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Playdek Officially Gives Up On Unsung Story, Hoists Upon A Publisher
In 2014, at the height of Kickstarter's video game renaissance, a small developer named Playdek announced a dream project for many: a spiritual sequel to Final Fantasy Tactics in collaboration with that game's writer and director, Yasumi Matsuno. Today, after years of delays, missed milestones, and opaqueness, Playdek has announced that they are handing off Unsung Story to Little Orbit, the publisher apparently behind Barbie & Her Sisters: Puppy Rescue and Kung Fu Panda: Showdown of Legendary Legends.
Unsung Story was funded at over $600,000, meant to merely expand on an existing foundation and smooth out the edges for a game that was, according to Playdek, already likely to happen. While Matsuno clarified he was not directing, he had gone on to say that the game was his vision, and he covered everything from the mechanics to the story. It is not difficult to see why backers were excited.
In late 2015, after having gone radio silent for almost a year, Playdek revealed that the project had shifted focus and they were concentrating on a Player vs. Player system, leaving behind the Final Fantasy Tactics successor people backed in 2014. A year later, in 2016, Playdek announced that they had just secured proper funding for the game and were working toward a playable build. Playdek was not honoring requests for refunds. Earlier this year, the game was shelved indefinitely.
Little Orbit has not commented on what they plan to do with the game, or if Matsuno has any involvement with it still. The update stating this change of developers is less than two hundred words and is dismissive about taking any questions about the game any longer.
[Source: Unsung Story Update]
Our Take
An ignominious end for what seemed to be a cool project. Maybe Little Orbit can pull something out of this project, but it doesn't sound like anyone knows exactly what this game is right now.
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