So, here’s some news which backers of The Guardian’s Spell probably knew was coming but didn’t want to believe. Today Winged Cloud posted an update with only three lines of text. Here’s the entire post:
“We’re refunding everyone who backed this campaign. The refund process will take roughly 2-4 weeks. The project is now closed.”
This comes after a single “progress update” post in November of 2014, which itself was the only update to Kickstarter after the campaign succeeded in April 2014 (or before, for that matter). Jenni Lada of Technology Tell managed to get a hold of the developer in December. At that time, Winged Cloud revealed issues which had apparently kept them from progressing on the game – although those claims were disputed.
Sakura Spirit screenshot
Disregarding the dramatic aspect, they were apparently still committed to The Guardian’s Spell. At what point did that change? We can’t know as they’ve provided no reason for the campaign cancellation whatsoever. My speculation is that they’ve found such outrageous success with the “Sakura” series of visual novels that they see no reason to produce another otome release. Their other otome title, Pyrite Heart, is cute but undoubtedly can’t hold a candle to the performance of Sakura Spirit and Sakura Angels.
If you backed The Guardian’s Spell all you can do now is wait for your pledge refund to roll in. Those who still wish to support Winged Cloud can do so by following their Patreon. At the moment, they raise around $400 a month toward the continued production of more Sakura series titles.
Are you happy, mad, or simply perplexed by The Guardian Spell’s sudden cancellation? Share your thoughts in the comments!
I didn’t back this one but I do have to give them kudos for doing the right thing and refunding everyone who did. It’s shows they’ve got integrity.
You would think they would put out an official statement? Regardless of the amount of backers, somebody must have cared wether or not this title came out.
I’d like to see an official statement, and maybe they will still post one. At the moment though I feel like the post sounds like they’d rather just put this failure behind them and never look back.
This was pretty predictable. Surprised it took them this long to refund them. Though my guess it has to be due to making enough money from the Sakura titles to be able to refund everyone the money from the loss of funds they’ve already spent on Guardian’s Spell, if the rumors are true.
I agree, Roxie. Actually, an article about my opinion on why this was canceled will be going up on Cliqist soon. It’s lucky that they did have success with Sakura games at least, otherwise they probably wouldn’t be able to do refunds (as some closed KS projects have had the stress of dealing with).
[…] Kickstarter Success The Guardian’s Spell Visual Novel Cancelled […]
This post is great (the content, not the unfortunate events surrounding it, of course). It makes me wish I had created a visual timeline to stick in the article for ease of reference. Because really, when you break down the times for when stuff happened (ex: VNSnow putting the heat on Winged Cloud and them posting an update right afterward) it is very telling.
I actually wrote this before Sakura Fantasy launched, but it is amazing to see that the campaign was canceled only a day before the launch of Sakura Fantasy. Interestingly, until a few weeks ago their Patreon page had listed “Sakura Fantasy,” “Sakura Beach,” and “Sakura Dungeon” as projects being funded. Now it only says Sakura Fantasy – and that was after I sent an email to them asking about the impressive proliferation of the series at the cost of TGS (basically, this post would have been an interview like the Lupiesoft article http://cliqist.com/2015/05/31/look-lupiesoft-dizzy-hearts-kickstarter/ if they had provided answers). In MY OPINION (!!!) I feel they may have temporarily removed those titles as they knew an article about The Guardian’s Spell was forthcoming.
Since you backed the project, would you be able to comment again if/when you receive a refund? As a non backer I can only assume that they’re holding true to their word, but will not know unless actual backers such as yourself help “close” the story.
Just thought I would check back in and let you know that it is now past the 2-4 week mark and there has yet to be anyone confirming to have received a refund. Myself included.