Project Phoenix Could Still Rise From The Ashes

The idea behind Project Phoenix is pretty sound. Take experienced developers from the west and Japan and make a jrpg with some squad based strategy thrown in. What could go wrong? Apparently, a lot. The million dollar project has had a troubled history to say the least. Problems in the past have included everything from delays, to not having a programmer on board, to scores and scores of backers asking for refunds. In short, the future of Project Phoenix has never been certain.

Japan based developer CIA, Inc hopes to start this year with some actual progress. In the latest update, it was announced that Project Phoenix now has a new programmer. While the salary for said programmer wasn’t accounted for in the budget, the developer will be paying for that expense out of pocket.

Still, the update was skimpy when it came to other news of progress. Although the update contained a section for milestones, there didn’t seem to be any listed, just a promise that news of milestones would be coming in the future. If there’s been any progress aside from the new programmer being hired, CIA, Inc didn’t write about it. And the problem of backers wanting their money back hasn’t gone away. A few backers are requesting refunds in the comment section of the latest update, which makes me wonder if others are still contacting the team in other ways to request their refunds.

There has been some positive reactions from backers as well however. Some spent their time to give Director and Producer Hiroaki Yura some encouraging words, while others defended Project Phoenix, citing other games that have taken a lot longer than expected to be developed.

At the moment, it’s hard to say what the future of Project Phoenix holds. With the promising premise of the game, many are still holding out hope that it will someday be finished, but the long delays and problems in the game’s development make me worried that the next update won’t offer any good news. Still, at least with the new programmer, the team might be finally moving in the right direction.