Japanese game designer Jiro Ishii and Skeleton Crew Studio have faced serious financial problems, despite the successful crowdfunding campaign for their visual novel Shibuya Scramble Stories. The project raised about 55 million yen (approximately $340,000), but the team received less than half of that amount.
As it turned out, the crowdfunding platform Ubgoe refused to transfer the remaining 27.75 million yen. In an interview with Denfaminicogamer, Ishii and his lawyer Takahiro Kasagi revealed details of the conflict, which caused a wave of outrage among the public.
According to Ishii, the platform was supposed to transfer the entire amount back on September 1, 2025. However, the payment did not arrive, and Ubgoe CEO Kazuo Okada stated that the money was allegedly "mistakenly sent to another client". Because of this, he said, the company could not promptly pay the full amount.
After consulting with a lawyer, Ishii managed to sign an agreement under which Ubgoe undertook to pay the money by September 16, 2025. However, only 6 million yen were transferred by this date. At the same time, Okada continued to insist that the funds had not been returned, but refused to provide any evidence of the erroneous transfer. Ishii's lawyer believes that such statements may be false, since in such cases a request to the bank is usually sufficient to return the funds.
The situation is aggravated by the platform's terms: according to Ubgoe's rules, the agreement is concluded directly between the investor and the project author. This means that the development team is obliged to fulfill all promises — including the release of the game and rewards — even if it has not actually received the collected money. Thus, the platform is not responsible in case of disappearance of funds.
Ishii himself admitted that he was not aware of such risks: according to him, he proceeded from the assumption that "people are kind by nature"
Despite the current situation, the development of Shibuya Scramble Stories is not under threat of disruption. The project received support from Tokyu Land Corporation, which helped to partially compensate for financial losses. At the same time, the team concluded a new agreement with Ubgoe on the phased payment of the remaining amount and intends to achieve a full refund of the funds, which Ishii called "precious money entrusted to us by our users".