Mighty No. 9 has hit several snags since its successful Kickstarter in 2013. The game was meant to release in spring 2015, but was delayed into 2016. Public opinion of developer comcept is turning negative as they have started crowdfunding campaigns for Red Ash, a Red Ash anime, and bonus content for Mighty No. 9 before delivering the game they initially requested funding for. Recently, the Kickstarter for Red Ash failed to reach its goal, but was unexpectedly funded by an unknown company which made fans wonder why the campaign was necessary at all.
Mighty No. 9 producer Nick Yu tried to explain the challenges of development in an interview with Engadget, sharing his own disappointment in delaying the game.
You know that you have to tell the people, and it’ll make them sad; it’ll make them upset. And you’re the reason for that happening. You’re the one making it. Even if it was accidental, or you had no control over it, you’re the reason the delay happened. We feel bad. Really, really bad.
Yu gives some insight into the development process, with developers working 12 hour days and sleeping less than three hours a night. The crunch time in this game was increased by developing playable demos and updating backers frequently. He also mentions why comcept is working on so many projects even though Mighty No. 9 hasn’t released yet.
Timing-wise, it was bad, but for a small company like us, we need to have projects constantly to be working on, or we have people just sitting there doing nothing. For a small company, even a month of sitting there doing nothing will hurt us a lot.
People say, “Why are you overlapping these two projects together?” The answer to that is, “We have to.” Or people lose their jobs, or — this is a little bit exaggerated — the company can go bankrupt.
Nick Yu’s basic explanation of the latest delay is the appearance of new bugs and issues implementing the multiplayer mode.
The delays may be frustrating for fans were promised a certain release date, but delays can turn a mediocre game into a memorable one. That will be determined when Mighty No. 9 releases in early 2016.
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