10tacle Studios AG announced that they have filed for bankruptcy on Aug. 6th. This puts a big question mark on the fate awaiting their internal studios and the games they are working on. It seems Stormregion (Panzers series) has been closed months ago, according to Wikipedia, as well as 10tacle Bratislava. Their game, Elveon, has been moved to the british developer Climax. It´s unclear what happens to MMO studio Reakktor (Neocron, working on Black Prophecy), Blimey Games (GTR series) and Elsewhere Entertainment (the successor to Outcast developer Appeal).

Today 10Tacle Studios published a PR disclosing they are in financial difficulties, and are restructuring to address the issues. Here are a couple of excerpts, taken out of context and with the key points underlined:

At present, 10TACLE STUDIOS AG has overdue claims against at least three different fund investors, totaling € 13.4 million. The company's management is proceeding on the assumption that the settlement of a large portion of these claims with its debtors will be feasible over the next 14 days. [..]
However, falling short of the forecast published for the 2007 fiscal year can no longer be excluded. In its interim report of November 19, 2007, 10TACLE STUDIOS AG had already indicated that substantial delays have been incurred in the production of ELVEON and TOTEMS.

As the development of the console games ELVEON and TOTEMS has resulted in additional costs – as will be shown in the individual financial statements of the relevant subsidiaries –, a negative impact on the Group results must be assumed. [...]It should be noted that the delay in the above productions has in no way impacted on the – initially projected – intrinsic value of these products. This is confirmed by the fact that well known publishers have made offers for the global marketing of the game ELVEON in particular.

As a result of the effects described above, the 10TACLE Group experienced a strained liquidity situation. [...]However, this threat has been averted thanks to the funding package agreed with the private investor Bertram Rickmers. [...]
Moreover, a comprehensive restructuring of the 10TACLE Group has been agreed upon in order to optimize the company's organization, making it more transparent for market participants. At the heart of this re-alignment is the consistent positioning of 10TACLE STUDIOS AG as a development and production company. In the future, the classic tasks of marketing and sales will be performed almost exclusively by publishing partners. [...]
Cost savings have already been realized or initiated in the following areas:

Overall, 25% of the Group's staff who are not directly involved in the product development (marketing, overheads, etc) will be made redundant. The company has been trying – and will continue to do so – to transfer these staff members into new positions with companies in related industries.
Furthermore, the company has decided to close its Bratislava site, which has been responsible for the ELVEON production up till now. The tasks for the finalization of production have already been assigned to other locations and the cooperation partner Climaxgroup in Southampton, England. The restructuring process will continue in full swing; the new cost and efficiency-optimized structure should be ready by no later than the summer of 2008.