{"id":64585,"date":"2026-04-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=64585"},"modified":"2026-04-04T13:48:37","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T04:48:37","slug":"japanese-crowdfunded-340k-game-still-missing-half-its-funds-as-platform-claims-it-accidentally-sent-the-money-elsewhere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-crowdfunded-340k-game-still-missing-half-its-funds-as-platform-claims-it-accidentally-sent-the-money-elsewhere\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese crowdfunded $340k game still missing half its funds as\u00a0platform claims\u00a0it\u00a0accidentally\u00a0sent the money elsewhere\u00a0\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Last week, Japanese game designer Jiro Ishii and Skeleton Crew Studio announced<\/a> that their massively successful crowdfunding campaign<\/a> for the visual novel Shibuya Scramble Stories<\/strong> had run into serious trouble. Even though they raised 55 million yen (about $340 thousand USD) for the game\u2019s development, the team has received less than half the amount, with crowdfunding platform Ubgoe refusing to pay out the remaining 27.75 million yen (over $170 thousand USD). In a new interview with Denfaminicogamer,<\/a> Ishii and his legal counsel Takahiro Kasagi gave an explanation about what\u2019s been happening between them and Ubgoe, and the details have fueled outrage and disbelief towards the platform\u2019s brazen handling of the matter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Ishii, Ubgoe was due to transfer the money raised for Shibuya Scramble Stories all the way back on September 1, 2025. When this deadline was missed, Ishii made an inquiry the very next day, but the platform\u2019s CEO, Kazuo Okada, told him that the money was \u201cmistakenly wired to a different client\u201d and that it was thus impossible for the company to immediately prepare the 55-million-yen payment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In consultation with his lawyer, Ishii made Ubgoe sign a memorandum guaranteeing that it would pay the full amount by September 16, 2025, but\u00a0only 6\u00a0million\u00a0yen was transferred by this date. Okada\u00a0argued\u00a0that his company\u00a0was unable to make the payment due to the mistakenly\u00a0transferred money not being returned yet.\u00a0However,\u00a0when asked to provide evidence of the erroneous payment, Okada\u00a0repeatedly\u00a0refused to show the\u00a0transaction\u00a0or\u00a0account, and Ishii\u2019s lawyer suspects that the claim is false to begin with, as one would normally resolve the situation by requesting a reversal from their bank.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Another horrifying detail in this case is that Ubgoe\u2019s terms and conditions state that with every pledge, contracts are formed directly between the backer and the project owner, which means that Ishii and his team are responsible to fulfill all obligations (such as rewards and the project\u2019s completion) regardless of whether they have actually received the money or not. In other words, there is no guarantee in place in the event of the platform running off with raised funds. Ishii commented, \u201cI myself didn\u2019t realize that the project owner would bear the responsibility if the collection agency absconded with the funds. I suppose I was acting under the assumption that people are inherently good.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thankfully, the Shibuya Scramble Stories project currently isn\u2019t facing the risk of falling through, as it has received support from Tokyu Land Corporation amidst the financial setback. However, the developers have formed another agreement obligating Ubgoe to pay in installments, and Ishii says he feels strongly about making sure the platform returns the whole amount, given that it\u2019s \u201cprecious money entrusted to us by our customers.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related: Japanese game company and ex-Konami composer lose lawsuits against each other after collapse of crowdfunded project<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

428: Shibuya Scramble creator says visual novel games have reached a bit of an evolutionary \u201cdead end,\u201d but certain masterpieces have created potential for breakthroughs<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“I suppose I was\u00a0acting under\u00a0the assumption that people are inherently good.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":64590,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[64,3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-64585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-game-development","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nJapanese crowdfunded $340k game still missing half its funds as\u00a0platform claims\u00a0it\u00a0accidentally\u00a0sent the money elsewhere\u00a0\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Shibuya Scramble Stories developer Jiro Ishii and his lawyer shed light on what has been happening between them and Ubgoe.\" \/>\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-crowdfunded-340k-game-still-missing-half-its-funds-as-platform-claims-it-accidentally-sent-the-money-elsewhere\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Japanese crowdfunded $340k game still missing half its funds as\u00a0platform claims\u00a0it\u00a0accidentally\u00a0sent the money elsewhere\u00a0\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Shibuya Scramble Stories developer Jiro Ishii and his lawyer shed light on what has been happening between them and Ubgoe.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-crowdfunded-340k-game-still-missing-half-its-funds-as-platform-claims-it-accidentally-sent-the-money-elsewhere\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-02T15:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-04T04:48:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/20260402-64585-header.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1412\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"832\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Amber V\" \/>\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=\"Amber V\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Japanese crowdfunded $340k game still missing half its funds as\u00a0platform claims\u00a0it\u00a0accidentally\u00a0sent the money elsewhere\u00a0\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","description":"Shibuya Scramble Stories developer Jiro Ishii and his lawyer shed light on what has been happening between them and Ubgoe.