Spike Chunsoft’s 428: Shibuya Scramble was a cult hit when it debuted in 2009. Produced by Jiro Ishii, Scramble set a kidnapping caper in the middle of one of Tokyo’s most frantic wards. Its infamy and high-camp charm earned localization in the west a decade later. Last year Ishii announced a successor, Shibuya Scramble Stories, on the crowdfunding platform Ubgoe. It netted a handsome 54 million yen, well above its goals. When Ishii tried to claim the funds, he discovered a mystery that might be too absurd even for him: Ubgoe lost the money.
As reported by Automaton Media, Ishii is preparing legal counsel over some surreal circumstances. Skeleton Crew Studio says that Ubgoe withheld the funds raised in the campaign, which were supposed to be delivered by September of 2025. When they inquired, Ubgoe only fulfilled half of the money, with CEO Kazuo Okada personally informing them that the rest would be impossible having erroneously sent the funds to the wrong account.
Not an inspiring thing to be told by a crowdfunding site (unless you’re the lucky son of a gun whose account just got injected with six figures)! Less instilling that Ubgoe apparently refuses to foot the bill or provide documentation of how or where the money ended up. Ishii’s team is logically skeptical of this explanation and suspect the money was misused in some other manner.
It’s not the kind of scramble Ishii was hoping to make, but his studio assures that despite the predicament the game’s development is still underway. Their bigger concern are the additional pledge benefits promised during their campaign. The fun tchotchkes like stickers and tote bags that, as anyone who has participated in crowdfunding can confirm, often become bigger headaches than the main project. The fine print on Ubgoe says that all of these promised items are guaranteed, though it’s farcical to imagine that being more legally binding than the platform’s own promise to deliver the money.