{"id":55577,"date":"2026-01-06T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=55577"},"modified":"2026-01-06T18:48:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T09:48:14","slug":"japanese-youtubers-300k-crowdfunded-indie-passion-project-stuck-in-production-limbo-after-dismissal-of-game-director","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-youtubers-300k-crowdfunded-indie-passion-project-stuck-in-production-limbo-after-dismissal-of-game-director\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese YouTuber\u2019s $320k crowdfunded indie passion project stuck in production limbo after dismissal of game director"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Japanese YouTuber and game developer The Lore Knight Narunii (hereafter Narunii) has revealed that his upcoming crowdfunded game <strong>The Oath\u2019s Abyss<\/strong> (<em>\u8a93\u3044\u30ce\u6df5<\/em>, unofficial translation) which raised over 50.8 million yen (about $319.6k USD) has been facing serious trouble during development, with the risk of the whole project going down the drain. According to Narunii\u2019s recent YouTube video, the game\u2019s director\/programmer has quit due to internal disagreements, and the remainder of the production team is currently unable to continue developing the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"\u30103\u6642\u9593\u8d85\u3011\u4f01\u753b\u5d29\u58ca\u306e\u5371\u6a5f\u3002\u65b0\u30e1\u30f3\u30d0\u30fc\u52df\u96c6\u306e\u305f\u3081\u300c\u5168\u30c7\u30fc\u30bf\u300d\u516c\u958b\u3057\u307e\u3059\u3002\u672a\u5b8c\u306e\u300c\u8a93\u3044\u30ce\u6df5\u300d\u30b2\u30fc\u30e0\u958b\u767a\u306e\u5168\u3066\u3002\" width=\"1160\" height=\"653\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/6_U6mCK2D4U?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The Oath\u2019s Abyss started out as Narunii\u2019s wish to \u201cmake a title that would leave its mark on video game history,\u201d reaching its crowdfunding goal of about $192k USD in only four days after <a href=\"https:\/\/camp-fire.jp\/projects\/648237\/view\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the campaign<\/a> started back in February 2023. Ultimately, the game managed to reach 169% of the original goal, raising almost $320k USD with the support of over 3,800 backers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The game is a 2D dark fantasy-styled hack-and-slash RPG with building elements. Players are tasked with building structures and farms while also defending their base from waves of enemies. The \u201cfinal goal\u201d of The Oath\u2019s Abyss is to build \u201cthe ultimate paradise.\u201d Its development team also features renowned industry sound producers and composers such as TECHNOuchi (sound producer for Dark Souls, Demon&#8217;s Souls),  Motoi Sakuraba (Dark Souls, Tales series composer) and even Emi Evans who performed songs for Dark Souls and the NieR series. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"\u3010\u8a93\u3044\u30ce\u6df5\u3011\u30c6\u30a3\u30b6\u30fc\u6620\u50cf\" width=\"1160\" height=\"653\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/cZNp0d_lI2o?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>But despite the great kickstart it had, in May 2024, it was announced that the game would not be completed by the originally planned June deadline. Since then, there haven\u2019t been any significant updates regarding the game until December 31, 2025, when it was announced that Goburo, the game\u2019s director and programmer had been personally dismissed from the position by Narunii, leaving the game without its key developer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Narunii, who serves as the game\u2019s creator and scenario writer, explains that the disagreements came from his own \u201cdetailed interrogating,\u201d causing Narunii to be effectively banned from participating in any aspects of development other than scenario writing. However, Narunii states that in such situation, he was unable confirm his game\u2019s production status and level of completion over a long period of time. The distrust among team members eventually led to Goburo\u2019s dismissal. Currently, Narunii has about 10GB of development data that was passed on from Goburo, however, he does not have the means to open the Unity project. While he was told that the game was around 60% done, he is still unable to verify its degree of completion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1080\" height=\"608\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1080px) 100vw, 1080px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/20260106-555770001.jpg\" alt=\"Oath's Abyss trailer screenshot\" class=\"wp-image-55588\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/20260106-555770001.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/20260106-555770001-380x214.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/20260106-555770001-768x432.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Since the game\u2019s development likely won\u2019t be making any progress without a director\/professional who can access the files, Narunii decided to look for collaborators via YouTube. In order to hopefully catch the eye of other creators and get them interested in the project, Narunii\u2019s development update video doubles as a lengthy, detailed explanation of the story and lore of the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the YouTuber, there is currently about 10 million yen (approximately $64k USD) left in the budget raised via crowdfunding. However, since development is essentially in a \u201climbo\u201d with no ways of figuring out the game\u2019s completion status, it is still unknown whether the budget will be sufficient to cover production costs once new staff comes on board. Due to the game being repeatedly delayed, Narunii says he is considering to return the money to his backers, while also planning to look for \u201ca wealthy patron\u201d that would help him cover the cost of the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Apparently, Narunii has already received several inquiries regarding the director\/developer\/advisor vacancies, and according to his recent <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/eso9876\/status\/2008042790220157004?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">X posts<\/a>, he\u2019s already commissioned two individuals to analyze the Unity files. Narunii <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/eso9876\/status\/2008043589193146772?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">says<\/a> that the game only appears to be around 20% done, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/eso9876\/status\/2008428176004050991?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">suggesting<\/a> that recreating the game from scratch would be the most realistic option at the moment. While this sounds like a rather unfortunate outcome after almost four years of development, it will be interesting to see whether Narunii will be able to complete the long-anticipated passion project once he gets new team members on board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Related articles:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-streamer-who-spent-160k-to-make-his-dream-game-thinking-i-dont-care-if-it-doesnt-sell-hits-60000-copies-in-under-ten-days\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Japanese streamer who&nbsp;spent&nbsp;$160k&nbsp;to make&nbsp;his dream game&nbsp;thinking \u201cI don\u2019t care if it doesn\u2019t sell\u201d hits 60,000 copies in under ten days&nbsp;<br><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Despite an overwhelmingly successful campaign, the indie project has suffered multiple issues and delays in the past few years of development. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":55587,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[39,17],"class_list":["post-55577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-indie-games","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Japanese YouTuber\u2019s $320k crowdfunded indie passion project stuck in production limbo after dismissal of game director - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Despite an overwhelmingly successful campaign, the indie project has suffered multiple issues and delays in the past few years of development.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-youtubers-300k-crowdfunded-indie-passion-project-stuck-in-production-limbo-after-dismissal-of-game-director\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Japanese YouTuber\u2019s $320k crowdfunded indie passion project stuck in production limbo after dismissal of game director - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Despite an overwhelmingly successful campaign, the indie project has suffered multiple issues and delays in the past few years of development.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-youtubers-300k-crowdfunded-indie-passion-project-stuck-in-production-limbo-after-dismissal-of-game-director\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-06T14:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/20260106-55577-header.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"608\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"\u0110or\u0111e P\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\u0110or\u0111e P\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Japanese YouTuber\u2019s $320k crowdfunded indie passion project stuck in production limbo after dismissal of game director - 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