Comcept Gets A Publisher To Fund Red Ash, Kickstarter Now For Unnamed Stretch Goals

With four days to go, Comcept’s second Kickstarter didn’t look promising. The Red Ash campaign has only raised $489,000 of the $800,000 stretch goal, but that doesn’t matter anymore.

Chinese publisher Fuze has decided to pick up the game and fund its development. What this means for the Kickstarter and its backers isn’t clear, though.

Comcept says that funds will now support stretch goals, but hasn’t named what those are. “Exactly what are those stretch goals? We're sorry to say that will have to wait a little while longer!” Comcept writes on the Kickstarter page. “Like we said, we're very busy with many behind-the-scenes things over here, and we apologize if you feel left in the dark. As you can see, the things we have brewing that are keeping us occupied are BIG, and all for the purpose of getting you RED ASH in its biggest, bestest form. That's the reason we're less communicative than we'd like to be!”

Prior to this announcement, only one stretch goal had been announced: a PlayStation 4 port at $1 million raised. With Fuze funding PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One versions, that goal has been taken care of.

Given that the campaign was intended to fund the first three chapters only, it’s possible that the funds already raised will go toward releasing a complete game. Until Comcept reveals what it’s planning and lets its backers in on the secret, we won’t know for sure.

This news comes after retailers have signaled a delay for Might No. 9. The game was announced with a September 15 release date, but Amazon, GameStop (Disclosure: GameStop is Game Informer’s parent company), and Best Buy have pulled back on that. The first two indicated a placeholder release of December 31, 2016, with Best Buy saying the release date has not been announced.

Comcept hasn’t commented on the matter, and publisher Deep Silver declined to provide a statement on the situation when reached. We’ll update should that change.

[Source: Kickstarter]

Our Take
The terms of the Kickstarter have changed, and Comcept isn’t telling backers what their funds will actually support. It’s time to pull the plug on the Kickstarter, cancel pledges, and just make the game using a traditional model. 

Backers should start requesting answers, especially as Comcept isn’t commenting yet on reported Mighty No. 9 delays. If the company continues with the Kickstarter and it comes out later that its first project is missing its release date (just six weeks away) it will obliterate consumer trust.