Examples of Damage Control in Gaming: A Story Still Unsung
When we last left Unsung Story: Tale of the Guardians, developer Playdek was finally gearing up to show what they’d been working on since the Kickstarter campaign concluded in February 2014. That this moment arrived almost precisely one year since its conclusion understandably miffed some backers, as companies making a game with crowdfunded money are obligated to keep them informed of their every move. Yet months of harrowing silence passed from the development team, leaving everyone panicking as to whether they’d wasted their money. They thankfully came through with an update detailing precisely what they were making, introducing one of the central Akihiko Yoshida-designed characters in the process.
It appeared the project would progress fine from there. But you couldn’t be reading this text without seeing the title, so you know where this is going.
March’s update was the last significant one for a good while, far too long for a game supposedly deep in development. It was enough for backers to wonder what they were using the $300,000+ cash they received from the Kickstarter for. They finally delivered a new update after much pressure, but to say backers were extremely disappointed with its content would be a massive understatement.
They clarified how the project isn’t coming along as smoothly as expected, with Playdek shedding staff recently due to financial issues. They also attempted to secure more funds by searching for a publisher, but couldn’t find anyone suitable to bite. But backers were assured it was still coming along, though it will take longer than initially expected. This sounded fine on the surface, especially considering how many crowdfunded video game projects meet their target date (hint: Almost none of them do).
That was far from the worst of it. Instead of placing all the focus on the story-driven quest people backed the project for, a Player vs. Player (PvP) portion of Unsung Story is taking priority, with beta invites being issued soon. While the promised single-player quest is still coming, it won’t release until sometime after October 2016. (That means you shouldn’t realistically expect it until early 2017.) It didn’t take long for backers to furiously run to the comments and voice their disinterest in a PvP game, and would rather have a refund. Again, you can’t blame them.
Focusing on PvP is a disingenuous move, since the Kickstarter page doesn’t contain a single mention of it or any multiplayer. Furthermore, PvP is only discussed later in the pitch video (around six minutes in), in a vague enough fashion implying its minimal importance compared to the game they promised to create. When people pledged their cash to help make this project happen, they wanted a strategy/RPG reminiscent of Yasumi Matsuno-directed titles like Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together. Now Playdek is taking these people for a ride, and they either want the project to go back down the initially promised road, or want out with their money.
Despite a subsequent damage-controlling update assuring backers the PvP mode wouldn’t distract the development team from working on the single-player campaign, fans haven’t backed down from voicing their disappointment and wishing they never pledged. Besides, if Playdek really had to shed staff, there’s no way working on a separate mode isn’t taking resources away from the campaign. Making PvP content requires slightly fewer resources than working on a single-player, which involves writing the story, dialogue, creating multiple fields, and careful AI programming. They want to release something in a quicker fashion in order to raise the necessary funds to continue developing the original project, perhaps also through Steam Early Access, but that won’t let them off the hook.
This entire fiasco makes me wonder whether Playdek ever had the talent to create a single-player strategy RPG. Their previous works involved adaptations of board and card games for mobile platforms, but Unsung Story was a far larger undertaking comparatively. While Matsuno provided story, character, and gameplay ideas, they needed their own staff to implement them, tasks requiring far more resources than what they were previously adjusted to. Perhaps they bit off more than they could chew, but it’s far too late for apologies when people are out of the money they pledged.
It’s tragic that Playdek has nothing worthwhile to show around 19 months after the campaign’s conclusion, outside the very, very early prototype pictures posted back in March. That they’re incapable of giving a straight answer concerning what they’ve been working on after so long is incredibly problematic, especially considering the game was originally intended to release two months ago. If you backed this expecting a quality strategy RPG, you have my sympathy. Try as I might, I’m not seeing a positive outcome from this.
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Geoff
News Editor | Geoff is some nerd who writes for a blog and thinks he's knowledgeable. He write a lot about video games, but is capable of writing about other subjects, too. Twitter
