American McGee: Akaneiro is "100 percent finished," developer "not out of money"

Akaniero: Demon Hunters

The Kickstarter page for free-to-play ARPG Akaneiro: Demon Hunters stated that American McGee's studio, Spicy Horse, ran "out of time and money" for final polishing . McGee evidently took umbrage with the media focus on that line, clarifying to Kotaku today that Akaneiro is "100 percent finished" and Spicy Horse has money to spare.

"The game is 100 percent finished," he said. "The company is not out of money. The project was completed on time, on budget, and will be shipped this month. It has been in closed beta with 25k people having run through it since late last year."

Spicy Horse removed the "out of time/money" sentence from its Kickstarter page after McGee contacted Kotaku. The designer explained the Akaneiro team simply meant "they came to the natural end of their development cycle on that project" and didn't intend any message of financial troubles.

"As we're not publisher funded, and because we can't afford to continue development indefinitely, we're asking the audience," McGee said. "We're giving them a chance to decide whether or not these additional features sound worthwhile."

It's true Akaneiro's Kickstarter campaign focuses on additional features to the core game, but some of the promised bonuses for meeting the $200,000 goal—like co-op multiplayer and a crafting system—seem quite baseline for free-to-play games of this caliber. Still, McGee stated Akaneiro's January release will proceed forward regardless of the campaign's performance, as the "final" version was set by Spicy Horse's "existing internal schedule and budget."

Omri Petitte

Omri Petitte is a former PC Gamer associate editor and long-time freelance writer covering news and reviews. If you spot his name, it probably means you're reading about some kind of first-person shooter. Why yes, he would like to talk to you about Battlefield. Do you have a few days?

Latest in Action
A long bendy arm stealing money from people in a subway car
'You're a very long arm. You steal things. It's a comedy game,' explains developer of comedy game where you steal things with a very long arm
The First Berserker: Khazan review - Blade Phantom
How to claim The First Berserker: Khazan pre-order bonus and deluxe edition DLC
gta 6 trailer
Publishers 'don't want to be anywhere near' Grand Theft Auto 6 when it launches: 'It's proving to be very stressful'
An image of a Helldiver from Helldivers 2 shooting at a red dragon from Dungeons & Dragons.
'Ok, so dragon builds are a thing now': galaxy-brained Helldivers 2 player incinerates a bile titan with a hover pack and a flamethrower
Assassin's Creed Shadows promo image
Ubisoft scores a legendary ratio against Elon Musk on his own platform—which hopefully marks a final end to all the Assassin's Creed Shadows' culture war nonsense
Assassin's Creed Shadows immersive mode - Naoe holding a tanto in her hand as two guards fall to the ground behind her.
Assassin's Creed Shadows' first hotfix addresses stability issues and a photo mode crash
Latest in News
Two brightly colored stormtroopers dressed like Run-DMC stand in front of PAX Australia's WELCOME HOME banner.
Tickets for PAX Australia 2025 are on sale now
An Enshrouded player in a recreation of Erebor from The Lord of the Rings
Kings under the Mountain! 33 Enshrouded players spent 10,000 hours to recreate this iconic location from The Lord of the Rings
A mech awakens.
Mecha Break developer is considering unlocking all mechs following open beta feedback
Lara Croft Unified Art
Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics lays off 17 employees 'to better align our current business needs and the studio's future success'
A long bendy arm stealing money from people in a subway car
'You're a very long arm. You steal things. It's a comedy game,' explains developer of comedy game where you steal things with a very long arm
The heroes are attacked by monsters
Pillars of Eternity is getting turn-based combat to mark its 10th anniversary, and that means PC Gamer editors will soon be arguing about combat mechanics again