Suikoden veteran developer-made Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes was the biggest video game Kickstarter campaign in 2020.
As stated in our prior coverage, the 2.5D JRPG’s development team includes Yoshitaka Murayama writing the story (Suikoden, Suikoden II), Junko Kawano handling character design (Suikoden, Suikoden IV), and Osamu Komuta handling “system design and direction” (Suikoden Tactics, Suikoden Tierkreis).
The Kickstarter campaign launched July 27th, and sought $500,000 USD. Despite issues with the entire Kickstarter website going down (many claiming it was the popularity of the campaign that did it), it soon blew past that in a matter of hours, achieving over $1 million USD later that day.
While at $4.3 million USD less than two hours before it concluded, the campaign finished with over $4.5 million USD, and all stretch goals reached. It became the 3rd most funded video game on Kickstarter. This places it behind Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night ($5.5 million USD) and Shenmue 3 ($6.3 million USD).
Polygon reports that the Kickstarter campaign for Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes was the biggest video game Kickstarter campaign of 2020. Along with raising ¥481,621,841 JPY (an estimated $4,599,488.58 USD at this time of writing), the camapign also had the most backers at 46,307 strong.
You can find the full results of the top 10 below. Editor’s Note: All USD estimations were conducted at this time of writing.
- Eiyuden Chronicles: Hundred Heroes (Rabbit & Bear Studios) ¥481,621,841 JPY (Est. $4.5 million USD), 46,307 backers.
- The Wonderful 101: Remastered (Platinum Games) ¥235,320,528 JPY (Est. $2.2 million USD), 33,199 backers.
- Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous (Owlcat Games) $2,054,339 USD, 35,092 backers.
- Sea of Stars (Sabotage) $1,628,126 CAD (Est. $1.27 million USD), 25,589 backers.
- Kindred Fates (Skymill Studios) $685,769 USD, 10,876 backers.
- My Time At Sandrock (Pathea Games) $524,770 USD, 9,915 backers.
- Venus Blood Hollow (Ninetail) ¥37,663,844 JPY (Est. $360,000 USD), 1,537 backers.
- Anstoss 2022 (2tainment) €246,496 EUR (Est. $300,000 USD), 3,888 backers.
- Curse of the Sea Rats (Petoons Studio) €242,395 EUR (Est. $295,000 USD), 5,958 backers.
- The Last Faith (Kumi Souls Games) £210,075 GBP (Est. $283,000 USD), 4,053 backers.
Successful video game Kickstarters raised $22.9 million USD in 2020. However, this pales in comparison to successful tabletop games, which raised $233.8 million USD.
In case you missed it, you can find our interview with the game’s writer Yoshitaka Murayama (Suikoden, Suikoden II) here. It was conducted during the campaign’s infancy.
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes will launch Fall 2022 for Windows PC (via Steam), PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and possibly Nintendo Switch.
Image: Kickstarter