We're a little over two days away from the end of Unsung Story's Kickstarter campaign, and it's still not funded. That's kind of insane.


When I first saw that Final Fantasy Tactics creator Yasumi Matsuno wanted to design a spiritual successor to one of the greatest games ever made, I expected instant success. I thought it'd hit at least a million, but we're 56 hours away from the end, and Matsuno's new project, Unsung Story, is only at $511k out of $600,000.


Considering the talent involved—Matsuno, artist Akihiko Yoshida, and composer Hitoshi Sakimoto—and considering the public's general love for all things Final Fantasy Tactics, it's strange to see a project like this go unfunded.

Maybe it was the marketing plan—Unsung Story's descriptions and stretch goals have changed quite a bit over the past few weeks, and the extent of Matsuno's involvement has been a little unclear.

Maybe it's the lack of pedigree from Playdek, a company better known for board and card games than deep strategy-RPGs.

Maybe it's the fact that Playdek originally announced Unsung Story as both a tabletop game and a video game, which confused a lot of people.


Maybe it was Playdek making the mistake of announcing that the game will happen even if the Kickstarter goes unfunded.

Maybe it's the generic concept art shown so far, which feels more like a western RPG than any of the exotic designs that Yoshida is traditionally known for drawing.


Maybe it's just general Kickstarter malaise.

No matter the explanation, it's a bizarre phenomenon. It'll be interesting to see what happens to this one—and other big-name Kickstarter projects—as we ramp up on Year Three of the Kickstarter Phenomenon. (Full disclosure: I gave $20 to Unsung Story, although I'm a little skeptical about the game. I sure hope it turns into the Final Fantasy Tactics successor we all deserve.)