{"id":68331,"date":"2026-06-17T18:56:32","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T09:56:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=68331"},"modified":"2026-06-17T18:56:34","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T09:56:34","slug":"developers-of-umamusume-like-anime-car-girl-racing-game-warn-that-recent-kickstarter-project-was-a-scam-by-third-party-leakers-confirm-development-is-underway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/developers-of-umamusume-like-anime-car-girl-racing-game-warn-that-recent-kickstarter-project-was-a-scam-by-third-party-leakers-confirm-development-is-underway\/","title":{"rendered":"Developers of \u201cUmamusume-like\u201d anime car girl racing game warn that recent Kickstarter project was a scam by third-party leakers, confirm development is underway"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Chinese video game developer Studio Siphon stepped forward on June 13 to address a recent crowdfunding campaign for the mysterious <strong>Project GT<\/strong>, a 3D anime-styled action racing game. In its recent statement on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bilibili.com\/opus\/1213283855504506887\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">bilibili<\/a>, the studio said that the Kickstarter campaign was a scam orchestrated by an external party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Kickstarter campaign launched on May 12, and by June it had already reached its initial goal. By the time the campaign ended, it had already been picked up by numerous Japanese media outlets, including Game*Spark, and the upcoming game <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Dexerto\/status\/2065437738401173738?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">went viral<\/a> on social media. A big part of the hype was (obviously) the race cars personified as cute anime girls, which drew comparisons to Umamusume: Pretty Derby. And with the Kickstarter page claiming that the team behind it used to work for major studios like miHoYo, Tencent and NetEase, the project definitely <em>sounded<\/em> promising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, numerous details regarding the campaign, including a suspicious trailer with erroneous AI narration, pointed towards it being possibly fake. This was later confirmed by Studio Siphon, the creators of Project GT, who explained that it was not affiliated in any way with the organizers of the Kickstarter campaign. Apparently, all of the in-development footage shown on the platform was prototype data leaked from an early-stage business plan, and used without the developers\u2019 permission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The studio has already filed a complaint with Kickstarter, and will be pushing for the project\u2019s page to be removed from the platform (at the time of writing, the page is still accessible). According to<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gamespark.jp\/article\/2026\/06\/15\/168010.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> Game*Spark<\/a>, all media outlets covering the Kickstarter news were also asked to take their articles down to avoid confusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On a positive note, Studio Siphon confirmed that Project GT itself is not fake, and that development is underway and progressing smoothly. While it might take a bit until the game is officially unveiled, the dev team promised to \u201ccontinue to focus on refining the game\u2019s quality to live up to players\u2019 expectations.\u201d Further information about the project will be posted exclusively on the studio\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bilibili.com\/opus\/1213283855504506887\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">bilibili<\/a> page.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Related articles:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/developer-of-japanese-bishojo-visual-novel-whose-entire-69k-budget-was-withheld-by-crowdfunding-platform-says-project-wont-halt-despite-ongoing-legal-dispute\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Developer of Japanese bishojo visual novel whose entire $69k budget was withheld by crowdfunding platform says project won\u2019t halt despite ongoing legal dispute<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><a 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\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Japanese crowdfunded $340k game still missing half its funds as\u00a0platform claims\u00a0it\u00a0accidentally\u00a0sent the money elsewhere\u00a0\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Studio Siphon addresses the fraudulent Kickstarter campaign for its 3D anime-styled action racing game Project GT. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":68333,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[{"did":"did:plc:uzrrhkfyjrfdsynj2voztcf2","date":"2026-06-17T09:56:40+00:00","uri":"at:\/\/did:plc:uzrrhkfyjrfdsynj2voztcf2\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3moi2ds3hyb2p","response":"{\"uri\":\"at:\/\/did:plc:uzrrhkfyjrfdsynj2voztcf2\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3moi2ds3hyb2p\",\"cid\":\"bafyreien5t7lniztag77xqlsvk67folpy65dgy3kmtqyaadv3wipuvw66a\",\"commit\":{\"cid\":\"bafyreidyanemdrdfrvyhysf3us327rhpne47mmang2yyfwfsyhpqlwh6iu\",\"rev\":\"3moi2ds3osz2p\"},\"validationStatus\":\"valid\"}"}],"autoblue_post_url":"","autoblue_publish_document":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[18,17],"class_list":["post-68331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-global-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - 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