This week in MMO crowdfunding, Star Citizen brought a playable (though tweaked) version of 3.0 to Cologne for Gamescom this week, a demo apparently endlessly mobbed by gamers. During last night’s shaky keynote presentation, Chris Roberts showed off a few of the game’s headline features, including a brand-new one: real-time, player-driven facial animation and concomitant camera tracking, and it even works with a basic webcam.
On the other side of the pond, Camelot Unchained continued its the long trek to beta; this week CSE noted it’s making progress on bots, realm control, animations, quivers, and what looks a bit like guild heraldry to us!
Meanwhile, Path of Exile formally launched on Xbox One, Project Gorgon prepped a patch for this Monday (expect bunnies!), Valiance Online got some stream-time in, Crowfall brought a trailer to PAX, Legends of Aria announced a final test this fall, OrbusVR recapped its first closed beta, Ship of Heroes toured an instance, and Elite Dangerous 2.4’s beta opened up for everyone (thanks, Cotic!). We’re also stunned to report that Greed Monger might be reimbursing people taken for a ride on that dud a few years back.
Read on for more on what’s up with MMO crowdfunding over the last couple of weeks and the regular roundup of all the crowdfunded MMOs we’re following.
Star Citizen Gamescom demo (edited)
Recent MMO crowdfunding news
Ship of Heroes takes you on a tour of a short instance - Time to get your eerie City of Heroes vibe on with Ship of Heroes' latest video. If you still have regular flashbacks of fighting through office spaces and high-tech warehouses…
Gamescom 2017: Crowfall soars with its cinematic trailer - Noble heroes? More like scavengers in truth. That's the bottom line for player characters in Crowfall, as spelled out in the MMO's Gamescom trailer. In the short video, a woman…
Legends of Aria sets final alpha test for September 21 - Legends of Aria is coming back bigger and better for its final alpha playtest. Citadel Studios announced that it has set the launch date for the MMO's last alpha as September…
Gamescom 2017: Star Citizen demos ‘real-time, player-driven facial animation’ - If you skipped out on the Star Citizen Gamescom presentation, you missed out on some pretty good stuff. You also missed out on an hour of awkward preshow and a loooong…
Bring your own popcorn to the Gamescom Star Citizen stream - The capstone to Star Citizen's Gamescom hoopla is slated for this afternoon at 3 p.m. EDT, when Cloud Imperium's Chris Roberts takes the stage from Cologne for the core presentation…
Greed Monger creator says its failure ‘plagues’ him, offers recompense to backers - No, your eyes aren't deceiving you; we're going to be talking about Greed Monger today, because some very interesting developments have just transpired on Kickstarter. The long defunct MMO's former…
Choose My Adventure: Finding the fun in Shroud of the Avatar - One of the things that I believe is utterly vital to writing about games in general and MMOs in particular is finding the fun. It's sometimes difficult, but I think…
Gamescom 2017: Star Citizen goes in-depth on the alpha 3.0 delay issues - With the high drama and surly community demanding Star Citizen 3.0 already, it's made for a slightly awkward Gamescom appearance for the crew. On the show floor, Erin and Chris Roberts…
Ever, Jane whiles away the hours playing card games - When you are a part of high society, it comes with certain expectations and customs. Entertainment is not found in slaughtering goblins, but in sitting around a table, sipping tea,…
Gamescom 2017: Star Citizen confirms survival mechanics, rolls out ship profiles - Cloud Imperium has continued its relentless Star Citizen streams from Gamescom all week, causing the usual sideshow drama over whether the 3.0 build on display is indeed partial, why it's available…
Albion Online maps out content updates Joseph and Kay in spite of continuing DDOS attacks - I'd like to be able to say that Albion Online is no longer under siege by DDOS blackmailers, but unfortunately, the most recent one was yesterday, as detailed by the…
Sci-fi sandbox MMO Dual Universe’s pre-alpha launches September 30 - Dual Universe today etched a date on its pre-alpha launch: September 30th. "Access to this first playable version of Dual Universe will be limited to Kickstarter and crowdfunding backers that…
