Danganronpa creators are “risking their lives” for their new game, which has put them in debt 

The June 18 Nintendo Direct broadcast unveiled Too Kyoo Game’s brand-new RPG The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy. The long-awaited collaboration between Danganronpa series writer Kazutaka Kodaka and Zero Escape creator Kotaro Uchikoshi is set to be published in early 2025 by Aniplex. The despair-filled game’s announcement has been met with an overwhelming response from fans of both creators, but it seems the project had a rather rocky start, as revealed by Kodaka. 

In a recent interview with Famitsu, Kodaka, who is the director and scenario writer for The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy, reveals that development of the title started 6-7 years ago, right after Too Kyoo Games was established. The game was initially supposed to be published by another major publisher, but the project went through “numerous difficulties” and ultimately fell through. 

But despite the initial project for Kodaka and Uchikoshi’s game reaching a complete halt, the creators were confident in what they were making and decided to restart development on their own, keeping the core concept but revamping characters and other elements. According to Kodaka, the team planned to make Hundred Line an “indie-scale game,” but as the title’s concept, characters and scenario solidified, they realized that they would not be able to create their ideal game without expanding the scale of development. “We decided to take the plunge and…take out a loan,” Kodaka recalls. 

Even if Too Kyoo Game’s members had sold their shares and invested all the money they owned, this would not have been enough to secure the capital needed for Hundred Line’s development, which ultimately led to them going into debt. But fortunately, the developers were able to find a publisher willing to work with them even if they were in debt – Aniplex. In addition, they secured the cooperation of developers Media.Vision and Jet Studio, the former of which is working on the game’s simulator/RPG elements. 

Through laugher, Kodaka notes that Too Kyoo Games is still in debt because of The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy, and that the members are “risking their lives” for the game. “It was tough both financially and mentally, but I may never have another opportunity to put this much effort into a project,” Kodaka comments while noting that whole ordeal was a great experience for him. 

The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy, Too Kyoo Games’ first in-house IP, is set to be released in early 2025 for the PC (Steam) and Nintendo Switch.