Panzer Dragoon VR Producer Falsely Reported Dead

A tweet reportedly posted by the Panzer Dragoon Voyage Record Twitter account has stated that the game has been cancelled and that its producer, Haruto Watanabe, has died. But this shocking news has since been reported to be false, leaving the future of the game unclear.

As reported by VGC, the now-deleted tweet claimed that the VR version of Panzer Dragoon was set to be cancelled due to the death of the game's producer Haruto Watanabe.

“Panzer Dragoon Voyage Record has been cancelled due to the cancellation of the contract by Sega and the death of the producer, Haruto Watanabe, CEO of Wildman Inc. Thank you for your support," stated two versions of the tweet, one in English and another in Japanese.

Both versions of the tweet have since been removed from the social media platform. According to VGC, a number of people have confirmed that the producer is alive. "I went to the Wildman office and can confirm he's safe. A lot of friends are gathering," said one user on Twitter.

With no official statement or clarification from developer Wildman Inc or publisher Sega, it's currently unclear as to what the status of Panzer Dragoon VR is.

Panzer Dragoon VR was first announced last March, twenty-five years after the series first debuted in Japan. While it's known that it is a rework of Panzer Dragoon, Panzer Dragoon Zwei, and Panzer Dragoon Saga with new graphics for modern VR headsets, little has been shared about the game since its initial reveal.

The original Panzer Dragoon series was largely known for its mixture of rail-shooter gameplay and dragon-riding when it was launched for the Sega Saturn in the mid-nineties. The last Panzer Dragoon game to release to fans came in the form of a remake developed by Forever Entertainment and MegaPixel for the Nintendo Switch. The remake itself came with visually heightened graphics and a more modernized control scheme. IGN reviewed the game and gave it a 6/10 calling it "a neat little arcade shooter that keeps things exciting for an hour or two."

Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

source https://www.ign.com/articles/panzer-dragoon-vr-producer-falsely-reported-dead