When Yasumi Matsuno’s Kickstarter campaign in partnership with Playdek wrapped up in February 2014, 15,824 backers (who contributed more than $660,000) expected they’d be playing Unsung Story in July of this year. That expected release date came and went. Now, two months later, developer Playdek is finally offering an update...but the news isn't good.

Playdek CEO Joel Goodman opened up about his company’s troubles to backers today, offering an apology for the long silence and assurances that Unsung Story has not been canceled. He indicates that outside publishers have shown interest, and that some of those conversations might bear fruit.

“Currently there is still interest from some parties, and while we will continue to explore what a partnership like that will mean for the development of the game, we can’t continue the silence due to those matters, and therefore why we are updating you now, and will continue from here on out on a regular development basis,” Goodman writes. “I understand that in hind sight it might appear that we could have just shared this with you all, but without knowing how it was going to impact the development and any announcements concerning the game, we chose to wait it through that timeframe. So again, my sincere apology for keeping the curtain closed.”

Unsung Story was pitched as a tactical RPG in the spirit of Matsuno’s past work on Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre. The focus of the original campaign was a single-player experience on PC, Mac, iOS, Android, and Windows tablets.

In his post, Goodman lays out a new development plan that pushes delivery out until a beta in mid-2016. Further, the focus has shifted to a multiplayer-first approach. PvP gameplay is landing first, with the first solo experience now scheduled for late 2016.

He suggests that Playdek’s internal financial issues led to layoffs of key staff across departments, which led to a delay in development.

Backers in the comments of yesterday’s update are accusing Playdek of a bait and switch. Many of them are demanding refunds, claiming that PvP was never part of the plan. In the comments, Playdek disputes this.

“The game has always been planned to have both a PVP aspect and Single Player story mode,” a company representative writes. “I believe most of the PVP discussions occurred in Updates, the comment section, and in interviews. The single player is going to be exactly what you are expecting. The campaign is where the story and characters will all come to life and will play similar to the other great tactical RPGs, while the PVP aspect will draw its inspiration from the story line and world of Rasfalia and will allow you to play against friends and other players.”

An examination of the Kickstarter pitch (the main page of the campaign) does not reveal any mention of multiplayer or a player-vs-player mode.