A Japanese game studio raised $340k in crowdfunding for their upcoming visual novel, only received half of it, and the platform’s explanation for the missing funds is almost unbelievable.
Skeleton Crew Studio ran a campaign last year on Ubgoe, a Japanese crowdfunding platform, for Shibuya Scramble Stories, a visual novel led by veteran game director Jiro Ishii. Fans poured in 55 million yen, more than ten times the original goal. What followed was anything but triumphant.
Shibuya Scramble Stories devs say crowdfunding platform CEO wired their money to the wrong person
In a new interview with Denfaminicogamer, Ishii and his legal counsel Takahiro Kasagi laid out what happened after Ubgoe missed its September 1, 2025 payment deadline. When Ishii followed up the next day, Ubgoe CEO Kazuo Okada told him the funds had been “mistakenly wired to a different client” and that an immediate payout was therefore impossible.
Ishii got Ubgoe to sign a memorandum guaranteeing full repayment by September 16, but only 6 million yen arrived by that date. Okada blamed the shortfall on the erroneous transfer not yet being returned.
When Ishii’s lawyer asked for proof of the transaction, however, Okada repeatedly refused to produce it. Kasagi suspected the claim was fabricated entirely, since a genuine mistaken transfer could simply be reversed through the bank.
Then it got worse. Ubgoe’s own terms place full responsibility for backer rewards on the project owner, regardless of whether the platform has actually paid out. Ishii said he never saw that coming. “I suppose I was acting under the assumption that people are inherently good,” he told Denfaminicogamer.
Skeleton Crew confirmed that development has not stalled, with Tokyu Land Corporation stepping in to provide support, and backer rewards remain on track. Ishii said he was determined to recover every yen, calling the missing funds “precious money entrusted to us by our customers.”
