In 2002, a group of friends in Italy started developing a game called Kien for Nintendo’s Game Boy Advance. After 22 years, in 2024, Kien has finally been released, making it one of the longest delayed games in history.
Over the years, there have been many games with long development cycles and delayed releases. One famous example is Duke Nukem Forever, which was announced in 1997 but was not released until 2011, almost 15 years later. However, Kien took even longer to finally make its debut.
The game was developed by a small group of friends in Italy, none of whom had any experience in making games. Despite their lack of experience, they worked tirelessly for two years to create Kien, with very few breaks and a lot of hard work. Once the game was finished, they struggled to find a publisher due to the high costs of shipping the game on Game Boy carts and concerns about its potential success.
Eventually, only one member of the original development team, game designer Fabio Belsanti, remained. Despite facing challenges, Belsanti never lost hope for Kien. Recently, he noticed a growing interest in retro games and consoles and decided to give Kien another chance.
Teaming up with Incube8, a publisher focused on releasing new games for classic consoles like the GBA, Belsanti was able to finally release Kien in June. He described the experience as magical, being able to see the game come to life on the platform it was originally designed for.
Now, Kien is available for purchase in both physical and digital versions. You can pick up a physical copy of the game for your Game Boy Advance or play the digital version on an emulator. The release of Kien marks the end of a long and challenging journey for the development team, but it is a dream come true for Belsanti to see his game finally reach players after 22 years of hard work and dedication.
