A year ago, Chronicles of Elyria had crossed $2 million in fundraising. Today, that amount sits at over $3.4 million. Still, some players worry that the game might not have enough in its coffers to get the big release that it should, especially without the backing of a publisher.
While Soulbound Studios was touting its independence from publishers back in September, the studio’s CEO allegedly is trying to shop the game around and is finding difficulty in selling the sandbox’s concept. “During last nights multi-hour impromptu Q&A, [Jeromy Walsh] expressed some frustration in his attempts to market Chronicles of Elyria to potential publishers,” one forum poster reported (the Q&A chat room is a locked voice chat). “He described publishers that refused to read his eight-page comparison of COE to other MMOs, publishers that wanted loot crates and micro-transactions, and publishers simply not understanding the appeal COE has for so many.”
Incidentally, Chronicles of Elyria has enabled gifting through the website’s store through the end of the month. Fans can purchase select items to gift to friends out of the goodness of their hearts.
On Discord this week, Walsh also explained how his studio and followers should deal with negativity about the game online. In fact, he even has a name for people who “try and spread the skepticism.”
“We’re a crowdfunded game – at least for the moment. That means that our revenue stream is based on community sentiment. When people go around the internet discouraging others from being interested in our game, or intentionally creating skeptics, they’re attacking us directly, and making it more difficult for us to complete the game. That’s not beneficial to anyone. That – is what I refer to as a Harbinger. Someone who, for whatever reason, intentionally or unintentionally is sewing seeds of doubt, mistrust, and skepticism in others. Doing so doesn’t benefit anyone, least of all those of us who are here working hard to make this game – both developers and the community.
“So what I was discussing on Discord the other day was for you guys, the community, to shut down such behavior. We can’t be everywhere at once, nor does it look good for us to try and discourage such behavior. But we can encourage you guys to shut down such behavior. Remind people that it’s perfectly fine to be skeptical.. but to try and spread the skepticism is bad.”
Update: Soulbound’s Kaizen has posted a comment clarifying these remarks and where the studio stands on skeptics down below our article.
