Dizzy Returns won't meet funding target

Philip and Andrew Oliver have publicly admitted that their Dizzy Returns Kickstarter is almost certainly going to fall short of its ambitious £350,000 goal.

"As of today the total amount pledged stands at just over £23,000 of our £350,000 goal - in order to meet that we'd need over £40,000 pledged every day, and realistically that's not going to happen," they stated on the Kickstarter page.

"There's certainly no shame in admitting that though, and we believe that rather than posting updates under the pretence that we might hit our target, it's much better to be honest and upfront with you, our backers."

The brothers had previously been forced to defend the £350,000 target they had set, which many argued seem high.

“At its very simplest the cost of making any game is a combination of content, people and time; the more content there is in a game, the more people working on it and the more time spent adding and polishing features will always mean a higher cost. We believe that £350,000 is a realistic amount that reflects the number of people, the amount of time, and the amount of content we want to dedicate to Dizzy Returns.”

Now the pair recognise that a lack of gameplay footage could have been a factor when it came to tempting backers, part of a bigger issue of the game being in the pre-development stage. And while they're grateful to the 774 funders they did manage to attract, the game is unlikely to ever see the light of day.

"Dizzy Returns at least will not be made if the campaign is not funded successfully, as is looking likely. We may revisit the possibility of another Dizzy game at a later date, but the vision of that game would need to be considerably different," the twins added.

"We'll be using time left of the campaign to share the rest of the concept work and designs we have with you, as well as asking for your thoughts about the future of Dizzy. As per Kickstarter's policy on unsuccessful projects, not meeting our target means that you will not be charged a penny."

Philip and Andrew Oliver are the founders of Blitz Games Studios, which has worked on titles like Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two, Kumo Lumo and Puss In Boots.