Development of Armed Fantasia: To the End of the Wilderness has been discontinued, Digital Bros has revealed during its latest earnings report. In addition, Directorate Novitiate and the Battle Island sequel have also been shelved.
You can read the full statement below:
[Digital Bros] decided to discontinue the development of some videogames , Directorate Novitiate, Armed Fantasia, and the sequel to the free-to-play game Battle Island, after multiple attempts to revise their gameplay.
The decisions followed a thorough review of the potential of each product in consideration of changing market conditions and the additional investment required to complete development to bring the games to the market. As a result, the Group reported non-cash asset impairment of €18.7 million , including €17.6 million in write-offs relating to the discontinued projects and €1 million in impairment losses on videogames for which impairment testing indicated that the present value of expected future cash flows was below the carrying amount of the related assets, to reflect lower sales expectations.
Armed Fantasia: To the End of the Wilderness is a spiritual successor to the Wild Arms franchise, and was announced in 2022 as part of a Double Kickstarter campaign alongside Penny Blood. Back in August that same year, it was revealed that the crowdfunding campaign had reached its first stretch goal that secured the game a planned release on consoles.
[Source – Digital Bros Financial Report via Gematsu]