📢 [03/19] An update from Nick Williams, CEO of Native Instruments
Uh oh… 😐
According to an article by Create Digital Music (CDM), Native Instruments is currently undergoing preliminary insolvency proceedings:
To access and read insolvency documents:
*Native Instruments*
💡 What this means
❌ What this doesn't mean
(Snippets taken from Production Expert)
Articles / Timeline of events
Date
News
12-04-2025
The European Commission clears acquisition of Native Instruments Group by Bridgepoint and Bain Capital Credit(Unconfirmed: Deal apparently fell through and the insolvency is the result of that.)
01-27-2026
Native Instruments GmbH is in preliminary insolvency | CDM
01-28-2026
Plugin Alliance says it is "business as usual" | CDM
01-29-2026
Statement from Nick Williams, CEO of Native Instruments
(Also available on ni-japan.jp)
03-19-2026
An update from Nick Williams, CEO of Native Instruments
I will continuously update this post as we learn more.
As per Jeremy_NI's post:
Any further updates will be shared through our official channels when appropriate.
I'm no expert, but I think in the first few days, companies are legally advised say little to nothing? How could anyone make a statement about what to expect if the situation is ongoing?
If I were an NI employee, I for sure would not want my name attached to any promises… If a staff member says a peep, it will end up in every music news outlet, YouTube video, etc… Staff are probably fearing for their Job atm and trying their best to keep working normally.
When some communication comes, probably in the form of "restructuring", "focusing on the future", "servers will be kept online" or whatever, I doubt the panic response will change much.
Long story short : There are yet no official statements formulated for anyone to give/make/tell.
.
HEY NATIVE INSTRUMENTS GET A BACKBONE AND START ANSWERING QUESTIONS!
Yeah I have been through something like this in a front facing role although it was a merger not preliminary insolvency. Instructions from the board was to try and keep the social media presence/communication to customers to the absolute minimum. Everyone was warned to say as little as possible so that there was no chance of being misconstrued and held against us later ( a lot of this was fear of accusation of insider trading which isn't applicable here). We were told to say everything was business as usual and refer any questions to the PR department who liaised with legal counsel.
We aren't going to hear anything for a while so people shouldn't freak out at the silence, its exactly what they are supposed to do until they can work out what the scenario is going forward. We will get news when they are ready.
And possibly imprisoned. You're right.
Oh, interesting. My girl went thru insolvency on a gigantic company and was asked to not talk to any reporters, (reporters did try tho!) if she did socials, forum or anything that requires talking to customers I'm sure they would also ask to not comment with customers. Yeah, it's just common sense which by the looks of it, it's not so common… 🤣
Hi again, folks!
I'm not worried about panic. Except after a murder on the dance floor. (see what I did there? 🤣)
Of course we're all concerned. Who wouldn't be, especially if you're one of those (like me) who have spent beaucoup amounts of personal income over all these years since buying Komplete 2 on CD with its wagon-train of 11 plugins back in 2004? And then upgrading by buying the Komplete 3 "card" (what was that thing called again?)
So I get it, some of us have 22+ years involved with this company. We've been through the bad times and we've been through the "radio silence" days. We've watched as B4-II and later Kore-2 were eliminated. We've found software from new makers when that software was included in the overall Komplete bundle. Some of us have as many as 3 or 4 different varieties of the Maschine controller, and 2 versions of the Komplete Kontrol keyboard controller.
We put up with what we in the west see as a silly way to spell everything with a hard-K. And we didn't even make memes of it, man we were way too kind!
Oh…by the way, I appreciate the memes a couple of you came up with based on my phrase "fine line between panic and not panic"…that was funny so thanks for the laughs! That sentiment came from my own experiences as a manager stuck in the position of having to explain to my employees the meaning of this or that new idiotic initiative being handed down from senior leadership. Not just having to explain the insanity, but having to do it without causing panic…AND not creating a false sense of complacency, either.
I'm glad I don't have to tread THAT line anymore, hah!
We watched as NI came out with some great stuff, some good stuff, and some "WTF" stuff. Usually the latter being accompanied by a notice that something old like Rig Kontrol (there's that hard-K again!) going away.
But having said all of that, I actually don't think this forum is in a full-on "panic". In fact, I think we're being VERY calm and reserved while we await some official word from the company or the insolvency management people.
VP puts it best. We need to keep calm and keep on keeping on. And for the most part, we're doing that in a good way anyhow. It's the only way, really. And even if we could foretell the future to the point that we knew everything was about to crash down on our heads at any moment, there isn't a single one of us who could do anything to prevent it…unless we were to just uninstall all NI instruments and sounds and be done with Native Instruments. And I'm pretty sure Absynth 6 alone is enough to make most of us decide to keep NI on our hard drives for now. And there's a lot more than just Absynth 6.
Or to put it another way, "we're here, we're justified, and we're ancient." 😏
…..and we drive an ice cream van?
That's right! And life was great when we heard the great Tammy Wynette sing that song along with us!
Seriously, she appeared on a 12" dance single of that track! Or maybe it was on CD single by then. I'm sure I have it on my iPhone!
I know but what a mess ! Where is the captain of the titanic, even if it he's under surveillance, they shoul make an official statement? N.I has become a giant with feet of clay, the internet is merciless unfortunately, but it's the same game for everyone... There is an emergency need to save their brand image now. The first effect of all this will be that manynew or old customers stop to buy the N.I products. We'll see indeed before the end of weekend if there somme good or bad news. Cheers.
But you haven't paid attention ANYTHING about the rules for this insolvency action. You won't even bother to read the posts of some people here in this thread.
Because of that, you're causing yourself to panic. People have been trying to tell you that the company might no longer be legally permitted to make an announcement, and that it can only be done by the insolvency management people.
You. Should. Calm. Yourself.
It could be days or weeks before we hear anything.
Make a meme of somebody panicking. Put on looser underpants. Take a nap!
Go ahead, it will slow down your heart rate and bring down your blood pressure, I promise! 😁
Thank you BIF for your answer but I don't have to take a moral lesson from you or the feeling of "be cool man" bullshit.. "On a pas élevé les cochons ensemble !!" (translate the french). I am just delivering an opinion, I'm free. Peace and basta man.
And you're rigth Kore 2 death was the big marketing mistake of N.I..
Keep all your old computers MAC and PC with plugins installed safe in your studio, the N.I software is vintage just now, and hardware (KK 1,2, Maschine etc. ) just obsolete. I'ts not problem, it's a cycle. Sweet dreams.
Very very sad news: https://www.digitaldjtips.com/native-instruments-traktor-insolvency/ I hope they can sort this out somehow.
Guess we'll never get that Battery 4 update now! Sad news, very unexpected given people hand over wads of cash every single day to buy NI software products.