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-crowdfunded-340k-game-still-missing-half-its-funds-as-platform-claims-it-accidentally-sent-the-money-elsewhere\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Japanese crowdfunded $340k game still missing half its funds as\u00a0platform claims\u00a0it\u00a0accidentally\u00a0sent the money elsewhere\u00a0\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","og_description":"Shibuya Scramble Stories developer Jiro Ishii and his lawyer shed light on what has been happening between them and Ubgoe.","og_url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-crowdfunded-340k-game-still-missing-half-its-funds-as-platform-claims-it-accidentally-sent-the-money-elsewhere\/","og_site_name":"AUTOMATON WEST","article_published_time":"2026-04-02T15:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-04-04T04:48:37+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1412,"height":832,"url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/20260402-64585-header.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Amber V","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_site":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Amber V","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-crowdfunded-340k-game-still-missing-half-its-funds-as-platform-claims-it-accidentally-sent-the-money-elsewhere\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-crowdfunded-340k-game-still-missing-half-its-funds-as-platform-claims-it-accidentally-sent-the-money-elsewhere\/"},"author":{"name":"Amber V","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/fdc6517a00e35b6917ffdb02e8b574d9"},"headline":"Japanese crowdfunded $340k game still missing half its funds as\u00a0platform claims\u00a0it\u00a0accidentally\u00a0sent the money elsewhere\u00a0\u00a0","datePublished":"2026-04-02T15:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-04T04:48:37+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-crowdfunded-340k-game-still-missing-half-its-funds-as-platform-claims-it-accidentally-sent-the-money-elsewhere\/"},"wordCount":606,"commentCount":2,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-crowdfunded-340k-game-still-missing-half-its-funds-as-platform-claims-it-accidentally-sent-the-money-elsewhere\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/20260402-64585-header.jpg","keywords":["News (Japan-related)"],"articleSection":["Game Development","News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-crowdfunded-340k-game-still-missing-half-its-funds-as-platform-claims-it-accidentally-sent-the-money-elsewhere\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-crowdfunded-340k-game-still-missing-half-its-funds-as-platform-claims-it-accidentally-sent-the-money-elsewhere\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-crowdfunded-340k-game-still-missing-half-its-funds-as-platform-claims-it-accidentally-sent-the-money-elsewhere\/","name":"Japanese crowdfunded $340k game still missing half its funds as\u00a0platform claims\u00a0it\u00a0accidentally\u00a0sent the money elsewhere\u00a0\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-crowdfunded-340k-game-still-missing-half-its-funds-as-platform-claims-it-accidentally-sent-the-money-elsewhere\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-crowdfunded-340k-game-still-missing-half-its-funds-as-platform-claims-it-accidentally-sent-the-money-elsewhere\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/20260402-64585-header.jpg","datePublished":"2026-04-02T15:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-04T04:48:37+00:00","description":"Shibuya Scramble Stories developer Jiro Ishii and his lawyer shed light on what has been happening between them and Ubgoe.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-crowdfunded-340k-game-still-missing-half-its-funds-as-platform-claims-it-accidentally-sent-the-money-elsewhere\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-crowdfunded-340k-game-still-missing-half-its-funds-as-platform-claims-it-accidentally-sent-the-money-elsewhere\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-crowdfunded-340k-game-still-missing-half-its-funds-as-platform-claims-it-accidentally-sent-the-money-elsewhere\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/20260402-64585-header.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/20260402-64585-header.jpg","width":1412,"height":832,"caption":"Shibuya Scramble Stories"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-crowdfunded-340k-game-still-missing-half-its-funds-as-platform-claims-it-accidentally-sent-the-money-elsewhere\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u30db\u30fc\u30e0","item":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Japanese crowdfunded $340k game still missing half its funds as\u00a0platform claims\u00a0it\u00a0accidentally\u00a0sent the money elsewhere\u00a0\u00a0"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","name":"AUTOMATON WEST","description":"AUTOMATON is a website that covers the Japanese gaming world. We bring you the news on video games from Osaka and Tokyo.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization","name":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","width":374,"height":190,"caption":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/AUTOMATON_ENG","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCabvYnvuUUbbGUrxkaFRgSA"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/fdc6517a00e35b6917ffdb02e8b574d9","name":"Amber V","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/12252024-100x100.jpg","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/12252024-100x100.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/12252024-100x100.jpg","caption":"Amber V"},"description":"Editor-in-Chief since October 2023. She grew up playing Duke Nukem and Wolfenstein with her dad, and is now enamored with obscure Japanese video games and internet culture. Currently devoted to growing Automaton West to the size of its Japanese sister-site, while making sure to keep news concise and developer stories deep and stimulating.","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/author\/amber-vjestica\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64585"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64585\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64669,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64585\/revisions\/64669"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}