Push Publication, known for creating and publishing erotic light novels, manga, and eroge, has run into trouble with their latest crowdfunding project on Kickstarter.

Project New Life,a collaborative erotic manga effort between Push Publication and artist Lynus, has had its funds withheld by Kickstarter citing problems with payment processor Stripe.

Project New Life's Kickstarter campaign covered the creation and publishing of digital and physical versions of the book, with Push Publication seeking $9,000 to make the project a reality, ultimately reaching a total of $16,612 in funding on the 7th of September, 2019. This is, unfortunately, when the project's successful streak seemingly ended.

A few weeks after the project met and surpassed its funding goals, Push Publication has updated its backers on Kickstarter mentioning a delay in payment processing and promising to deliver the finished books in a timely fashion:

Dear Backers,

We regard to inform you that the funding is currently being delayed due to the payment processor having some issue. Please do rest assure that Kickstarter is currently solving this issue and we will update you guys as soon as we got the funds.

At the meantime, the artist has already started and will proceed to delivery as planned on the set dates. The survey will be sent out to you soon by the 2nd week of next month. A special discord server for backers will also be made soon.

We would like to apologize for any inconvenience caused and seek your understanding on this matter.

Kind Regards,

Push Team

Push Publication's problem persisted in the following days, with another update issued, this time mentioning Terms of Service issued with Kickstarter's payment processor stripe putting the processing of the gathered funds on indefinite hold until the issues have been resolved.

Additionally, the publisher mentions no prior issues with Kickstarter's project review process and mentions the crowdfunding company has not responded to their queries for at least six days since the 20th of September. Unable to get access to the funds, Push Publication has been put in a spot where they could not proceed with any kind of production for Project New Life or issue any potential refunds until Kickstarter releases the funds:

Dear backers,

As per our previous update, we have informed you that there will be a delay regarding receiving our funds from Kickstarter. We would like to talk more in-depth about this with you all today.

On 20th September, right around when we were expecting to receive the funds from Kickstarter, we got an email from the Kickstarter's Trust and Safety team saying that they can't process the payout in time because there were some Terms of Service concerns raised by their payment processor, Stripe. They also mentioned that Kickstarter is currently negotiating with them to clear our project of Stripe's review. Additionally, Kickstarter will be holding our funds until this is issue resolved. Moreover, if Stripe doesn't clear our project, it will be cancelled and the backer's pledge will be refunded.

It's been a week since then and we've sent them countless emails, but their support team has ignored us totally up until now and has not replied to us. They have not provided us with any new information, nor informed us when the funds will be potentially sent to us. So right now we are completely in the dark, and have no information on when the funds will be sent to us, or if it will be sent to us at all.

We cannot start any sort of production unless we have the funds on hand. So this situation is very disappointing. Because of this uncertainty, PUSH! Team is disheartened and unmotivated to work on this project any further.

This is also tremendously heartbreaking, as we have followed all the Kickstarter's rules, their terms and conditions when we launched the project. Not only was it manually reviewed by them, but then it was approved by them, too. The project then ran for 30 days and was a massive success. Nowhere in Kickstarter's terms and conditions have they mentioned we have to follow Stripe's rules in addition. If this project is cancelled even after being successful, it would be a massive hit to PUSH! Team. It's also hampering our reputation as a trusted and reliable company, too.

At this point, we can only say we are sorry and there's nothing we can do regarding the situation other than wait for Kickstarter to give us any sort of information.

That would be all for now. If we receive any new information, we'll relay this onto you via our next update.

Thank you for reading this update.

PUSH! Team.

As of the 5th of October, Push Publication has updated the Kickstarter campaign once more, this time explaining that it's been almost a full month since the project has been funded, yet Kickstarter has continued to leave the publisher's queries into the situation unanswered. Finding themselves at a loss, Push Publication has issued a plea to its backers and fans on Twitter for advice and also to contact Kickstarter directly on their behalf:

Dear Backers,

It's been a month since the project was funded on Kickstarter, but till now, we haven't received our funds from them. Since our last update, they haven't given us any news or notified us of anything new. We've been trying to contact them for the last 8 days, while they continue to neglect us and not give us any updates on the situation, nor tell us what's going on. Here is a snippet of us emailing them over and over again over the last few days:

We are unsure of what to do anymore. We've tried our best to get new information from them, why they continued to ignore us. At this point, we need your help. If you have any suggestions for us, and what can we do, please tell us in the comments below. Moreover, it would really help if you tried to contact Kickstarter regarding the project too and get information from us as they are not contacting us back.

Finally, if you can retweet this tweet on Twitter, it might also get their attention: https://twitter.com/pushpublication/status/1180165144686419969

That would be all for now. We are really lost and heartbroken. We are sorry that you have to suffer through this as well.

Thank you, and we are forever grateful for your amazing support.

Regards,

PUSH! Team.

Following Push Publication's request to their fans, one of the project's backers has replied to the most recent Project New Life update stating they have contacted Kickstarter and received a reply citing the crowdfunding company is working to resolve the issue:

Given the recent information presented by the backer, if it is indeed truthful and accurate, we hope the publisher, the payment processors, as well Kickstarter itself, will find a timely and amicable solution to the issue, and that Project New Life finally sees the light of day.

This ongoing story will be updated as soon as new details come forward.

[UPDATE 10/10/2019]

Push Publication has managed to successfully resolve their issues with Kickstarter, receive the crowdfunded capital and proceed with realizing the project. Due to the delay the new estimated delivery date has been set to December:

Dear backers,

Thank you all for your support and with some of you going forward to even pressure Kickstarter on this matter. The issue is finally resolved and the money has been successfully sent to our bank account. I would like to thank countless people for their efforts on this matter and we look forward to completing this project.

As a regular content creator on Kickstarter, we had clarified some issues to ensure that such an incident will not happen again. The artist has officially resumed work as of today.

...

Due to the delay, the current expected release will be in December instead, I apologized for the delay, but nonetheless, we will strive to work hard and try our best to get it done beforehand.

Once again, thank you all for your support and we look forward to delivering the content to you,

PUSH Team!

[/UPDATE]

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