A Timeline Of Unsung Story, One Of The Biggest Kickstarter Failures Ever. It was supposed to be a dream game for fans of strategy- role- playing games, but instead it became a disaster. Unsung Story, which crowdfunded over $6. Kickstarter failures of all time. Let’s zoom out and look at the whole debacle, shall we? Last night, the company Playdek announced that it has bailed on Unsung Story, handing over the development rights to another company.
It’s the culmination of nearly four years worth of shady behavior, broken promises, and wasted money. To give you a sense of just how big a failure Unsung Story has been, I’ve put together an entire timeline of events from the past four years. It’s pretty remarkable to see it all in one place. Let’s start from the beginning. September 1. 8, 2. Final Fantasy Tactics Yasumi Matsuno makes a grand announcement: alongside the board- game company Playdek, he will be developing two games in a universe called Unsung Story. One of those games will be a digital card game, and the other will be a strategy game.
In a press release, Playdek says that both games will be out by the end of 2. January 1. 4, 2. 01. After staying quiet on the project for a while, Playdek makes another big announcement: they’re crowdfunding Unsung Story, with a goal of $6. Kickstarter. It sounds like the dream game for Final Fantasy Tactics fans, promising to “re- imagine a classic game genre, as Yasumi Matsuno weaves together one of the complex and rich game worlds that he is known for, with inspiring class based tactics game play.” There’s no mention of the digital card game or, for that matter, anything about multiplayer.
The estimated delivery is July, 2. In the coming weeks, there’s some brief controversy over Unsung Story’s platforms and reward tiers—a controversy that Playdek addresses through backer updates—but for the most part, it all seems promising.
Playdek is saying all of the right things. I back the game for $2. February 3, 2. 01. Playdek’s PR company contacts me with a very cool offer: “Thanks for your recent coverage of Playdek’s Unsung Story and the Kickstarter campaign.
GameTrailers is your destination to see official trailers first. Powered by IGN, you can expect to see world-first exclusive gameplay and the hottest new tra. Depending on your sense of history, you might remember when Volvos were deemed “boxy but nice.” Maybe even farther back you recall the sleek P1800. But no matter. If you’ve played Mario Kart 8 you were probably so focused on trying to finish in the top four that you never had time to look around and take in the view.
We may have a really interesting interview opportunity for you. Would you be interested in an interview with Yasumi Matsuno about Unsung Story? We would like for the story to run Feb. Q& A format. Those two points are very important.”I tell them that I’d be happy to do the interview, but that I can’t let them dictate either the date or the format.
Playdek’s PR company says they’ll get back to me. February 6, 2. 01. I follow up. Their PR responds: “Sorry it took so long!
I just found out last night that he won’t be able to do this interview. I apologize for any inconvenience.” February 1. With just two days left, Unsung Story’s Kickstarter campaign is not yet funded. I continue to cover it on Kotaku, perhaps implicitly encouraging readers to support the game, which I would later go on to regret. In the coming weeks, Playdek’s community manager will post a series of mundane updates about the staff and other high- level details surrounding the game. March 2. 1, 2. 01.
A backer update: “We will continue with these weekly updates so you know we are still thinking of all of you, and it won’t be long before we will be able to share lots of content with you about Unsung Story! Great things are on their way!” In subsequent updates, Playdek talks about the digital card game it had mentioned in September 2. Unsung Story’s Kickstarter had talked about a spiritual successor to Final Fantasy Tactics, not a card game. July 3. 1, 2. 01.
Playdek’s community manager gives a timeline of promises for the rest of 2. Mark Felt (2017) Free Online Movie. Unsung Story. The company also clarifies, in response to backer confusion, that the strategy game everyone wants will be happening before they release the digital card game. Santoalla (2017) Movie Photo there. At the end of this update, Playdek writes: “We will be back next month to give you another update on our progress on Unsung Story.”August, 2. Playdek does not post any new updates.
It’s the first of many promises that the company will break. September 5, 2. 01. Playdek posts an update, the first of three more throughout 2. It’s all basic stuff, including some details on the story and gameplay of Unsung Story. Nothing worth much attention. February 2. 0, 2. Months of silence since the last update (November 2.
A year after the conclusion of Unsung Story’s Kickstarter campaign, Playdek has not yet shown any gameplay, but in a new backer update, the company posts a handful of screenshots. They look.. As we continue down this path we will finalize a development timeline to share with everyone later this summer.” June, 2. There are no updates. July, 2. 01. 5: There are no updates.
August, 2. 01. 5: There are no updates. September 2. 1, 2. Joel Goodman, Playdek’s CEO, takes to Kickstarter with a dreary update, saying that progress on Unsung Story has moved more slowly than he’d hoped.
It’s not clear why, just three months ago, the company told backers that development was “progressing nicely.” Goodman says that Playdek has been dealing with financial issues and that they’re looking into working with outside publishers. He also says that Unsung Story will be delayed to 2. Goodman adds: “As it has been said, these things do happen in game development, and all of us in the industry and without have seen significant delays on some major games and franchises that were previously announced. However, they of course do not have a great KS community involved in the progress of the game as we do, and it is on us for not involving you as much in our process up to this point. The theme here is we will work to rectify that, and will outline the plan going forward, one that we will keep you in the loop henceforth.” Then, Goodman casually outlines a development timeline for Unsung Story that will begin with a “Pv.
P . This is the first time that the Unsung Story Kickstarter has ever mentioned the term “Pv. P.” Backers are alarmed. They gave $6. 60,0. Playdek because they wanted Yasumi Matsuno’s spiritual successor to Final Fantasy Tactics, not because they wanted a multiplayer game.
Goodman later adds that an “entire single player experience will be rolled out to all backers,” but fans are beginning to lose faith that Unsung Story will ever happen. September 3. 0, 2. During an AMA on Reddit, one backer asks Joel Goodman if he has proof that there’s been development on Unsung Story. Goodman writes: “On the next major update we will have video footage of in- game gameplay and will go into more details on the UI development direction.” Goodman also makes it clear that Matsuno’s involvement with Unsung Story has already ended. October 2. 0, 2. 01. Playdek posts an update with the video Goodman promised. It looks horrendous.
Shockingly, Playdek adds that it will be pausing development on Unsung Story to focus on other projects. Playdek dodges questions on whether it will offer refunds to backers. February 2. 7, 2.
In an optimistic update, Playdek says that it has been able to secure more funding and that it will have more information to share in March. March, 2. 01. 6: There are no updates. April 6, 2. 01. 6: Playdek says it is still aiming to release a playable Pv. P build of Unsung Story in the fall. Future updates will cover the magic system and environments. We appreciate the support and patience the backers have shown towards this difficult development cycle, and we look forward to demonstrating the progress we are making throughout the new year.”January, 2.
It may shock you to hear that there are no updates. February, 2. 01. 7: No updates. March, 2. 01. 7: Silence. April, 2. 01. 7: Nope. May, 2. 01. 7: Lol. June 2. 1, 2. 01.
I e- mail Joel Goodman: “Last we spoke (in September of last year), you said that Playdek is doing its best to deliver Unsung Story, and that you’d like to loop me in on further updates. But I haven’t heard anything since then, and the project hasn’t been updated since 2.