Project Phoenix - Kickstarter in Trouble

Couchpotato

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I used to cover a JRPG kickstarter called Project Phoenix the was funded two years. It seems the project is now facing a backer revolt due to long delays.

Link - http://cliqist.com/2015/08/21/project-phoenix-is-in-the-midst-of-a-backer-revolt/
Project Phoenix from Japan based indie devs CIA was one of the biggest Kickstarter video game campaigns to date when it collected over $1 million dollars back in the summer of 2013. The developers had nothing to show in exchange for the asking price, but given that it was 2013 the potential of a team of AAA talent putting together a squad based RPG was enough to get it dramatically overfunded. For the last two years the developers have provided a ton of updates, shown off some lovely artwork, produced a vertical slice of the game, and pushed the release date back a year to 2016. However, backers have started getting nervous in recent months over a lapse in the usually consistent updates and an apparent lack of progress.
 
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I backed this one. I don't mind delays, I'm used to it, I just hope it eventually comes out (I think it would be the first of many many KS projects I've backed that doesn't deliver something).
 
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Well both this game and Unsung Story: Tale of the Guardians have me worried. Still I also don't mind delays, but I'm worried about the developers progress so far.:-/
 
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A few days ago there was an update on this... Scam?
https://www.kickstarter.com/project...apans-indie-rpg-feat-aaa-talent/posts/1842360

We expect to make our backers happy will require higher quality assets and more programmers. To this end we stopped investing the returns from our music business into art assets and instead drove them into a different smaller production, with further assistance from private investors. Should this tiny product succeed those private investors have promised to invest significant capital into Project Phoenix. In this way we have been able to expand our in-house development staff and work towards a bright future for Project Phoenix. Instead of financing salaries and running costs out of Project Phoenix we have been building a team out of the budget of this tiny project. Work has continued on Project Phoenix, but only things for which budget existed. If you have been wondering why the past few months have had lots of story updates, that is the reason why. We are very excited for this tiny project which will be announced in May. It is fun to play and we are proud of that.

Should it hit the success we are hoping for it will set our team in a position to deliver Project Phoenix anything we had hoped for. This is not a plea to support that project, please consider it but understand it is not Project Phoenix.
 
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I don't think scam rather gross incompetence and paying themselves too much. They got over 10 times what they asked for on kickstarter and now say it is too little and it's 'not their fault'. And yes I did back it, more fool me, although it did like viable when originally pitched
 
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This is an unfortunate timing for this news bit - this project sounds similar to the new FIG project Phoenix Point (PP) (not saying that it will have any significant effect but there might be confusion)!
 
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I backed this as well, and from what I've seen this whole project has been riddled with lofty expectations and total mismanagement. I'll be amazed beyond words if they ever actually deliver a product.
 
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The name sounds similar to Project Phoenix (fig) but the teams presentation are total opposite. I skipped this on kickstarter because the presentation was smoke and mirror. I did something great in the past trust me and I'll do it again - just don't know what it will be yet. On fig the guy has presented exactly what they are doing. They are much further along in production and have a real and well laid out objective.
 
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I don't remember it's KS at all. But I didn't back it in the first place which means it had something in presentation I refuse to support (multiplayer, microtransactions, DLC, phonedesigns, roguelike/grind, nostory).
 
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It boggles my mind how a Kickstarter project with that kind of presentation managed to rake in more than $1,000,000. Nowadays they'd be lucky to get over $50k.
 
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Allow me a small digression. You had me a bit confused here - I was a bit puzzled by Project Phoenix receiving harsh critics here, while in the News section, the game got much more positive attention, along with an interview with the developer.

Ohhh….

That was Phoenix Point, apparently something completely different.

pibbur who bangs his head against a relatively soft surface.
 
Good thing it was a pillow... be careful about having the head come in contact with hard objects repeatedly; esp if force is applied.

Allow me a small digression. You had me a bit confused here - I was a bit puzzled by Project Phoenix receiving harsh critics here, while in the News section, the game got much more positive attention, along with an interview with the developer.

Ohhh….

That was Phoenix Point, apparently something completely different.

pibbur who bangs his head against a relatively soft surface.
 
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How could of people backed this with so little actual pre-production - basically nothing. The Kickstarter video had almost no content.

edit: I just checked the latest update video and to be honest that is the kind of content that should of been in the original pitch video. In 4 years it looks like they have something that could of been produced in 6 months by a small team.
 
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I guess they managed to convince backers that they knew what they were doing because they supposedly had some people on the team who had experience making AAA games. Because the guy who directed Diablo 3 must know how to make a good game, right? ;)

Anyway, the pitch of this one didn't appeal to me at all. IIRC they were pitching some sort of RTS combat where you don't even control the individual unit directly (just set general modes like aggressive vs. defensive and watch the combat play itself).... Combine that with cutesy chibi? character models... Which is really the only thing that makes it an JRPG as far as I can tell. And the main character's name is going to be... Ruffles.

I feel bad for the backers and yet not sure why anyone thought this would result in a decent RPG.
 
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