Project Rap Rabbit team pulls Switch stretch goal, with plans to ‘reexamine’

Just one day after it opened for crowdfunding, Project Rap Rabbit’s Kickstarter campaign is going under a major revision. Its Nintendo Switch stretch goal, set at a steep $4.95 million, has been pulled so that the team can figure out how to lower the ask.

“Over the last 24 hours we’ve been taking the time to digest all your comments, wishes and feedback, and one request stands out above all others: a significantly lower Nintendo Switch goal,” wrote the development team in a Kickstarter update, headed up by designers Keiichi Yano and Masaya Matsuura.

Many rhythm game fans and Nintendo Switch owners were aghast at the initial stretch goal bar to get Project Rap Rabbit on the console. At almost five times the basic $1.1 million goal to fund the title, the Switch version’s asking price was by far the campaign’s highest stretch tier.

An FAQ on the Kickstarter page offers an explanation for the pricy Switch cost.

“The Nintendo Switch version is set to a higher tier as it requires game data to be specifically adapted for the console from the PS4 and PC versions due to the differing performance characteristics of that platform,” the team wrote yesterday, shortly after the campaign went live. The FAQ goes on to emphasize that the stretch goals costs were the result of factoring in shipping, Kickstarter fees and an interest in “[protecting] the quality of Project Rap Rabbit.”

The team is now working up a new funding plan to accommodate a lower goal for a Nintendo Switch release, prioritizing bringing the game to the platform over other proposed features. All stretch goals have been removed in the meantime, including one to bring the game to Xbox One.

Project Rap Rabbit is confirmed for PlayStation 4 and Windows PC, should it hit its funding goal. As a collaboration between Yano (Elite Beat Agents) and Matsuura (PaRappa the Rapper), the historical-set, adventure-driven rhythm game has a lot of nostalgic rhythm games keeping an eye on it. The game has grossed a little more than $100,000 thus far.