Unsung Story is a Warning to Kickstarter Backers

Kickstarter has a history of providing gamers with some of the best RPG experiences we’ve had in recent years. There’s been Wasteland 2, Divinity: Original Sin, The Banner Saga, Shadowrun Returns and Pillars of Eternity—and the trend is set to continue with games like Torment: Tides of Numenera, Bard’s Tale IV, and Divinity: Original Sin 2. 

That said, Kickstarter projects don’t always work out, as seen with the likes of Double Fine’s Broken Age—a title which, while good, seemed a little short in comparison to the old LucasArts adventure games from its creator, Tim Schafer. Releasing the game's two chapters over such a long period of time didn't go well with its backers, either. Others, like Mighty No. 9, have proven completely disappointing. 

When they tank, they tank really hard. 

Enter Unsung Story. The game was touted as a tactical RPG and spiritual successor to Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre from Yasumi Matsuno, the director of both those games. It had a good pitch, and many people were sold by its promises. Though I didn’t back it, I wrote about it. 

To be developed by a little known company called Playdek, the Kickstarter made a little over $660,000 from over 15,000 backers. The game was supposed to be out by July 2015.

A whole year into development, the game’s developers showed very little apparent progress, with no footage or gameplay—or even updates. This worried backers, and requests from the press for updates about the game were met either with stony silence or noncommittal replies about how the game was still in development with updates on the way. 

Delays are common in video game development, but the way the studio kept the game’s backers in the dark is unacceptable.

That the game remained in development probably isn’t up for debate, but what was happening behind the scenes should leave anyone who backed the game angry and demanding a refund, if they haven’t already discovered what was going on by now. 

A new article by Kotaku’s Jason Schreier chronicles the latest crowdfunded disaster, with details revealing that Playdek went through some “unfortunate financial circumstances”, forcing layoffs over the year. The company’s CEO Joel Goodman informed backers that the game would be delayed to 2016, and worse yet, its developers seemed to have shifted the focus of the game’s development from being a narrative-driven experience into an online multiplayer PvP (player-versus-player) game. 

It’s doubtful that most of the game’s current backers would have given the Kickstarter campaign a second thought if they had known they were getting something else than what they paid for. 

In fact, most of them are pretty upset about it. 

The developers are adamant that they are still developing the game’s single-player campaign and are simply using the PvP mode to balance and playtest the combat. The decision is a questionable one, to say the least. 

Judging from what’s happening with the Kickstarter, the game that-could-have-been will likely remain an unsung story, and will instead be spoken of only in the harshest of terms. 

With that being said, it’s obvious now that games developed on Kickstarter won’t always turn out the way that the developers promised. Far from it, some projects will outright fail to deliver to backer expectations or even turn out to be complete scams. 

Gamers intending to support games developed through Kickstarter should take heed and scrutinize the projects they choose to back. Even titles with seemingly prestigious developers can turn out bad. 

As for me, I’ll be sticking to the studios with good track records—like the guys making those RPGs I mentioned at the start of this article.