The timing of the announcement of R-Type Final2 for PS4 made pretty much everyone believe it could be an April Fool joke, but Producer Kazuma Kujo took to Twitter to clear the air.
Kujo-san apologized about the lack of an April Fool prank from Granzella this year and explained that the developer is currently focusing on strengthening its development pipelines to deliver the game they’re promoting.
[お詫び]４月１日も残りわずかになりましたが、グランゼーラは今年もエイプリルフールイベントができませんでした。グランゼーラの制作責任者としてお詫び申し上げます。今後は、非力な開発体制を強化して、現在進めておりますゲームの開発に邁進してまいります。どうぞよろしくお願いいたします。 pic.twitter.com/Ix4uOt5r7x
— 九条一馬 (@kazuma_kujo) April 1, 2019
“[Apology] There is only a little of April 1 left, but Granzella didn’t have an April Fool’s Day Event again this year. I apologize as the production manager of Granzella. From now on, we will strenghten our weak development pipeline and we will continue to develop the game that we’re currently promoting. Thank you very much for your patronage.”
It would be extremely uncharacteristic of a Japanese developer to make this kind of statement unless the game is indeed real.
Incidentally, Kujo-san is no stranger to R-Type, having left Irem in 2011 to form Granzella. Besides the Disaster Report franchise, he worked on R-Type Final, R-Type Command, and R-Type II.
So there you have it, straight from the lion’s mouth. Looks like R-Type is really coming back, and we should expect a crowdfunding campaign in May.
Granzellathey did tease that they would announce their new game in the spring, and now it’s indeed spring. I certainly wouldn’t have expected a new R-Type, but I can’t say I’m not happy.
