{"id":63187,"date":"2026-03-16T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=63187"},"modified":"2026-03-16T18:11:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T09:11:09","slug":"japanese-youtuber-revives-320k-crowdfunded-dream-game-after-complete-development-limbo-but-says-completing-it-will-require-10x-the-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-youtuber-revives-320k-crowdfunded-dream-game-after-complete-development-limbo-but-says-completing-it-will-require-10x-the-budget\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese YouTuber revives $320K crowdfunded dream game after complete development limbo, but says completing it will require \u201c10x the budget\u201d\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>After a short hiatus, Japanese Soulsborne YouTuber Narunii (The Lore Knight) has made a new update on the development progress of his trouble-ridden dark fantasy action game <strong>Chikai no Fuchi <\/strong>(Oath\u2019s Abyss), for which he initially crowdfunded a whopping $320k USD. Despite facing numerous problems (<a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/this-is-not-a-scam-im-putting-my-life-on-the-line-japanese-youtuber-who-crowdfunded-320k-game-development-budget-addresses-controversy-after-project\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">and waves of backlash<\/a>) that practically reverted the project to back to zero, Narunii reassures his audience that Chikai no Fuchi\u2019s development is back on track. However, he also explains that the project\u2019s remaining budget size might not be enough to cover its originally planned scope.<\/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>To provide some background, Chikai no Fuchi started out as Narunii\u2019s passion project, with a crowdfunding goal of about $192k USD and the backing of renowned industry veterans such as Dark Souls composer Motoi Sakuraba. The project hit its goal in only 4 days, ultimately raising about $320k. However, after missing its initial release window in 2024, Chikai no Fuchi was indefinitely postponed. In December 2025, Narunii announced that the project\u2019s director and main programmer had left the team due to internal turmoil, and the production was inevitably put to a halt. What\u2019s more, the YouTuber later found out that the game\u2019s development had barely even progressed in the past three years of development, deciding to rebuild the entire thing from scratch alongside a brand-new team.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"ja\" dir=\"ltr\">\u751f\u5b58\u5831\u544a\u3067\u3059\uff01\u751f\u304d\u3066\u307e\u3059\u3002<br><br>\u958b\u767a\u306f\u8272\u3005\u52d5\u3044\u3066\u306f\u3044\u308b\u3082\u306e\u306e\u2026\u7d50\u5c40\u306f\u300c\u4e88\u7b97\u300d\u306e\u554f\u984c\u304c\u4e00\u756a\u306e\u91cd\u77f3\u306b\u306a\u3063\u3066\u3044\u307e\u3059\u3002\u4eca\u306e\u69cb\u60f3\u3092\u5168\u90e8\u3084\u308b\u306a\u3089\u3001\u4eca\u306e10\u500d\u306e\u4e88\u7b97\u304c\u5fc5\u8981\u3068\u3044\u3046\u8a08\u7b97\u306b\u3002<br><br>\u6d41\u77f3\u306b\u6c17\u5408\u3067\u30ab\u30d0\u30fc\u3067\u304d\u308b\u7bc4\u7587\u3092\u8d85\u3048\u3066\u3044\u308b\u306e\u3067\u3001\u8981\u7d20\u3092\u524a\u304e\u843d\u3068\u3057\u3066\u300c\u672c\u5f53\u306b\u4f5c\u308a\u305f\u3044\u90e8\u5206\u306f\u3069\u3053\u304b\u300d\u3092\u6574\u7406\u3057\u3066\u308b\u6bb5\u968e\u306c\u3002\u2026<\/p>&mdash; \u306a\u308b\u306b\u3043\ud83c\udf4e\ud83d\udc0d\u3055\u3093 (@eso9876) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/eso9876\/status\/2032955907190173715?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 14, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>As Narunii reports on his X account, the game is actively in development. However, it\u2019s ultimately being weighed down by limited resources. \u201cIf we decide to move forward with our current plan from start to finish, I reckon we would need ten times the funds we currently have access to,\u201d he explains. In <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/eso9876\/status\/2009451230507225471?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">one of his previous updates<\/a>, Narunii stated that he only had about 10 million yen left of the crowdfunded assets, meaning that it would take approximately 100 million yen to cover the current scope of production (the current size of the budget for Chikai no Fuchi hasn\u2019t been confirmed, so these numbers might be inaccurate).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ultimately, Narunii explains that the scope of the project right now exceeds what his team is able to cover using \u201csheer willpower,\u201d which is why they are trying to figure out how to cut costs and reduce the game\u2019s contents while maintaining only the essential parts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That being said, a possible way to expand the budget for Chikai no Fuchi would be the <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-government-makes-indie-game-developers-eligible-for-grants-of-up-to-60000-usd-covering-production-costs-and-promotion\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">IP360 content industry support initiative<\/a> which was recently announced by Japan\u2019s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. The program will provide funding for the creation of new IPs, making even indie developers eligible for grants of up to 10 million yen (about $62,000 USD), and Narunii notes that he is making preparations to apply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Related articles:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/youtuber-who-crowdfunded-320k-to-develop-dream-game-promises-to-respond-to-refund-requests-sincerely-amidst-standstill-but-wont-give-up-on-co\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>YouTuber who\u00a0crowdfunded $320k\u00a0to\u00a0develop dream game\u00a0promises to \u201crespond to refund requests sincerely\u201d amidst standstill, but\u00a0won\u2019t\u00a0give up on completing it\u00a0<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Narunii, shares update about development progress after his $320k crowdfunded passion project faced major complications.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":63193,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[64,3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-63187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-game-development","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - 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