Dear backers,
It has been seven years since my last update. I'm not going to soften that or bury it further down the page. You backed this project, you trusted me with it, and then you heard nothing for a very long time. That silence is mine to answer for. I owe you a full explanation, and more than that, I owe you proof that Project Phoenix is still alive. Both are in this update.
So let me be straight with you.
Why it went quiet
Years ago, I made myself a rule that I stuck to even when it cost me. I wouldn't post an update unless I had something worth showing. For a long stretch I didn't, and instead of filling the gap with mock-ups and promises, I went silent. That was the wrong call. A plain “we're still working, slowly” would have been far better than nothing, and I'm sorry I didn't give you that.
Here is what was actually going on.
When we ran the campaign, I told you the project would never stall for lack of money, because the team was working on a royalty basis. That assumption did not survive contact with reality. We lost the programmer the whole technical side of the game depended on. The one who went on to Moon Studios and 'Ori and the Blind Forest', and rebuilding around that hole took years and money I did not have sitting in an account. Rather than burn through what remained and come back to you with nothing, I chose to step back and build a proper business first. One that could pay for this game the way it deserved, instead of running it into the ground. I built that business with my own means, not with what you had pledged, and its work is what funds Phoenix now.
I know how that looks from the outside. While Phoenix sat quiet, you saw me start other studios and ship other games. AREA 35, SAFEHOUSE, Whistler. That did happen, and I understand how it looks. The reason it happened is that those projects are how I earn the money to pay for this one. The money has only ever moved in one direction, from that work into Phoenix, never the other way. We did not get rich off them. We are not anywhere close to rich. Whatever room those projects create goes straight back into being able to finish Phoenix the way it should be finished.
There is more to it than that. When I launched Project Phoenix, I did not fully understand what a production of this size actually demands. I do now. Building those studios and shipping those games is where I learned it, the hard way. It means the Phoenix you eventually play will be made by someone who has actually done this, not by the version of me who started it without knowing what he was taking on. That is a better game than the one that would have limped out years ago, even if it has cost us the time to get here.
There were missteps along the way that are on me. We went down a stylized redesign that I eventually killed because it had started to look like a mobile game, which is not what this was ever meant to be. The vertical slice we showed years ago did not land, and the people who said so were right.
And some of this was just my life. These years brought a hard stretch in my personal life that took a lot out of me. I am not telling you this for sympathy. I am telling you because you deserve to know why the person responsible for this went dark, and because it should come from me, not from your guessing.
What I actually have to show you
Two things, both finished or close to it. I have waited a long time to be able to put these in front of you.
The first is Nobuo Uematsu's main theme, fully recorded. You can download it with this update, because you have waited long enough to have this in your hands. One caveat: what you are getting is a rough mix, not the final mix, so it will still be cleaned up and polished before release. Even as a rough mix, it is the recording itself. It was performed by the Eminence Symphony Orchestra at Trackdown Recording Stage, conducted by Philip Chu. Of everything that has happened, hearing this theme actually played and recorded is the moment this stopped feeling like a wreck to me and started feeling like a game again.
The second is a look at the game itself. It's a roughly two minute video of where our lookdev and prototype sit right now. It is work in progress, and I am showing it to you as work in progress on purpose. Better something rough and unfinished than something polished and fake.
Project Phoenix, Main Theme - WIP
Project Phoenix, Prototype WIP
Where your money went, and where the project sits
You are owed plain talk about the money, so here it is. The Kickstarter raised a little over a million dollars from close to sixteen thousand of you, against a hundred thousand dollar goal. A good part of that paid for the work we did in the early years: character and creature designs, base models, the scenario and the world, and a large amount of Uematsu's music. Some of it went into the vertical slice that did not work out. Not every dollar was spent as well as it could have been, and I am not going to tell you otherwise. But all of it went into this game and its production, never anywhere else. Since then, I have made sure the rest is funded properly, so that your contribution is not the thing holding it up.
There is one more thing I want to face directly instead of leaving it hanging. Back in 2017, someone publicly accused me of misusing this money. In 2018, that person formally retracted the accusation and apologized, stating that what they had claimed was not true. I am not going to relitigate it here. I bring it up only so that you hear it from me and the record is clear before we move on.
The scope today is bigger than what we first laid out, and the truth is, the original scope was never defined as clearly as it should have been. That is a fair criticism and I take it. What I will say plainly is that we are now putting far more into this game than the Kickstarter ever raised. As it stands today, no publisher or outside investor is steering it. Every extra resource comes from the studio I built so that we could finish this on our own terms.
Your rewards, and how I'll handle them fairly
I have not forgotten what you actually paid for. The collector's editions, the art book, the soundtrack, the figurine, the tester and developer access, those are part of the deal and they are not forgotten. I am not going to throw out a fulfillment schedule today that I cannot stand behind yet. What I will tell you is that a proper fulfillment plan is coming, and I will give a whole update over to it in full detail, once production is locked down enough for me to give you dates I can actually keep.
And let me be straight about something I'm already being asked. Whatever I do for you, it will be the same for every backer. I'm not going to hand out keys or compensation one message at a time. That isn't fair to the people who don't post in the comments. Any gesture I make will apply to all of you equally and will come with that fulfillment plan, not improvised here. The Discord below is where it will be organized.
The alpha and beta tester tiers still stand, and we will sort those out through the new Discord as well. The old backer forum has mostly emptied out over the years, so the Discord is where that community will live from now on.
What comes next, and when
I am not going to hand you a release date I can't keep. Dates I couldn't keep are a big part of how we ended up here. So here is where things actually stand. We are aiming to finish production at the end of 2031, and the actual release date after that is still to be decided. I won't pretend otherwise.
I know that is hard to hear after a seven year gap. I would still choose a target I can stand behind over a comfortable one. As we lock down things I can actually promise, you will hear them, and you will hear them far more often than you have.
Let's not do this in silence again
To make sure these years of quiet don't repeat, we are opening a Discord. It will be the place to follow progress as it happens, to reach me and the team, and to hold me to a steadier rhythm than I have kept. I will be in there and I will read it. Though I can't promise I will reply to everyone individually, I would like to talk with you there.
Project Phoenix, Discord Server
To everyone still here after all this time, thank you. I don't take it lightly, and I intend to earn back the trust you put in me.
Hiroaki Yura, Director and Producer, Project Phoenix
