Yahoo Japan announced that Japanese studio AlphaDream filed for bankruptcy on October 1, 2019. AlphaDream was founded in 2000 by Super Mario RPG's Director Chihiro Fujioka. The studio was a second-party developer for Nintendo and handled the Mario RPG games like the Mario & Luigi series. Their most recent venture includes the 3DS remake of Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story.

According to Yahoo Japan, AlphaDream had a constant annual revenue of about 300 million Yen until the end of the 2013 Japanese fiscal year in March 2014. However, starting that point, the company struggled with game development costs becoming higher and revenue getting lower, ultimately leading to their demise. At the end of the 2017 Japanese fiscal year in March 2018, AlphaDream had a debt of over 465 million Yen.

AlphaDream was also known for its pretty cool Hamtaro games. I remember particularly liking the ones on GBA like Tottoko Hamtaro 4, which released as Hamtaro Rainbow Rescue in the west.

Hopefully, AlphaDream's talented employees will be back on some other cool game ventures. I hope they'll be able to get past that hurdle and wish them the best.