Japanese solo developer Shigefusa Works, who is currently working on their turn-based roguelike RPG Dungeon Overdose, recently made an update on X regarding the game’s publishing. In the post, the developer opened up about a recent experience they had with a certain domestic publisher, explaining how they walked away from a contract after negotiations were one-sidedly dragged out for more than a year.
The post went viral on the Japanese side of X, earning sympathy from other indie and solo developers, many of whom shared their own stories of unfortunate experiences with publishers.
According to Shigefusa, the publisher in question first reached out to them when they were exhibiting Dungeon Overdose at the Tokyo Game Dungeon 8 event, which took place in May 2025. Negotiations started almost immediately, and the two parties planned to sign a publishing contract around July or August of the same year.
Ahead of signing the contract, the developer had already shared Wishlist numbers, the expected release date, progress of the build, and all other relevant information. But even though discussions regarding revenue sharing and other details of the contract were underway, the publisher decided to postpone the signing for September due to internal circumstances.
The signing was pushed back once again, this time for January. In response the publisher’s requests, the developer commissioned an artist to make new promotional visuals for the game, but when the January meeting came round, they were asked for the signing to be postponed to February.
The contract signing was continuously postponed in the following few months until May 2026, when the developer was asked by the publisher to exhibit the title at a certain video game event. However, Shigefusa says that they didn’t get any support from the publisher regarding the event.
After another few months of postponing the signing, Shigefusa confronted the publisher, asking them to make a definite decision by the end of August. Ultimately, the response they got from the publisher was that the “game had too few Wishlists to expect a profit,” and that the “publishing contract would be difficult to achieve.”
As they explain, the biggest source of their frustration was the fact that the publisher had been leading them on for more than a year, only to reject them over Wishlist figures which they shared as soon as the negotiations began.
“If having over 10,000 Wishlists was the minimum condition for the contract from the start, I wish they’d said so upfront. If you’re going to claim to ‘stand by developers,’ I wish they’d actually treated developers’ time and lives with a little more care,” Shigefusa writes.
While Shigefusa says the experience was “heartbreaking,” they explain that they’re glad that they didn’t end up signing the contract, and are committed to publishing the game themselves.
Dungeon Overdose is currently in development for PC (Steam), with a release date set for late 2026. While the Steam Store page currently doesn’t mention an English release, Shigefusa has confirmed English support for the game.
