Mighty No. 9's already troubled development just received an extra helping of uh-oh. Comcept's crowd-funded indie platformer was much anticipated upon its announcement. Considered a spiritual successor to Mega Man, the project team is helmed by legendary producer Keiji Inafune as well as a number of other Mega Man alumni. This newest announcement, however, posted exclusively to Mighty No. 9's Kickstarter backers, reveals a second delay in the project's development, and this time there's no new release date:
'Although we understand that everyone was looking forward to playing Mighty No. 9 as soon as possible, a release delay is going to be announced for the game at Gamescom 2015,' the post reads. '...We are unable to confirm a final release date at this time, however we will be aiming for a release in Q1 2016.'
The reason for the delay is apparently a number of issues with the game's online features, which Comcept reports will directly impact players' enjoyment of the game if left unfixed. Finicky online features in what is presumably a single player experience is an eyebrow-raising dilemma, but in all fairness their relevance will be impossible to judge until the game is out.
Developmental issues are hardly a rarity among crowdfunded game projects, but in the case of Mighty No. 9, they've been a particularly perplexing occurrence for the project's backers. Mighty No. 9's initial announcement was overwhelmingly successful. It met its Kickstarter goal in only two days and ultimately raked in close to 400% of what was asked. Despite this, a springtime social media scuffle between Mighty No. 9's followers and its community manager, who among other things was heavy-handed in the moderation department and somewhat lacking in managerial experience, served to tarnish the project's reputation in the eyes of prospective players.
At this point it is still too early to condemn Mighty No. 9 outright. In an age where triple-A titles are released straight-up unfinished, it could be taken as refreshing that Comcept is committed enough to its project and its backers to actually get the job done. Predictably, though, the news is proving rather exasperating to the game's patrons.
The full announcement is only available to Kickstarter backers but can be read via screen capture over on NeoGAF. As of now, Mighty No. 9 is promised for an early 2016 release, but it does not yet have a set date.
