Data East goes bankrupt

According to Softbank Games, Data East Corporation has been declared bankrupt by the district court of Tokyo. The declaration was made on June 25 and revealed to the public today. Data East has been in financial trouble since 1999, when the company requested a settlement in the district court in order to reorganize its finances because of a 3.3 billion yen ($28 million) debt.

Data East was founded on April 20, 1976. The company is well known as a software publisher and an electronics manufacturer. It has released a variety of arcade machines, including one of the first cartridge-based arcade game systems, the Deco Cassette System, which made its debut in 1980. On the software side, Data East is known for a number of famous games such as Bad Dudes, Karnov, the Metal Max series, and the Fighter's History series. Its last known new release was Side Pocket for the WonderSwan in November 1999.