VR wedding project would have allowed backers to marry 4 characters from Azur Lane game

M2 and GRASPER's Vigor Ball crowdfunding campaign for their "Azur Lane x Wedding VR" project failed to reach its 18 million yen (about US$160,500) goal on Wednesday, which resulted in the cancellation of the project.

In a post on the project page, the companies outlined further reasons for the project's cancellation. The staff stated that the project began with no confirmation from the respective voice actresses or their agencies on whether they could voice the characters, and also without estimated costs. The companies cited lack of communication on their end with the voice actresses' respective agencies as a reason for the failure.

The project would have allowed backers to "marry" one of four characters from Shanghai Manjuu and Xiamen Yongshi's Azur Lane smartphone game: Akagi, Enterprise, Illustrious, and Hood. Backers would have been able to sign up for a virtual reality (VR) wedding ceremony, with included goods such as character-specific wedding rings, dakimakura, and a "wedding tour" that would have sent backers on a tour to the respective naval bases of the real life ships on which the characters are based.

In the original Azur Lane game for iOS and Android devices, players collect early 20th century warships from various countries and use fleets of six ships to battle enemies.

Shanghai Manjuu and Xiamen Yongshi developed the game, and Bilibili released it in China in May 2017. Shanghai Yostar released it in Japan in September 2017. The game has become popular in Japan with more than 6 million downloads, and a collaboration with Compile Heart's Hyperdimension Neptunia game ran in December. XD Global also released the game in South Korea in February 2018.

Yostar is developing an English version of the game. A closed beta launched in the United States and Canada between August 2-9, and an open beta launched on August 17.

The game is inspiring a television anime adaptation by Tensho (Grisaia, Rewrite, Kinmoza) and Bibury Animation Studio.

Compile Heart announced last month that it is publishing Azur Lane: Crosswave , a new action game for the PlayStation 4 based on the smartphone game. Felistella is developing the game, and the game will launch in 2019.

Source: Azur Lane x Wedding VR project page via Otakomu