Giga, the adult-oriented sub-brand of Entergram (itself a subsidiary of TGL Inc.) announced on November 22nd that the studio will be shutting down as of March 31st, 2023 and taking decades of visual novel and action-oriented mecha titles off of the market. The team’s Google translated statement follows:
Dear customers, Thank you very much for your patronage of “Giga” brand products. As of March 31, 2023 (Friday), product development and sales of the “Giga” brand will be discontinued. We sincerely apologize for the sudden notice to our customers. In addition, regarding the support work for each game software, the service will be terminated on the same day.
Released in 1993, “VG We would like to express our sincere gratitude for the support and patronage of many customers over the long 30 years since ~Variable Geo~. ★Future schedule is as follows.PC title release
[Scheduled to be released on Friday, December 23, 2022]・ JINKI -Unlimited-
・ Girls Frantic Clan
Resale of archived products
[Reservation acceptance period] November 25, 2022 (Friday) to 2023Scheduled for early February, it will be sold to order, so please make a reservation as soon as possible. Archive product:
・BALDR MASTERPIECE CHRONICLE
・Caricature Royal Sweet Collection
・Ikiss 123 pack + Nanase After (*) (*)
Nanase After will be available for individual download pre-sale from Friday, January 27, 2023
[Delivery of games start]
March 24, 2023 (Friday)・It will be received at the store where you made the reservation or will be delivered sequentially.
Giga Memorial Event Information
We are planning to publish an event page that will decorate the end of the Giga brand. As soon as the details are decided, we will inform you on the official giga website.Sales of “Giga” brand products will end March 31, 2023 (Friday)
All the caricature staff – November 22, 2022 (Tuesday)
*All packaged products and downloadable products will also end on the same day. For customers who want to keep it at the end, we would appreciate it if you could purchase it before the sales end date. Although there is only a short time left until the end of sales, we would appreciate your patronage of our products.
For Western audiences, Giga’s titles have been few and far between with 2019’s Baldr Sky being the most recent and readily available on Steam and GOG.com. Many others are available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Vita in Japan as well as on PC from Giga and various Japan-focused digital stores. As most of Giga’s releases on consoles are handled by parent brand Entergram, and the Western releases by Sekai Project, it’s uncertain if they’re also at risk of being delisted or if we’re just talking about the racier PC stuff sold by Giga themselves.
On top of this uncertainty, I am extremely out of my depth in regards to visual novels so I’ll leave it with a few links. Baldr Sky is currently available on Steam and on a 50% off sale at GOG.com. It hasn’t been confirmed but these versions are expected to be delisted on or shortly after the March 2023 deadline. You can browse all of Giga’s releases on their site and get more links to digital and physical purchases through their page at the Visual Novel Database.
Thanks to Auster for submitting the news. I’ve added the major March 31st date to the Watch List calendar for now.