Just over a month from the reveal of Project Rap Rabbit, the ambitious rhythm game from the minds behind PaRappa the Rapper and Gitaroo Man is on hold for now. While fans showed a lot of interest in the project, it did not generate enough funds for development to continue.
Project Rap Rabbit was the brainchild of several rhythm genre veterans, who wanted to create a story-driven game about anthropomorphic animals with a particularly lyrical flair. There were plans for multiplayer rap battles, emergent lyrics, across multiple platforms — but none of that is likely to come to pass anytime soon now that the campaign has drawn to a close.
The news was announced on the game’s campaign page, where the developers lamented that it had not achieved the $1.1 million goal it originally aimed for, instead only securing $204,00 worth of pledges. However, they thanked the fanbase profusely and said that they were very much encouraged by the interest that had been shown and the fan art that had been created since the game’s initial announcement.
Although the developers did not exhibit at this year’s E3 show, they did spend a lot of time in meetings during it. While we have not been told what those meetings entailed, the language used in the post suggests that they were positive and could lead to future rhythm action game developments.
Moving forward though, Project Rap Rabbit has been put on hold and will remain so for the foreseeable future. While it may be possible to use existing funds to produce something of worth, the developers said that they didn’t want to compromise their original vision, nor scale back on the ideas that have come to the fore since.
However, while they are pretty firm that the game’s development has stopped, for now, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the end of Project Rap Rabbit for good. The E3 meetings suggested it is possible we will see a publisher-backed version of the game at some point in the future.
“From all of us here at iNiS J and NanaOn-Sha, thank you again for your journeying with us. We sincerely hope this isn’t the last time you’ll hear of Project Rap Rabbit,” the statement reads in closing.
For a look at some exciting campaigns that may reach their goals, check out our list of the top Kickstarter campaigns running this week.
