Sorry for the lack of updates. All updates had to be put on hold pending a legal dispute with a disgruntled former employee of my other company AREA 35, Inc., Tariq Lacy.
The dispute is now resolved and Mr Lacy has publicly admitted the following: He had unauthorized third-party access to this project's Facebook page He used said access to falsely accuse and lie about the funding for this Kickstarter being embezzled to fund the development of AREA 35's game, TINY METAL.
Being clear once again, that's not something I would do, or have done, and no Kickstarter funding was ever used for anything other than work on Project Phoenix.
After pursuing litigation to defend myself from these lies, Tariq admitted that his claims were completely untrue and had agreed to publicly denounce his claims. However, he chose to not fully disclose and publicise his admission on his Facebook account as he had agreed which forced further legal action so that he would be held to his false words and be forced to disclose his dishonesty.
It's not surprising that it's difficult to get publicity to correct the record on a false accusation when it was so shocking to begin with, but I will continue to move forward.
Tariq's public apology on Facebook
Because of the lies that were spread to damage AREA 35's reputation and hurt TINY METAL's release, many of those interested in TINY METAL and those introduced to it in the context of the fake funding claims chose not to support the game. Despite the negative coverage based on that lie, the sales of TINY METAL have been OK. While not a smash hit, it also hasn't been a bust, and we've got some good reviews and great experience & feedback that we can apply to our next game.
Because Sony Music Entertainment/Unties was the publisher for TINY METAL, we unfortunately couldn't get permission to give it to Project Phoenix backers. In the future, however, I hope to be able to provide future games to you as my thanks while still pursuing the ultimate goal of Project Phoenix and the originally offered rewards.
As I've stated in the past, my aspiration for Project Phoenix itself is to secure outside funding to move it forward and present something at the scope that I've intended. Right now, that has meant pursuing an indirect path through other separate game projects like TINY METAL both as a proving ground for outside funding of Project Phoenix and a means to provide for my staff and children. Through developing and shipping other completed projects like TINY METAL, I aim to create the stepping stones needed to resume Project Phoenix and begin to provide all of you something tangible for your support. Project Phoenix will always be a marathon rather than a sprint, but I do plan to get there one step at a time.
Hiroaki Yura
Director / Producer of Project Phoenix