Back in July, comcept opened up slacker backer PayPal donations for Mighty No. 9 with the goal of adding voice acting to the final game. However, something was lost in communication, leaving fans confused and wondering if the team had run out of money or if it was trying to rip fans off with new features that probably shouldn't cost so much. To address those concerns, the Mighty No. 9 Kickstarter page received this informative update.
The original slacker goal was to add English voice acting if $100K extra was collected. That was later raised to $200K to include Japanese VAs as well. Why would getting voices in a single language cost 100 grand? The team broke down the budget:
Rough estimates, but it should give you an idea that voice acting, even in a simple platformer, can be an expensive endeavor. Nonetheless, fans haven't been as quick to chip in extra money as comcept may have hoped — only $20K has been raised via the slacker method. But the team was determined to get VAs on board, so they sought an alternative.
As it turns out, project creator Keiji Inafune is allowing a slight diverting of revenue from Kickstarter backers who have upgraded their pledges when finalizing their reward tiers over on merchandising partner Fangamer. As a result, an extra $80K has been scored, hitting the original $100K goal and allowing voice acting in at least one language to be added to the game.
Instead of getting English by default, backers are receiving emails to vote on whether they want English or Japanese voices in the final game. Voting will end on October 12, with results to be posted two days later.
Mighty No. 9 is scheduled for release on Windows, Mac, Linux, Wii U, 3DS, PS4, PS3, PS Vita, Xbox One, and Xbox 360 in 2015.
