Indie tactical war game "Tiny Metal" has been delayed, and excited fans are worried not only because of the news but because of the fraud accusations against developer Hiroyuki Yura.
According to Kotaku, the fraud accusations came to light after Tariq Lacy (one of the developers) accused Yura of using the funds earned for "Phoenix Project" on his latest game "Tiny Metal."
Yura was outraged by the accusations, and fired some shots of his own, stating that Lacy was a toxic employee and that he was fired for sexually harassing his female co-workers. Since the initial shots were fired by Lacy, the two have been caught in a battle of accusations. Whether Yura is telling the truth or not, or whether Lacy's accusations are real or not, have yet to be proven at this point in time.
Fans, however, have mixed feelings regarding the issue.
In 2013, Yura gathered a small team together and launched a Kickstarter Campaign for a Japanese Roleplaying Game (JRPG) called "Phoenix Project," the goal of the campaign was to earn $100,000 to fund the creation of the game. Yura and his team ended up with $1,014,600, a whole lot more than they were originally asking for. They got to work on their project and it was set to be released sometime in 2015. That never happened and the game was delayed to 2018 instead.
Reportedly, Yura and his team are running low on funds for the actual game development.
And this where things start to get messy. Lacy accused Yura of taking the funds that his backers donated for "Project Phoenix" and using them on other things such as an office, equipment, and a team for the game "Tiny Metal."
Yura defended himself, stating that he used his own funds and money from investors in order to make "Tiny Metal" happen. Lacy rebuffed the statement once more, stating that it was another lie and an attempt to cover up Yura's wrongdoings.
Whether or not the truth will surface, only time will tell.
According to PC Gamer, "Tiny Metal" should be coming out sometime before Christmas.
