A public notice this week confirms that Heighway Pinball’s assets are headed toward liquidation, following a number of reports that the U.K.-based pin maker had shut its doors.
Heighway was established in 2012, but reportedly saw significant and consistent service, sales and delivery delays throughout its short lifespan. By 2015, they’d released the racing themed Full Throttle pin, which included some revolutionary designs never before seen in the pin world, including a specialty LED screen and animations on the playfield. Despite having a stellar license, the company’s second pin, Aliens, began shipping in 2017 to a small group, with many customers complaining that their shipments were delayed.
According to Adam Pratt’s Arcade Heroes and Pinball News, the company’s staff was let go last week and the factory doors have been closed. Andrew Heighway, the company’s founder, left the business last year in June after handing it off to new investors, departing with a promise to “rebuild trust and reliability.”
Since the hand off, games continued to trickle out of the U.K. factory. There has been no word as to whether the company’s designs for future products, acquired licenses and other assets will be incorporated into a new company, or whether those valuable assets will now fall by the wayside.
Pinball News published a full response from the company’s former founder, which can be found in part below:
“I am truly sorry to hear about the turn of events announced today. In June 2017, I sold my controlling stake in Heighway Pinball Limited – including its commitments and liabilities – to a group of investors who claimed to want to put significant funds into the company, achieve mass production and deliver part-paid and fully-paid games to customers, as well as new machine sales,” Andrew Heighway said.
“Throughout the five years that I ran the company, we developed and sold games up until the time of my departure,” Heighway continued. “This was never a ponzi scheme, as some have suggested. A mix of technical problems, supplier quality problems and unrealistic time frames resulted in delays that financially crippled the company. We were all committed to delivering games to all paying customers. I personally apologize for the unrealistic time frames.”