Path of Exile debuts in China, teases next expansion for December - [AL:POE]First it was the launch of its nest expansion, The Fall of Oriath. Then it was its launch on the Xbox One. And now Path of Exile is rounding out…
Star Citizen brought part of 3.0 to Gamescom - If you're lucky enough to be in Cologne this week for Gamescom, make sure you make your way over to the Star Citizen booth as it appears at least part…
The Repopulation struggles to get content patch ready for release - The faithful and hopeful fans waiting for the next stage of The Repopulation's development might have a glimmer of hope to hang on to today. The devs announced on the…
Shroud of the Avatar works on replacing placeholder scenes - With the broad outline of the game now completed, Shroud of the Avatar's team is turning to placeholder locations and revising them with hand-crafted content. This includes the new mountainous…
Chronicles of Elyria whips up a jousting tiltyard for PAX West - The Chronicles of Elyria team is in a frenzy getting ready for the game's showing at PAX West in a couple of weeks. After internal deliberation, the devs decided to…
Camelot Unchained’s player progression will be a ‘long-term investment’ - Is that... is that Camelot Unchained's Beta 1 peeking over the horizon? From the tone of this week's newsletter, it certainly sounds as if the long-fabled test is growing nearer…
Star Citizen squishes bugs, finds new ones in the lead up to 3.0 - Star Citizen's Sandi Gardiner and Forrest Stephan helm this week's episode of Around the Verse as the team treks along toward the 3.0 release. In the Burndown segment, the devs…
City of Titans doesn’t have issues swapping male and female animations - Well this is a boon to the City of Titans project. The development team behind the superhero MMORPG was fiddling about with some of its character tools and experimented with switching…
Crowfall divulges details on the diminutive Fae - Don't call them "tiny," not unless you want your Achilles heel slashed and your hair set on fire while screaming laughter fills your ears. Crowfall's Fae might be the second-smallest…
Crowfall’s class/race retooling requires significant animation work for ArtCraft - ArtCraft Creative Director J Todd Coleman and Senior Animator Eric Doggett are back for another lengthy Crowfall Q&A, discussing upcoming cons and and getting the campaign test server up. "We…
Elite: Dangerous has passed 2.75 million sales - Good news for the Elite: Dangerous crew; according to the Frontier Developments Twitter account, Elite: Dangerous and the Horizons expansion have passed a grand total of 2.75 million sales. The…
Camelot Unchained teases beta with a new ‘guiding principles’ doc - If it feels like we've been waiting for Camelot Unchained's beta forever, well, it hasn't - it's only been half of forever. And the wait is almost over, if the…
The Repopulation-spinoff Fragmented has reached release on Steam - Gosh, I had almost forgotten about Fragmented - it's been a while! But it's formally launched on Steam as of today for a discounted $5.99. "Today we have moved Fragmented…
Shroud of the Avatar is playable for free right now - If you haven't been aware of it, Shroud of the Avatar is currently running yet another extended trial for the remainder of the month. That means that even if you haven't…
The PAX West City of Heroes and Ashes of Creation panels are a go - A few weeks back, we reported on the City of Heroes-themed panel coming to PAX West in Seattle at the beginning of September. With the release of the PAX schedule on…
VR is still on the table for Star Citizen - VR-centric website Road to VR has a brief quote from Cloud Imperium Games that might be good news to those of you still hoping to someday see Star Citizen in…
Camelot Unchained weekly recap
Path of Exile Xbox One launch
Campaigns and crowdfunded MMOs we’re watching
3001SQ (Société des Mondes Virtuels) – Kickstarter unsuccessful. Work continues.
AdventureQuest 3D (Artix Entertainment) – Raised 368k; beta began Oct 2016.
Albion Online (Sandbox) – Launched July 2017.
Antraxx (Team Antraxx) – Kickstarter canceled.
Ascent: The Space Game (Fluffy Kitten Studios) – Successful KS. Fully launched 2016.
Ashes of Creation (Intrepid Studios) – Successful KS.
Broke Protocol (Cylinder) – Unsuccessful KS. In free early access.
Camelot Unchained (City State) – Kickstarter successful; open donations/packages.
