Hirameki International, a US based company that brought over some memorable visual novels to English audiences (Ever17, Hourglass of Summer, and Phantom of Inferno to name a few), has announced their decision to bow out of game publishing on January 2, 2008.

It’s sad to see them go because this really puts a damper on the hope of games like Kanon, Clannad, Higurashi, Fate/Stay Night, etc. getting licensed and translated for a US release. Hirameki’s departure from the scene has only proven that there is no market for reading-oriented games in a country that doesn’t want to read. The funny thing is that the visual novel anime adaptations tend to do really well in North America, but the market for their source material is almost non-existant. What a pity.

Hirameki will be missed, even if their translations were spottier than a Leopard at times. If you’ve ever considered picking up one of their titles, then now would be the time. The games are now officially out-of-print.

P.S. Excuse the somewhat unrelated Rena UBW picture. I couldn’t find anything remotely suitable for the post, so I randomly chose this. It might be suitable in the fact that Hirameki is dead and well… You know what Rena does best.