On Feb 25, 2026, Nacon told the market it had filed for insolvency and asked the Commercial Court of Lille Métropole to open judicial reorganisation proceedings, a redressement judiciaire in French. The court opened them on Mar 2. This article explains the procedure and follows Nacon through it, using only what the company’s releases and the official guides say. The case is not finished. The latest release cited here is from Sep 22, 2026.
A redressement judiciaire is for a company that has stopped paying. The European e-Justice Portal says it opens when the debtor cannot meet its current liabilities, while a safeguard procedure opens for a debtor facing difficulties it cannot overcome. French law calls the point cessation des paiements, and the official Service-Public guide says the head of the company must apply within 45 days of it. A creditor or the public prosecutor can also ask for the procedure.
Nacon’s route began with its majority shareholder. On Feb 17 the company said that Bigben Interactive, which held 56.72 percent of its capital and 65.79 percent of its voting rights, could not make a €43 million partial repayment to its bondholders that was due on Feb 19. Nacon said it was studying the consequences. Its release of Feb 25 said its available assets did not allow it to meet its due liabilities, that it was filing the insolvency declaration that day, and that the suspension of trading in its shares, announced on Feb 20, stayed in force until the court ruled.
After a hearing on Mar 2, the court opened the proceedings. Its Mar 3 release names two judicial administrators, SELARL FHBX with Maître Hélène Bourbouloux and SELARL BMA with Maître Laurent Miquel, appointed with an assistance mandate. Nacon said operations would continue and that it had asked Euronext to resume trading in its shares on Mar 4.
The opening judgment has set effects. The Service-Public guide says the company may no longer pay debts that arose before it, creditors’ individual actions are suspended, and interest generally stops running except on loans of a year or more. Creditors declare their claims to a judicial representative within two months of publication of the judgment in the BODACC. The head of the company stays in office. The administrator assists or takes over management, depending on the mission the court sets, and the court must appoint one above 20 employees and €3 million of turnover.
The period that follows is for taking stock and drafting a plan. The guide gives it six months, renewable once for six more at the request of the administrator, the company or the prosecutor. The prosecutor may ask for a second renewal, so the period can reach 18 months. Nacon’s May 27 release says a judgment of Apr 29 extended its period to Sep 2, 2026. Its Sep 22 release says a judgment of Jul 1 extended it to Mar 2, 2027. The group’s studios are separate legal entities with proceedings of their own. On Mar 23 Nacon said that Spiders, Kylotonn, Cyanide and Nacon Tech had filed for insolvency. The May 27 release says Cyanide and Kylotonn have been in proceedings since Mar 30, with their periods extended to Sep 30, 2026, and that Midgar Studio filed on May 26.
The plan is the way out. A continuation plan runs for up to 10 years and may end or sell activities, the guide says, and if recovery is impossible the court orders liquidation instead. Larger companies consult their creditors in classes of affected parties, which replaced the older creditor committees. Nacon’s Sep 22 release says creditors and shareholders will vote in classes before the court rules on the plan, which the company expects in the fourth quarter of 2026.
The release also gives the terms Nacon was contemplating, while the plan was still being prepared. They include €31 million of new money from a capital increase with preferential subscription rights, backstopped up to €23.5 million by initial underwriters. Intercompany receivables of €19.5 million held by Bigben and its subsidiaries would be converted into shares, and €20.1 million held by Nacon’s subsidiaries would be written off. Bank and unsecured claims of €101 million would get a choice. Creditors could take 30 percent in full and final settlement, or accept a 50 percent write-off and be paid the other 50 percent over eight years. The long option is open only to unsecured claims, and the short one is mandatory for loans that Bigben Interactive guaranteed. Nacon says that, if these terms enter the plan, existing shareholders face substantial dilution. Its business plan assumes the discontinuation of the Spiders, Midgar and Nacon Tech studios in 2026 and headcount reductions at Kylotonn, Cyanide and Nacon itself. Bigben Interactive is in a separate procedure. A judgment of Aug 17 opened accelerated safeguard proceedings for it, and the restructuring depends on Nacon’s plan being adopted.
Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code is the nearest American process. The two compare on five points.
The first is the way in. A US debtor files a voluntary petition, and the section on voluntary cases sets no insolvency test. France asks for cessation des paiements and sets the 45-day duty. The second is control. The US Courts say the debtor keeps its assets as a debtor in possession and a trustee is appointed in only a small number of cases. In France management stays too, but a court-appointed administrator assists or takes over. The third is the pause. Both stop collection. Chapter 11’s automatic stay begins when the case is filed, and the French freeze begins with the opening judgment.
The fourth is the clock. Chapter 11 gives the debtor the sole right to file a plan for 120 days, extendable to a limit of 18 months. The window for winning acceptance of the plan is 180 days, extendable to 20 months. France instead sets a limit on the observation period itself, which is up to 18 months in all. The fifth is the vote. In Chapter 11 a class accepts a plan when creditors holding at least two-thirds in amount and more than half in number of the claims that vote accept it, under section 1126(c). French plans also go to classes. Nacon’s releases do not state the French majorities, so this article does not either.
To follow a case like this, read each release for its date, the judgment it relies on and the legal entity it concerns. A release about a studio is not a release about the parent. The next steps Nacon names are the vote in classes, the court’s ruling on the plan and the end of the observation period on Mar 2, 2027.