Kimpossible: Glorious Leader! Kickstarter Ends After Hack
Proud of "Kimpossible"
In case you weren't paying attention, the world went a tad silly late last year when film studio Sony Pictures were hacked, allegedly by North Korea, in response to the impending release of the Seth Rogen/James Franco comedy The Interview. Now MoneyHorse, creators of side-scrolling Conta-esque platforming shooter Glorious Leader - which also stars North Korean leader Kim Jong-un - are saying that they've had to cancel their ongoing Kickstarter project in part because of a hack "inspired by the attack on Sony."
Here's a video of the game in action, in case you were wondering what all this is about:
The hack itself happened around the time the project launched and was first addressed by the development team in a post on Kickstarter on December 24th. In it, they explain that they are "sure that this is a hoax perpetrated by amateurs," and that they "have NO reason to believe that this was done by the GOP or anyone affiliated with North Korea." The post also makes clear that no user data was affected, only that files pertaining to the game's development had been deleted.
The latest update explains that the hack, coupled with some errors the development team made in handling the Kickstarter, has led to their decision to cancel the crowdfunding project and re-consider the game's future. Here's that update in full:
As many of you know, over the holidays we were victims of a hack inspired by the attack on Sony. The hackers destroyed data pertaining to Glorious Leader! and other projects we had in development and locked us out of our own computers and wesbite. The timing couldn't have been worse as it hampered our ability to attend to the Kickstarter project. We realize that we also made mistakes in our pledge levels and rewards. It is now evident that our funding goals will not be met, so we are cancelling our Kickstarter campaign.
This is not the first time we have been targeted because of Glorious Leader! Between the hacking and other threats, we think it is time to reevaluate our commitment to Glorious Leader! We thank our fans and supporters, and we are sorry to let you down.
There's no way to know whether the Kickstarter would have hit its target without the hack distracting the development team early in the process, but it surely can't have helped. In any case, I hear that the Rogen/Franco movie is rubbish.