SNK Playmore forms Entertainment arm to revive old IP

SNK Playmore, the parent of the original maker of the Neo Geo console family, is looking to make a comeback.

SNK launched the first Neo Geo in 1990, with the Neo Geo Pocket Color handheld marking its last hardware release in 1999 before the company closed two years later.

All of the developer’s IP was acquired by Playmore, a new company formed by SNK founder Eikichi Kawasaki, in 2001, becoming SNK Playmore in 2003.

Since that time, SNK Playmore has focused on development, moving to mobile platforms in 2009. It released the Neo Geo X throwback console in 2012.

Last year, the outlet was purchased in a joint buyout by a group of Chinese investors under the umbrella Ledo Millenium group.

Now, the firm has announced the creation of a new subsidiary, SNK Entertainment, dedicated to utilising SNK’s healthy library of licences.

Among the 200-plus franchises held by the company are classic series such as King of Fighters, Metal Slug, Fatal Fury and Samurai Shodown.

"SNK Entertainment has been formed to bring back many of our once dormant IPs and serve as a starting point for the development of new SNK digital content, collaborations, license business, merchandise etcetera, as well as the creation of a wide variety of content both reinforcing and bringing the SNK brand back to the forefront going forward," the company explained in a press release.