Takii Noame, a Japanese indie game developer known for creating yuri visual novels, revealed on October 4 that they have recommenced work on Watamari Part 2 – A Fake Marriage?. The project had been put on indefinite hold in August, following a situation where the developer’s bank halted revenue transactions connected to all their previous Steam games. In a blog post on Note, Takii Noame detailed their experience with what they termed “debanking” and how they navigated it.
“Imagine being happily immersed in crafting a new yuri game,” they wrote, “only to have your Steam earnings blocked by your bank for no clear reason, completely derailing your development timeline and leaving you feeling nauseous.” According to Takii Noame, their troubles began when a Steam sale led to a surge in revenue from their releases, prompting their bank’s automated systems to flag their account for potential money laundering.
Subsequently, Takii Noame was accused of breaching the bank’s policies, with SBI Shinsei Bank citing “adult content patches” they had provided for past yuri titles as the cause (a practice common among eroge publishers where external patches restore adult content in Steam versions). In their August announcement, the developer also noted that even attempts to have their publisher transfer earnings solely from all-ages games via Japan’s Post Bank were declined.
To resolve the matter, they were instructed by their bank to submit an extensive set of documents, which is why they ultimately decided to postpone the release of Watamari’s follow-up. “I had to disrupt the schedules of all the contractors I’d carefully coordinated with, apologize to everyone involved in keeping the project on track, and reschedule everything,” they explained.
However, as the developer continues to advise others facing similar challenges, “the time spent gathering those documents was entirely futile.” In the end, Takii Noame states the issue was only settled after they switched banks and reluctantly abandoned the practice of releasing adult patches for their past yuri games. They express empathy for developers whose works are exclusively adult-oriented, noting “your only option is to hope for the best.”
On a positive note, development on Watamari Part 2 – A Fake Marriage? is now fully back on track, with the developer intending to share a new release date soon. The upcoming visual novel, which has garnered over 15,000 Wishlists on Steam, casts the player as an angel of love who, alongside their mistress Nene Yakumo, helps guide other couples toward yuri relationships.