Disgaea creator Sohei Niikawa says he had to take out a $127 thousand loan to complete his new dark comedy SRPG, Demons’ Night Fever

Disgaea creator Sohei Niikawa recently took to X to confess to a budget shortfall that his studio, SuperNiche, experienced while developing its new dark comedy SRPG DEMONS’ NIGHT FEVER. To ensure the completion of the project, he apparently took out a 20 million JPY loan (roughly $127k USD) without his wife’s knowledge, and poured it all into the game’s development.

While DEMONS’ NIGHT FEVER was co-developed alongside Drecom and published by Arc System Works, both well-known Japanese game companies, SuperNiche itself is a one-man company founded and operated by Niikawa himself. Since the game was not crowdfunded, Niikawa encourages fans to consider buying it “as a form of crowdfunding.”

Incidentally, Demon’s Night Fever is part of Niikawa’s personal goal to release 66 games by the time he turns 75 years old. After spending 26 years working at Nippon Ichi Software (13 of which were spent as the studio’s CEO and president), he struck out on his own to continue making games “on the front lines.” According to his calculations, he has roughly 22 years to create 66 games, at a rate of three titles per year.

Launching today, DEMONS’ NIGHT FEVER is a strategy JRPG that plays almost like a “being evil simulator.” The story follows Giga Super Death, the most wicked devil of all who suddenly gets transformed into a baby just as he is about to kill God. After forming a pact with Killshiro Katanaka, a gloomy young man who despises the world, Giga wreaks havoc and commits evil acts to regain his lost power by completing the “Demons’ Night Fever” resurrection program.

You raise Giga and his Peons by committing wicked deeds such as becoming a squatter, converting humans into monsters, and pillaging goods from your enemies. These actions earn you Perverse Points, which you can use to power up Giga and his Peon army.

Combat revolves around using the game’s “Peon Exploitation System” to strategically sacrifice your allies on a grid-like battlefield. Kills Skill and Sacrifices allow you to detonate your minions for some quick enemy kills, with ally and enemy deaths increasing Giga’s strength regardless of their allegiance. 

DEMONS’ NIGHT FEVER is available starting today on Windows (Steam), PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch. 

Related: Disgaea creator’s new dark comedy SRPG Demons’ Night Fever turns God into a “scumbag” so players don’t feel guilty about doing evil things