Disarmed

Armed Fantasia, a JRPG pitched as a spiritual successor the PS2-era roleplaying series Wild Arms – and led by former Wild Arms producer Akifumi Kaneko – has been cancelled. Digital Bros, the parent company of Armed Fantasia publishers 505 Games, announced in a financial statement that it was one of several games for which "The Group decided to discontinue development," the others being a sequel to F2P strategy game Battle Islands and action RPG Directorate Novitiate, which had already revealed its own demise in May.

Armed Fantasia’s path from conception to cancellation was an unusual one. It was originally unveiled in 2022 as part of a “Double Kickstarter” campaign with fellow JPRG Penny Blood, which was also inspired by (and developed by veterans of) a 90s/00s RPG series – Shadow Hearts, in this instance. Instead of asking for crowdfunding to finance these two games in full, however, the pitch specified that any money raised would go towards proof of concept demos, with a view to get both games a conventional publishing deal.

Despite the lack of indie iconoclasm, the campaign was wildly successful, nearly quadrupling its ¥100,000,000 goal to raise ¥379,328,385. RPS’ Julian, overcome with the need to do maths, calculates that as £2,334,572 (and 75 pence) in 2022 money. The plan seemed to work, too, at least for Armed Fantasia, which was evidently picked up by 505 Games.

Penny Blood, however, was the first to fall into trouble. In May 2024, developers Studio Wildrose sued Japanese publishers Dangen Entertainment, and Dangen’s former CEO Ben Judd, accusing them of withholding production funds. Funds from the Double Kickstarter, in fact, which according to Studio Wildrose, Dangen and Judd were active participants in managing. As far as I can tell, the case is still ongoing, and while Penny Blood has not been formally cancelled, it remains in search of a publisher. A roguelike spinoff, Penny Blood: Hellbound, was even made and released later later in 2024, with the express purpose of raising the brand’s profile.

Meanwhile, Armed Fantasia seemingly enjoyed a relatively quiet development, though did end up missing its planned March 2025 launch, and was later delayed indefinitely. Now, with 505 ending it entirely, it looks very likely that neither of those widely-backed Kickstarter successes will yield a finished game. Best of luck to all the developers affected.