Following Ghostbusters release, FireForge Games files for bankruptcy

Developer FireForge Games filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy just three days after launching their Ghostbusters game, Kotaku reports. The company has also been involved in at least two lawsuits before its closing.

FireForge, which owes a debt of at least $12 million, has since ceased operations and is now undergoing liquidation of its assets. Its website currently redirects to a 403 page, indicating a denial of access.

The Ghostbusters game, which was much more poorly received than the film it released alongside, was only in development for eight months, according to a Kotaku source who worked on the game.

FireForge began and halted production on at least two MOBA-like projects since its founding in 2011. One, code-named Zeus, was to be published by the PC hardware company Razer, and another, code-named Atlas, was funded by Tencent, the Chinese distributor for League of Legends.

According to filings obtained by Kotaku, Fireforge owes Tencent approximately $11.3 million.

Development on Zeus led to a lawsuit from the Singapore-based Min Productions, owned by Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan. Tan alleges that money distributed to FireForge for development of Zeus was used instead for the Tencent production Atlas. According to FireForge, production on Atlas began only after they were no longer being paid for Zeus. That lawsuit is on hold pending FireForge’s bankruptcy.

The developer was also sued in 2015 by Richard Land, who was responsible for selling off the games and IP of Curt Schilling’s 38 Studios following their own bankruptcy in 2012. Land accused FireForge of violating a signed $3.7 million deal to license Helios, 38 Studios’ proprietary social media platform, instead attempting to build their own version with ex-38 Studios employees.