Here’s a message from Murayama-san, leader of Rabbit & Bear, explaining what this entails for the backers:
A Message about the Game Pass contract and new DLC
A new Eiyuden Chronicle trailer with some new gameplay footage was revealed at E3! I hope all of our backers enjoyed it!
I’d like to give a comment on the Game Pass deal with Microsoft that was announced at the show and give a big surprise report to everyone.
We at R&B Studios started this project to create Eiyuden Chronicle the way we would like it to be. We are not a big game company and started from almost nothing. So we needed a solution to secure the IP to our own game, and gain development funding while keeping that IP.
So, we approached our backers through crowdfunding, and all of you showed your support in a big way.
Of course, the $4million+ raised is a huge amount of money. The development of a game requires a lot of money, especially in the RPG genre, which makes it difficult to create new titles. We were continuing negotiations and efforts to secure funding even after the Kickstarter campaign ended.
Our success on Kickstarter was not just about funding: it also gave us confidence that we have so many passionate fans supporting us. As the result of all your support, we were able to secure a partnership with 505 Games.
This is exactly what we were hoping for, and 505 Games has never intervened in our creative process on developing Eiyuden Chronicle.
And now, we have received a huge offer from Microsoft to join Game Pass.
We decided to accept this offer and we believe this will ultimately be a positive push which will move the project of Eiyuden Chronicle forward. We are aiming to make Eiyuden Chronicle an enjoyable title for a long period of time.
We’ve already announced that we’ll be releasing “Seign’s story” as DLC1 and “Marisa’s story” as DLC2 at regular intervals following the release of the main game. And with the Game Pass deal, we promise our backers that we will continue to enhance the quality and the content of Eiyuden Chronicle, while at the same time, giving back to you in a more tangible way.
The project of Eiyuden Chronicle, which you have nurtured with your kind support, is now ready to give its fruits back to you.
This was initially planned and the project was once cancelled due to funding reasons. But we are pleased to announce to you that we are creating “DLC3”!
We want this DLC to symbolize the fact that Eiyuden Chronicle was started thanks to the enthusiastic support of the backers. DLC3 will be created in collaboration with you!
And of course, we will add this DLC3 as a reward for all backers.
We hope that you will be happy with this plan.
To ensure the longevity of Eiyuden Chronicle, we are also planning online content which will help you enjoy the game for a long period of time.
We would like to thank all of you for your continued support and encouragement on Eiyuden Chronicle.
Rabbit＆Bear Studios
Yoshitaka Murayama
