Japanese indie game developer ENDLESS SUMMER Studio (Neon Light LLC) announced on April 24 that it’s in the process of filing criminal charges against the CEO of domestic crowdfunding platform Ubgoe. The dispute concerns unpaid development funds for the studio’s upcoming sci-fi visual novel game, Purgatory: Blue.
The project, led by composer and music producer cittan* (Fumihisa Tanaka), was launched on Ubgoe in July 2025. Crowdfunding lasted until September the same year, amassing over 10.93 million yen (about $68.4 thousand USD) in funding from 485 backers and reaching 156% of the original goal. However, according to ENDLESS SUMMER Studio, more than five months have passed since the scheduled payment date, and Ubgoe has yet to pay out the money.
Ubgoe launched in January 2021 as a crowdfunding service operated by Ubgoe Co., Ltd., headed by Kazuo Okada. At the time of its launch, it boasted the “first ever” adoption of a system with zero fees for project creators, instead charging backers a small usage fee. However, the platform has recently been trouble-ridden, with acclaimed game creator Jiro Ishii announcing earlier this month that Ubgoe has withheld over half of the funds raised for his project Shibuya Scramble Stories. On top of that, the site itself became inaccessible on the night of April 15. While Ubgoe issued a brief statement saying it was working on restoring servers, the site remains down at the time of this writing.
It seems ENDLESS SUMMER Studio is the latest to be affected by Ubgoe. The developers were due to receive the funds raised for Purgatory: Blue’s development all the way back in November 2025. After failing to meet this deadline, Ubgoe allegedly promised to make the transfer by December 15, which it didn’t deliver on. The developers then secured a written pledge of debt repayment from Ubgoe’s CEO Kazuo Okada, with promised payment by December 26. This was not honored either. Then, in February 2026, Ubgoe communicated plans to finally make the payment during the same month, but to this day, the developers have yet to receive a single penny.
Following this string of back-and-forths, ENDLESS SUMMER Studio hired a lawyer and filed a criminal complaint with the Shibuya Police Station in February, alleging that Kazuo Okada committed embezzlement. The station’s Criminal Investigation Division for white-collar crimes has reportedly launched inquiries into Okada’s back accounts. The developers say they’ll decide whether to pursue a civil lawsuit as well depending on how things play out from here.
Amidst the legal chaos, Purgatory: Blue creator cittan* has assured fans and backers that his studio will definitely complete the game. Although he’s been left without the raised funds, he considers himself responsible to see to it that the project bears fruition. cittan* is reportedly preparing a plan to continue production using his own funds as well as other fundraising efforts.
