https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQULhOhjAsc
So I think it is a fact now that when the gaming community really wants something they can get it. Take Shenmue 3 for instance, people have been asking for the final part of that series for ages and when the gaming community was asked to handle the bill it gladly paid over 6 million. The Ouya received similar treatment but has since gone belly up… a fate that hopefully won’t be shared by Shenmue when it is released… eventually. Of course not all games that try to work around the normal system with KickStarter can say they did as well or made anything for that matter.
Just today however the Muv-Luv trilogy was backed up close to 1.3 million, which is kind of funny because they only asked for 250 thousand. While far from the highest backed game ever I think it is safe to say it is most likely the highest backed visual novel game ever with almost 8,000 backers (myself included for a Vita set). Video games on Kickstarter are a funny thing; sometimes they are driven by nostalgia while other times they seem to be driven by a desire to try something new and innovative… others I don’t really know because look like crap to me but to each their own I suppose.
So what is Muv-Luv? A Japanese style visual novel game it primarily focuses on romantic comedy and sci-fi mech suits. Starting on PC, which is the version I remember as a young man when it was a more adult game. The series has a large following, especially in Japan. After some more time sequels were released on the PS3 and Xbox in Japan but the game never made it to the states. Recently a kind of remaster complete trilogy was announced to be released in Japan on January 21st. I can guarantee if it wasn’t for this Kickstarter it never would have made it stated side again but now it will be localized and receive an English translation. While it will be released in Japan soon the rest of us will have to wait, the current release is hopefully set for September 2016.
While the visual novel genre has never been a big hit in the states and mostly dominated primarily by the Japanese game market there has been a slow increase in visual novel games. Prime examples include Hakuoki and Corpse Party, both of which received physical copies and did alright. Frankly I am excited to see this game and glad to see how much funding it received. Now that the major gaming industry sees how well they can do with genres like this maybe it will open the doors a little for other things. Since the Kickstarter made around 5 times what is was asking for I wonder if anything special will be added. Maybe move up the release date? Physical copies of the stretch goals for collector box people? Or some great surprise gift… that doesn’t involve running away with all the extra.
