{"id":71757,"date":"2026-09-02T20:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=71757"},"modified":"2026-09-02T15:46:29","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T06:46:29","slug":"shibuya-scramble-stories-crowdfunding-surpasses-625-thousand-usd-gameplay-demo-and-two-new-characters-unveiled","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/shibuya-scramble-stories-crowdfunding-surpasses-625-thousand-usd-gameplay-demo-and-two-new-characters-unveiled\/","title":{"rendered":"Shibuya Scramble Stories crowdfunding surpasses $625 thousand USD. Gameplay demo and two new characters unveiled"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Following his return to work after an <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/428-shibuya-scramble-creator-jiro-ishii-announces-emergency-hospitalization-assures-fans-successor-game-remains-on-track\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">emergency hospitalization<\/a> in July, <strong>Shibuya Scramble Stories <\/strong>director Jiro Ishii announced on September 2 that the current total amount raised from the game\u2019s crowdfunding campaigns has come to over 100 million JPY (roughly $624 thousand USD). Storytelling, Ishii\u2019s company, will temporarily cover the unpaid development funds from the <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-crowdfunding-platform-that-owes-funds-to-shibuya-scramble-stories-and-other-game-projects-breaks-two-month-silence\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">fiasco with crowdfunding site Ubgoe<\/a> (which resulted in the project <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-340k-crowdfunded-visual-novel-is-still-missing-more-than-half-its-funds-after-issues-with-platform-but-devs-confirm-that-development-will-absolutely-not-be-halted\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">missing more than half of its funding<\/a>) while it continues to seek rightful compensation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ishii also attended a Shibuya Scramble Stories <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/live\/4kgu1MsTtPw?si=Nzy_eSlt_EVdALsG\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">presentation event<\/a> on September 1. In addition to providing updates on the project\u2019s crowdfunding, his team revealed a gameplay demo video, as well as two new characters.<\/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=\"\u30b7\u30d6\u30e4\u30b9\u30af\u30e9\u30f3\u30d6\u30eb\u30b9\u30c8\u30fc\u30ea\u30fc\u30ba\u3000|\u3000\u30b2\u30fc\u30e0\u30d7\u30ec\u30a4\u30c7\u30e2\u52d5\u753b\" width=\"1160\" height=\"653\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9QLnPW3AStM?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 class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The demo (shown above) isn\u2019t a 1:1 representation of gameplay, as some footage may differ from the final game. <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/jiro_ishii\/status\/2094795845313212704?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">According to Ishii<\/a>, the visual novel portions are running \u201calmost entirely\u201d on the in-game engine and are what the team is hoping to achieve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It was also announced that Japanese influencer Namae wa Mada Nai and professional wrestler Unagi Sayaka will be playing two new characters. Namae wa Mada Nai plays Mido, a female college student who aspires to be a journalist. To get closer to achieving her dream, she writes and posts news articles on social media, many of which have racked up several views from readers. Unagi Sayaka plays Unagi Nagiko, a devout follower of Shibuya\u2019s local \u201cBanana Cult,\u201d which has been active for several decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A stretch goal for the first phase of the CAMPFIRE crowdfunding campaign stated that one major, non-playable character would be included in the story once the project reached a cumulative 100 million JPY in funding. While that goal wasn\u2019t reached during the first phase, it was just shy of roughly $10 thousand USD \u2013 an amount it managed to obtain at the start of the second phase, meaning we could be seeing more additions to the roster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Shibuya Scramble Stories is currently in development. The <a href=\"https:\/\/camp-fire.jp\/projects\/973839\/view\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">second phase of its CAMPFIRE crowdfunding campaign<\/a> is currently ongoing until September 30. You can find more about the game on its <a href=\"https:\/\/shibuyascramblestories.publishing.skeletoncrew.co.jp\/en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">official webpage<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Shibuya Scramble Stories is a spiritual successor to 428: Shibuya Scramble, directed by Jiro Ishii himself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":71759,"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":"2026-09-02T11:00:58+00:00","uri":"at:\/\/did:plc:uzrrhkfyjrfdsynj2voztcf2\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3mujrtnbhqn2l","response":"{\"uri\":\"at:\/\/did:plc:uzrrhkfyjrfdsynj2voztcf2\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3mujrtnbhqn2l\",\"cid\":\"bafyreih37q5iicfxh6jqk2cugvsak6edg57jdnrhprfyokdviqwv2zgtbi\",\"commit\":{\"cid\":\"bafyreia4byo2phc5iycup6pxvtplzlfvrnwitksylrmiv2w5qdgg5pgq4i\",\"rev\":\"3mujrtnblnn2l\"},\"validationStatus\":\"valid\"}"}],"autoblue_post_url":"","autoblue_publish_document":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-71757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":7}},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Shibuya Scramble Stories crowdfunding surpasses $625 thousand USD. Gameplay demo and two new characters unveiled - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\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\/shibuya-scramble-stories-crowdfunding-surpasses-625-thousand-usd-gameplay-demo-and-two-new-characters-unveiled\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Shibuya Scramble Stories crowdfunding surpasses $625 thousand USD. 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Gameplay demo and two new characters unveiled - AUTOMATON WEST","og_description":"Shibuya Scramble Stories is a spiritual successor to 428: Shibuya Scramble, directed by Jiro Ishii himself.","og_url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/shibuya-scramble-stories-crowdfunding-surpasses-625-thousand-usd-gameplay-demo-and-two-new-characters-unveiled\/","og_site_name":"AUTOMATON WEST","article_published_time":"2026-09-02T11:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1465,"height":822,"url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/20260902-71757-headerjpg.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Carlos \"Zoto\" Zotomayor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_site":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Carlos \"Zoto\" Zotomayor","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/shibuya-scramble-stories-crowdfunding-surpasses-625-thousand-usd-gameplay-demo-and-two-new-characters-unveiled\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/shibuya-scramble-stories-crowdfunding-surpasses-625-thousand-usd-gameplay-demo-and-two-new-characters-unveiled\/"},"author":{"name":"Carlos \"Zoto\" Zotomayor","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/2812ca8facd5f161edfbc531cf81eb31"},"headline":"Shibuya Scramble Stories crowdfunding surpasses $625 thousand USD. 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