I am posting this sad news on the behalf of urinal-cake who I hope is getting some well-needed sleep. I feel it is better to do it this way than for me to produce my own version of the newspost. I’m typing this out after two days of no sleep, so please excuse if my stream of consciousness is not very well formed. The Harmonious Prelude update is the pre-cursor to Blade Symphony going free-to-play. It is intended to be an update that will transition the existing game toward the goals of the free-to-play release, by including a Mac and Linux version, more translations, a separate SDK, management of all items through the Steam Inventory service, and many new features that will strengthen the release. Unfortunately, it will not be coming out today. I won’t make excuses and state that this is the result of somebody else’s work or lack of it. This is my fault. I have not done a good enough job at prioritizing my work and those that work with me. I have not hired a large enough team to reach this ambitious milestone in a timely manner. I became involved in feature-creep. I became complacent with our progress. I underestimated our remaining work. This is an extremely embarrassing blow for not just me, but this entire company. In my 9 years of helming this studio, we have never had to delay a significant release in this matter. This is also something that is demotivating and depressing, but I am going to do my best to not let you down. Over the next three weeks, we will set out to accomplish our original goals as we had put them together, by doing the following:

• Finding an additional programmer to assist with source development.
• Having a release quality candidate available on the Blade Symphony Beta;
• Windows 32-bit game, dedicated server and SDK, 64-bit game SDK, OSX 64-bit game, and Linux 64-bit game and dedicated server.
• Open up the testing of this release quality candidate to a wider audience. Those active in our Discord and on our forums.
• Completely re-compile shaders and solve crashes preventing full re-compiles.
• Finishing the summary screen (end round,) to a degree that matches the original concept and offers a positive experience.
• Recompiling all maps and fixing brush related issues.
• Fixing sword, character and item materials that were broke due to the engine migration.
• Integrating the proper translations for the game.
• Transitioning the workshop into a vote-based system for item curation.
• Transition specific quality workshop items to curated items.
• Implementing item pictures for color items, emblems and unseen character masks.
• Properly testing the free-to-play API and backend.
• Properly testing the Win/Linux dedicated server and shipped tools.
• Properly testing the game client across all platforms.
• Complete the Harmonious Update release trailer.
• Finish the Discord RIch PResence integration.
• Properly market this update.