was going to go anywhere. . .even less then the ngage

  • ssvegeta555

    Posted Feb 7, 2006 3:33 pm PT

    How many handhelds is this now that Nintendo killed, 12? And I guess Sony gets 1 point for it as well. lol

  • Orasion_Seiz

    Posted Feb 7, 2006 3:31 pm PT

    i feel sad for the Gizmondo

  • Cheezuz_Feezuz

    Posted Feb 7, 2006 3:19 pm PT

    Boy--it did so bad---I never even heard of it

  • Cheezuz_Feezuz

    Posted Feb 7, 2006 3:15 pm PT

    ......what the hells a gizmondo

  • goatblower

    Posted Feb 7, 2006 3:12 pm PT

    DIdn't this happen a couple weeks ago? Okay I just repost what I said last time with the PSP, DS, and GBA. There was no room for the system. Plus the N-Gage already has the niche market.

  • RyuSage

    Posted Feb 7, 2006 3:09 pm PT

    No surprise here. As for n-gage, the only reason that's lasted at all is because it's a cell phone that plays games. So, although it competes directly with Nintendo and Sony, from a gaming perspective, in the cell phone market...I'm not sure there're many phones that can boast the kind of games (not to mention other features) that an n-gage can. So that's how that's managed to not bomb completely. Gizmondo...they just flat out tried to compete with Nintendo and Sony, and made almost every mistake possible at every step.

    As for helping out the employees...I could be wrong, but the company's in massive debt, and is being liquidated, soo...any revenue from sales would probably be funneled into paying off its debt. If they're not in business any more, I'm sure the employees have already been fired.

  • YukoAsho

    Posted Feb 7, 2006 3:00 pm PT

    Yeah, setting their sights for Sony and Nintendo was a horrible move. They should have gone for the opensource dev market, try to play with the boys behind GP2X, an entirely different market. Instead, they tried to be big and got slapped down.

  • 247k

    Posted Feb 7, 2006 2:56 pm PT

    liquidate bizzatch!

  • BruceLee16

    Posted Feb 7, 2006 2:56 pm PT

    ...i think i have one of these as a coaster on my dining room table..

  • tidusjeff

    Posted Feb 7, 2006 2:49 pm PT

    ''this is a sad news for those employees indeed. if anybody wants to donate to these employees, you know what to do. buy a gizmondo.''

    Too bad I don't have 229 pounds to spare. Looked cool though, I guess that makes me 1 of 20,000 people who liked it.

  • IQ138

    Posted Feb 7, 2006 2:39 pm PT

    this is a sad news for those employees indeed. if anybody wants to donate to these employees, you know what to do. buy a gizmondo.

  • TryMe01

    Posted Feb 7, 2006 2:27 pm PT

    ... it still amazes me the the n-gage still has its part on this webpage...

  • TryMe01

    Posted Feb 7, 2006 2:25 pm PT

    history repeating itself, once again... don't other companies know it's gonna be tough when directly competing with the King of Handhelds, Nintendo? (dw, the psp is going down)

  • cyprus646

    Posted Feb 7, 2006 2:11 pm PT

    Oh no not the gizmondo !!! alll 3 people who bought it are gona be disappointed. Kinda reminds u of another failed portable *cough* N-gage *cough*

  • mhoff94

    Posted Feb 7, 2006 1:52 pm PT

    wtf is a gizmondo?

  • lugomania7

    Posted Feb 7, 2006 1:48 pm PT

    The Gizmondo was trying to mimic the PSP and beat it, and yet it fell very far from doing that. Another gaming company taken down by Sony with some help from Nintendo.

  • -Nevar-

    Posted Feb 7, 2006 1:45 pm PT

    No one can beat Nintendo the handheld market,
    Just look at Sony,
    They own the console market. Yet their not doing well in the handheld department, we should cut Sony some slack for lasting THIS long.

  • ssj4_2004

    Posted Feb 7, 2006 1:42 pm PT

    *sigh* I was going to get one on ebay after it dropped down in price. But if it dies completely then there will no homebrew support or anyhting for it. Which is yo bad it had alot of potential

  • runstalker

    Posted Feb 7, 2006 1:39 pm PT

    Has more raw CPU and graphical power than a PSP and DS combined, yet it's uglier than sin. These people should've enlisted 3rd party pros (like what Microsoft did for the 360 case) to shape the Gizmondo. What a horrible waste of money and people's time. Kids are starving, and they go and f---k up a handheld game system -- flushing millions. Chumps.

  • snowbrdr1119

    Posted Feb 7, 2006 1:30 pm PT

    the gizmondo was dead the day it decided to try to take on nintendo and sony, if you didn't see this coming you're just blind

  • frankeyser

    Posted Feb 7, 2006 1:28 pm PT

    i still am looking for one for my gaming device collection if any one has one for sale email me please.

  • silverfoxfoxfox

    Posted Feb 7, 2006 1:14 pm PT

    gizmondo was way cooler than ds and psp that sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!! im gonna keep mine forever

  • auron247

    Posted Feb 7, 2006 1:14 pm PT

    And no one ever saw this comin...

  • sword_of_swords

    Posted Feb 7, 2006 1:11 pm PT

    What's a Gizmondo?

  • jsmoke03

    Posted Feb 7, 2006 1:11 pm PT

    pretty sad really...it came and went and it was like it didn't even exist. Gs didn't even have a page dedicated to it.

  • brotherscampos

    Posted Feb 7, 2006 1:08 pm PT

    Still exist people who can't live in peace with all.

  • -BC-Soldier91

    Posted Feb 7, 2006 1:01 pm PT

    Ah well, its not like it could have beat Sony and Nintendo. If Gizmondo concentrated on games it'd have taken off. But even the ads and stuff it had were stupid. It really never had a chance...

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