When Unsung Story first appeared on Kickstarter way back in 2014 it got many people very excited because Yasumi Matsuno, the director behind the excellent Final Fantasy Tactics, was finally given a chance to create the sequel/spin-off he always wanted but never could.
Unfortunately it would appear that Unsung Story might remain unsung as Kickstarter backers have recently received an ominous email telling them that the game is being put on hold, possibly forever. Here's the full message:
"Dear Unsung Backers,
There has been another delay in reporting to you since our last development update, and we apologize for that. Our continued intention is to make a great game, and get Unsung Story to development completion and released to you and the gaming public. During the last few months we have had some development setbacks that are affecting our timeline and progress on the game, while also affecting what we need to do in the immediate future as a company.
After we posted our latest development progress, we unfortunately lost a few key staff members that were part of Unsung Story development, and that has had an impact on any progress since then, as well as our product focus. We now have one internal team capable of working on a single project, and for the financial strength of the company we need to focus on a few products in the near term that have the ability to get to a retail release before Unsung Story is able to. While this is a difficult choice to make, it is one we need to do for the ongoing financial health of the company. For Unsung Story, we will explore options for outside development help, and will look to see if we are able to bring on an outside team that can assist us in furthering development. While we aren’t assured this will come to fruition, we do want to make sure that we are exploring any options at hand that can make progress on the game.
While the development goals that were spelled out in the previous update remain intact for now, the release window of those goals is affected, and at this time we do not have an update as to what the new release window for development rollout will be. This will be affected by the ability and timing of any outside support, as well as when the single internal team is able to get back onto Unsung development, and when we do know, we will update you all. As we pursue this direction, we will refine the release timeline as soon as we are able to. With the loss of that staff, and without having any new progress to share since the last update, we felt we needed to sort through what options and directions we had available before we updated you on the current status, but again do apologize for the lack of recent updates. We will get back to you as soon as we can with any progress and status update. Thanks.
Playdek"
With apparently many key members leaving the team I'm afraid the chances of Unsung Story ever becoming a reality are quite slim at this point, which is a shame because the world does need more Final Fantasy Tactics themed games.
While really tragic I do hope this story ends up serving as a warning message, or at least a wake up call, in regards to Kickstarters. If you are going to back a game, do make sure it at least has some sort of prototype or alpha build available as that shows the developers have a long lasting commitment towards their game and that the chances of it coming out are quite good.
There are far too many Kickstarters getting funded these days on simple words alone, which is a dangerous prospect since even if the game comes out you have no guarantee its even going to be anything remotely similar to what you envisioned.
What I'm saying might sound patronizing but I really don't want to see more angry people with their dreams shattered and money gone yelling on an internet forum. Better planning on both the developer and customer side can avoid many of these issues, as FTL, Undertale, Shadowrun, Pillars of Eternity and many other Kickstarters have shown.