Square Enix shutting down cloud gaming business Shinra Technologies

Publisher Square Enix is shutting down its cloud gaming business, Shinra Technologies, according to an announcement from the company. The dissolution and liquidation of Shinra Technologies will also result in an "extraordinary loss" for Square Enix of approximately 2 billion yen (about $16.8 million).

In a press release (PDF), Square Enix explained the dissolution of Shinra Technologies:

STI, as a cloud platform operator, has been trying to raise funds necessary for further business operations from third party investors. However, STI has found no prospective investors at this point, and therefore has to discontinue its business.

Shinra Technologies was founded in 2014 and led by former Square Enix president Yoichi Wada. Square Enix announced the cloud gaming platform at Tokyo Game Show 2014, calling it a "new ecosystem for the games industry" and a new way to deliver AAA games via streaming cloud-based architecture. Shinra had offices in Montreal, New York City and Tokyo.

The cloud-based gaming company was working with three Western studios — Blacklight Retribution developer Hardsuit Labs, Republique developer Camouflaj and former Prey 2 developer Human Head — as part of Shinra's Prototype Accelerator Program. Shinra rolled out a technical beta in Kansas City and Texas last year.

For more on Shinra Technologies, read Polygon's feature interview with Yoichi Wada.