Caribbean Conquest (Invenio) – First KS canceled, second ended unsuccessfully.
Contested Space (Zon)
Crowfall (ArtCraft) – Kickstarter win, open packages, Indiegogo crowdfunding ongoing.
Chronicles of Elyria (Soulbound) – Kickstarter successful, open packages.
Citadel of Sorcery (MMO Magic, Inc.) –Â Open donations.
City of Titans (Missing Worlds Media) – Successful KS; launch planned for fall 2018.
Descent Underground (Descendent Studios) – Successful KS.
Divergence Online (Stained Glass Llama)Â –Â Three campaigns; now in KS early access.
Dogma: Eternal Night (Prelude Games Factory): Kickstarter over, donor preorder packs.
Dragon of Legends (Thrive Games) – Successful Kickstarter.
Dual Universe (Novaquark) – Kickstarter funded, now has donor platform. Alpha delayed.
Eco (Strange Loop Games) – Funded, now in alpha.
Edengrad (Huckleberry Games) – Kickstarter funded; in early access.
Elite: Dangerous (Frontier Developments) – Funded and launched.
Empyrion Online (Eleon) – Kickstarter canceled; launched on Steam early access.
Epic Space (EpicSpace.net)
Ever, Jane (3 Turn Productions) – Now in open beta.
Global Adventures (SubaGames) – Kickstarter funded.
Gloria Victis (Black Eye Games) – Open donations, no end date; in early access.
Greed Monger (Greed Monger) – Abandoned, multiple times now.
Grim Dawn (Crate Entertainment) – Funded and launched.
Guns of Icarus (Muse) – Funded and launched.
Hero’s Song (Pixelmage) –Â KS canceled; Indiegogo. Canceled w/ refunds.
Infinity: Battlescape (I-Novae Studios)
HEX (HEX Entertainment) –Â Funded and launched.
Legends of Aria (Citadel Studios) – Kickstarted as Shards Online. Currently in alpha.
Life is Feudal (Bitbox): Indiegogo ended. Currently in beta.
LUX (Chimera) – Kickstarter canceled.
Maestros of the Anthymn (String Theory) – Kickstarter canceled.
Mekria (Infinity Online Studios) – Kickstarter canceled.
Midair (Archetype Studios) – Kickstarter successful.
Nebula Online (Mizar Games) Kickstarter canceled; launched in November.
Neo’s Land (NeoJac Entertainment) –Â Open donations, no end date.
Novus AEterno (Taitale Studios)
OrbusVR (Ad Alternum) – KS funded March 2017.
Overpower (Hydrant Games) –Â Kickstarter unfunded; heading to early access.
Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen (Visionary Realms) –Â Open donations, no end date.
Pathfinder Online (GoblinWorks) – Doom, mostly.
Planet Nomads (Craneballs) – Kickstarted, early access launched sans multiplayer.
Pixel Starships (SavySoda)
Project Gorgon (Elder Game) – Kickstarted in three tries + Indiegogo. In alpha.
Pumpkin Online (Monique) – Downgrading from MMORPG.
The Exiled (Fairytale Distillery) – fka Das Tal; 2015Â KSÂ unsuccesful. In Steam early access.
The Realm: Reawakened (Stephen Nichols) – Ongoing GoFundMe.
The Repopulation (Idea Fabrik) – Kickstarted twice by A&B. Back in alpha
ROKH (Darewise) – Kickstarter canceled; now in early access.
RUiN (Tarhead Studio) – Kickstarter successful.
The Stomping Land (Alex Fundora) – Abandoned.
Sacrament (Ferocity Unbound) – Kickstarter failed; Patreon ongoing.
Shadow’s Kiss (Clockwork Throne) – Ongoing Patreon.
Shroud of the Avatar (Portalarium) – Successful KS. Soft launch July 2016.
Star Citizen (Cloud Imperium) – Ongoing donations/packages.
TUG (Nerd Kingdom) – In middle of year-long revamp after funding surge.
Vigor Roads (NeuronHaze) – Kickstarter unsuccessful; early access planned for 2017.
