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Former VR Kanojo Team Delays New Virtual Girlfriend Game Again

VR game maker Illumination announced on Thursday that it is once again delaying its virtual girlfriend simulator game VR-Kanojo (VRな彼女). The company states it is postponing the release until this summer “in order to further improve the quality of the game.”

The push to further improve VR-Kanojo comes after Illumination received criticism regarding the visuals and graphics of the game's main heroine, Sakura Yuuhi, following the release of a promotional video on April 3. According to the Illumination website, the company “took the opinions we received seriously and after reviewing them within our development team, we have determined we are unable to fully meet your expectations as they currently stand.” The site further states, “We will strive to improve the quality of the product and provide additional development time to deliver the game in a better form.”

This is the third time Illumination has postponed the release of VR-Kanojo. The company initially planned to release the game in Winter 2024. However, the release date was later changed to February 2025. Unfortunately, VR-Kanojo saw another delay hours before Valentine's Day.

A Little Background

The Japanese adult game brand Illusion released VR Kanojo (VRカノジョ), a virtual reality girlfriend simulator, in 2018. Illusion ended business operations in 2023, but the former staffers of VR Kanojo reunited to launch a new company named Illumination (no relation to the American CG animation studio) in spring 2024.

Illumination announced a new game under a slightly re-tweaked name VR-Kanojo (VR-na Kanojo or VRな彼女) in June 2024. The company then announced a crowdfunding campaign for the game in August 2024. The crowdfunding campaign ran from September 1 to October 19 and received 23,000,000 yen (about US$151,689.52). Illumination has consistently made updates regarding the development of VR-Kanojo on social media.

Sources: Illumination's website, Illumination's channel, Siliconeera