Though developer Subutai Corporation received $526,125 from 9,023 backers to fund their video game project CLANG successfully on July 9, 2012, a final update recently posted on its Kickstarter page has unfortunately revealed that the project has been terminated.
Creator Neal Stephenson explains why they have decided to end development of his historical sword-fighting title:
Last year, Subutai Corporation delivered the CLANG prototype and the other donor rewards as promised. The prototype was technically innovative, but it wasn't very fun to play. This is for various reasons. Some of these were beyond our control. Others are my responsibility in that I probably focused too much on historical accuracy and not enough on making it sufficiently fun to attract additional investment.
Neal Stephenson and some members of his team "absorbed significant financial losses" after "additional fundraising efforts failed and forced the team to cut their losses and disband in search of steady work."
Two dozen CLANG backers who asked for refunds have been given their money back; however, since this announcement, more backers have asked for refunds. Many backers are rightfully furious, in part because more than several backer rewards were not handed out (despite being told otherwise) and that Subutai Corporation only delivered an alpha demo instead of the promised game. They're also peeved that the update ends with a link to Subutai's other projects that need funding.
Several other backers, however, defend the company by reminding the community that all funding on Kickstarter is a risk and not a guarantee. They believe that Subutai actually made the effort to produce the game unlike other failed but fully funded Kickstarter projects.
