Skip to main content

Developer claims ‘Project Phoenix’ creator stole from Kickstarter

Project Phoenix, a Japanese role-playing game with real-time strategy elements created by Area 35 and director Hiroaki Yura, raised more than $1 million on Kickstarter more than four years ago and promised to set a “new standard of excellence for the Japanese gaming industry.” It was originally scheduled to launch in 2015 and updates have been sporadic since then, and a former developer’s accusations against Yura suggest the delays haven’t just been because the team is running behind schedule.

Former Area 35 developer Tariq Lacy posted on the official Project Phoenix Facebook page late last week, saying that Yura had diverted the $1 million received for the game from Kickstarter in order to fund the strategy game Tiny Metal, which is scheduled to release in December. Lacy said that much of the funds were used to establish Area 35 and pay for staff and equipment for Tiny Metal, and that Yura only began seeking help from outside investors after this Kickstarter money had run low.

Recommended Videos

“You will notice progress reports on the Project Phoenix Kickstarter blog, as well as their official Project Phoenix blog,” Lacy continued. “These were written periodically by Hiroaki Yura himself in order to assuage fears that the project was dead. The nature of these blog entries, through their infrequency and intentional ambiguity, reveals to us that the project was never meant to be released.”

The official Facebook page for the game responded to a question about the original post, saying that it was from a “disgruntled staff [member] who [had] been asked to leave because he was not doing his job and not expressing the views of Project Phoenix.”

The official Project Phoenix response also claimed there were “factual inconsistencies” in Lacy’s post and that the team would be “taking action” and prove its innocence through “official records.”

Speaking to Kotaku, Yura alleged Lacy sexually harassed Area 35’s female staff in addition to “many other problems.” He added that funding for Tiny Metal initially came from a group of investors in Australia and the studio partnered with Sony’s new label Unties in order to complete development. Lacy denied the sexual harassment allegations, calling them “libel.”

We likely haven’t heard the end of this story — Tiny Metal was scheduled to launch on Tuesday, November 21, but has been delayed to December 21. The game will be available on PlayStation 4, Switch, and PC.

Gabe Gurwin
Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…
If you need a new Nintendo Switch 2 game already, don’t miss Battle Train
A conductor sends a train car forward in Battle Train.

Whenever I get a new video game handheld (there are a lot of them these days), my first goal is always to find my "go-to game." I seek out the kind of replayable puzzlers or roguelikes that I will always keep installed and come back to whenever I don't have anything new to play. On Nintendo 3DS, it was Dr. Mario Miracle Cure. On Nintendo Switch, it was Tetris 99. On Steam Deck, it was Vampire Survivors. And now on Nintendo Switch 2, it's Battle Train.

The new deckbuilding roguelike, published by Bandai Namco, has everything I want from a long-term console staple. It has that all-important "one more run" hook, strategic depth that reveals itself with each attempt, and tons of unlockables. It's right up there with StarVaders as one of 2025's most inventive and purely pleasurable games.

Read more
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2’s cutscenes are so good, they’ll screen at a film festival
Henry of Skalitz looks at the camera.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 has been criticized as an interactive movie, but now it's getting an actual movie of sorts: the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival is showing a "cinematic cut" of the game on July 9. Warhorse Studios calls it a "proud moment for games as a serious storytelling medium."

What that cinematic cut will look like is anyone's guess, but unless it's absurdly long, it won't be able to capture the full story. Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 has somewhere around a dozen hours of cutscenes for just the main story alone, not to mention the many, many sidequests in the game. While it would be hilarious to see viewers roped into a 15-hour-long Let's Play, that seems unlikely.

Read more
Marathon has been delayed indefinitely after rocky Alpha playtest
A Runner getting shot in Marathon.

After hosting an Alpha playtest and taking in community feedback, Bungie has announced that Marathon will no longer be launching on September 23 as was originally planned. Currently, the extraction shooter has no set release date, but the team is committed to hosting more playtests to address community concerns and add new features.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlC31D_Rr-Y&t=6s

Read more