The Japanese studio Neonlight announced on Wednesday (11) that it will turn to a new crowdfunding campaign to fund a lawsuit related to a previous fundraiser. The company, responsible for the visual novel Purgatory Blue, says that it did not receive the ¥10.9 million raised in 2025 through the Ubugoe platform and now intends to seek recovery of the funds in court.
The new campaign is scheduled to begin on November 13, on the Ci-en platform, with a target of approximately ¥610,000, including fees. The money will go toward legal fees for a civil lawsuit against Ubugoe and its representative.
According to producer cittan*, also known as Fumihisa Tanaka, the studio was able to pay part of the initial fees and legal costs with its own funds, but it still needs to raise ¥512,380 to cover the remaining costs. The decision was announced by the producer on social media and detailed by the Japanese website AUTOMATON.
Why the first crowdfunding campaign ended in a dispute
The original campaign for Purgatory Blue ran between July and September 2025 and raised ¥10,935,092 from 485 backers, surpassing the ¥7 million goal by 56%.
According to Neonlight, Ubugoe, responsible for receiving payments from backers, was supposed to transfer the funds by November 30, 2025. The studio says the money did not arrive and that successive payment promises were also not fulfilled.
The developer hired a lawyer in January 2026 and, the following month, began proceedings to file a criminal complaint. Now it has decided to add a civil lawsuit to try to hold the platform accountable and recover the funds.
The producer says he was warned by his lawyers that the chances of recovering the money are low, but he considers it necessary to proceed with the legal measures to fulfill his commitments to the backers.
The problem also affected the game's development. Neonlight reports that it had to temporarily suspend external hiring, although it kept production in-house. An additional campaign, held between July and August 2026, raised ¥1,789,650 to support the project's continuation. According to the studio, those funds were entirely allocated to development, which is why the legal dispute will have a separate fundraising campaign.
The new campaign is scheduled to end on November 30, 2026. Meanwhile, Purgatory Blue continues in development for PC, with a release planned for July 2027 or later.
The alleged failure to transfer the funds and the accusations against Ubugoe remain based on the developer's statements. No final court decision has been presented that establishes the platform's criminal liability.
