{"id":67074,"date":"2026-05-25T15:21:42","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T06:21:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=67074"},"modified":"2026-05-25T15:21:44","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T06:21:44","slug":"after-12-years-in-development-ikaruga-creators-new-shooter-ubusuna-has-been-cancelled","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/after-12-years-in-development-ikaruga-creators-new-shooter-ubusuna-has-been-cancelled\/","title":{"rendered":"After 12 years\u00a0in\u00a0development, Ikaruga creator\u2019s new shooter\u00a0Ubusuna\u00a0has been cancelled\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Studio M2,\u00a0known\u00a0for\u00a0porting and\u00a0emulating Japanese retro classics to modern consoles, has\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/M2_game\/status\/2058201351461724365?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">announced the cancellation<\/a>\u00a0of\u00a0<strong>Ubusuna<\/strong>, a shoot \u2018em\u00a0up title\u00a0previously\u00a0helmed by Ikaruga creator Hiroshi Iuchi. Following Iuchi\u2019s departure from the company, it was decided that the\u00a0game\u00a0couldn\u2019t\u00a0be completed without him.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While the reasons\u00a0behind Iuchi\u2019s departure\u00a0were\u00a0not\u00a0disclosed,\u00a0the\u00a0official statement\u00a0attributes\u00a0his resignation\u00a0to \u201cvarious circumstances.\u201d\u00a0M2 officially apologized\u00a0to those who supported\u00a0Ubusuna,\u00a0including Japanese\u00a0and\u00a0international fans, external\u00a0devs\u00a0who contributed to the project, and media outlets who worked alongside the company\u2019s public relations.\u00a0In light of recent events, M2 has\u00a0made\u00a0its \u201cUBUSUNA SOUNDTRACK-EP- YouTube video\u00a0private, leaving even fewer traces of the game\u2019s existence\u00a0available\u00a0online.\u00a0<\/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\">\u300e\u30a6\u30d6\u30b9\u30ca\u300f\u958b\u767a\u4e2d\u6b62\u306b\u3064\u3044\u3066\u306e\u304a\u77e5\u3089\u305b\u3068\u3001\u304a\u9858\u3044 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/AFIiimzC4G\">pic.twitter.com\/AFIiimzC4G<\/a><\/p>&mdash; \u6709\u9650\u4f1a\u793e\u30a8\u30e0\u30c4\u30fc (@M2_game) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/M2_game\/status\/2058201351461724365?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 23, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Iuchi\u00a0announced\u00a0Ubusuna\u00a0on August 13, 2014\u00a0via\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vgmaterials.com\/?paged=2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">his official blog<\/a>. Initially planned for the PlayStation 4 with the possibility of multiplatform expansion, the game was envisioned as a shoot \u2018em\u00a0up\u00a0that\u00a0built upon\u00a0a\u00a0scrapped \u201c50YW\u201d project.\u00a0While\u00a0Ubusuna\u2019s\u00a0systems were\u00a0largely similar\u00a0to 50YW,\u00a0Iuchi\u00a0planned to rewrite the world and\u00a0setting\u00a0to fit his new vision.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ubusuna\u00a0was still in\u00a0the very early phases of\u00a0development when\u00a0Iuchi\u00a0made the\u00a0initial\u00a0announcement. According to him, while M2\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0normally announce anything at such an early stage,\u00a0the company\u2019s CEO\u00a0Naoki Horii\u00a0approved\u00a0it, saying\u00a0it would be fine since shoot \u2018em\u00a0up fans\u00a0wouldn\u2019t\u00a0mind waiting.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Updates on the project\u00a0would\u00a0be\u00a0few and far between\u00a0in the\u00a0next\u00a0few\u00a0years, with Iuchi dividing his time\u00a0between\u00a0Ubusuna\u00a0and\u00a0other M2 projects.\u00a0In 2019, Horii revealed that while asset creation was proving difficult, the game was \u201cnearly playable from start to finish.\u201d\u00a02022 saw some more progress, with further story details being revealed.\u00a0Iuchi\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vgmaterials.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">final update<\/a>\u00a0on the game\u00a0was released on\u00a0August 17, with him saying that M2 would make an official announcement when the time\u00a0was\u00a0right.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Following&nbsp;Ubusuna\u2019s&nbsp;cancellation,&nbsp;Iuchi&nbsp;released a short blog&nbsp;entry&nbsp;apologizing to fans and asking for some&nbsp;more&nbsp;time before he can address the situation:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#eaeaea\"><em>I apologize for the commotion this has caused.<\/em>\u00a0<br><br><em>I\u2019d\u00a0like to address the comments from the many people who have reached out, but\u00a0I\u2019d\u00a0prefer to wait until after\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0resigned (early July or later) to comment on this matter.<\/em>\u00a0<br><br><em>I\u2019m\u00a0also sorry to have disappointed so many of you.\u00a0However, based on how things feel at the moment, I don\u2019t think it will turn out to be such a disappointment after all.<\/em>\u00a0<br><br><em>I apologize if this seems abrupt, but I ask for your understanding.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While M2 has given up on\u00a0Ubusuna, it seems that\u00a0Iuchi\u00a0hasn\u2019t.\u00a0In\u00a0the company\u2019s\u00a0statement,\u00a0Naoki Horii hopes that\u00a0Iuchi\u00a0will be able to get the opportunity to complete\u00a0the game, even if it takes on a different form.\u00a0That said, Horii would appreciate it if people would refrain from posting speculations and defamatory comments on social media, as they can negatively\u00a0impact\u00a0those involved.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>M2 has announced the cancellation of the shoot &#8217;em up Ubusuna due to the resignation of game director Hiroshi Uichi.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":67076,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-67074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - 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