This week week in MMO crowdfunding, Star Citizen studio Cloud Imperium ended the year with a bang, offsetting the reveal of its Squadron 42 roadmap – and the hefty delay of its beta into at least 2020 – with the revelation that it’s picked up $46M in outside investment to see S42 through marketing and completion.
Ashes of Creation launched its Apocalypse battle royale standalone game too. It’s free-to-play, so you can jump right in. We did, chiefly to sort out where the real MMO stands in terms of visual appeals and combat – here’s what we think so far.
Meanwhile, City of Titans delayed Issue 0, Pathfinder Online is still alive, The Repopulation actually pushed out an update, Prosperous Universe hit early access, Legends of Aria prepped a new patch, Shroud of the Avatar is running a skill promo and pushed out R61, Temtem got an alpha update, and Elite Dangerous released Beyond Chapter Four, though it hasn’t been entirely smooth sailing.
Finally, we handed out our award for best indie or crowdfunded MMO of the year – congrats to Project Gorgon for unanimously taking that honor!
Read on for more on what’s been up with MMO crowdfunding over the last couple of weeks and our roundup of all the crowdfunded MMOs we’re following!
Legends of Aria
Recent MMO crowdfunding news
Star Citizen ATV, Squadron 42’s projected 2020 beta, and Cloud Imperium’s $46M private investment - This week's Around the Verse does touch on the 3.4 release of Star Citizen, but the big news is definitely from Squadron 42, which has released its big roadmap as…
Hands-on: Dipping into Ashes of Creation’s Apocalypse battle royale - The first question we need to ask is: What am I, the sheepiest of all PvE sheep, doing in a PvP battle royale game? The second question follows: How quick…
Pathfinder Online adds enchanting, runs a major multi-week event - So what is going on with the struggling-yet-still-somehow-alive Pathfinder Online? It turns out that this fantasy title has been chugging its way along in early access all through 2018, putting…
City of Titans delays Issue 0 launch into 2019 – ‘We’re still here. We’re still fighting’ - You'd probably guessed it already, but Missing Worlds Media project lead Chris "Warcabbit" Hare has now confirmed the news: Kickstarted superhero MMORPG City of Titans is not going to make…
Crowfall muses on lessons learned from first test campaigns - Earlier this week, Crowfall began its first ever proper campaigns, allowing players to fight it out in a three-faction brawl for survival and control of the Dying Worlds. In the…
Elite: Dangerous raises big money for charity with a 24-hour stream - The team at Frontier Developments put on quite a show on December 17th with a bit of livestreaming. But the Elite: Dangerous crew wasn't just showing off a patch; no, it…
Ashes of Creation’s Apocalypse is now expected to launch this afternoon - It's been a bit of a slow start for Ashes of Creation's Apocalypse mode, which was meant to launch yesterday following the deployment of Intrepid's new website, but as the…
The Stream Team: A first look at Prosperous Universe - Massively OP's MJ has long talked about her plans to set up a family business is a sandbox MMORPG. With Prosperous Universe, a business is all she can build! This…
Massively OP’s 2018 Awards: Best Indie or Crowdfunded MMO of 2018 - Massively Overpowered's end-of-the-year 2018 awards continue today with our award for Best Indie or Crowdfunded MMO of 2018, which was awarded to Elite Dangerous last year in this category's inaugural year. All indie MMOs…
Choose My Adventure: I am not good at drug running in Star Citizen - There's a rather popular quote in military circles that goes "no plan survives contact with the enemy." This quote springs to my mind as I recount my latest Star Citizen…
Identity’s latest patch lets you get completely blitzed out of your mind - The newest patch for MMO sandbox Identity has added consumables to the game, which of course means various things you can put in your body for boosts or stat penalties. Theoretically.…
Crowfall releases patch 5.8, the first campaign patch, without the first campaign - Good news, Crowfall fans, the long-awaited patch for the game's first real campaign releases today! Except it does so without the actual just-referenced first real campaign; instead, the patch has hit…
Camelot Unchained races to clear out its quest log before 2018 ends - With the winter holiday break coming up for the Camelot Unchained team, its members are working feverishly to get as much done as they can before the year closes. One…
The Repopulation’s long-awaited update is arriving December 18 - Yes, you're getting an update to game mechanics in The Repopulation for this holiday season. And that's the true meaning of Christmas, patches for The Repopulation. It makes more sense now than…
Legends of Aria discusses early access ‘growing pains’ while hotfixes keep rolling - It's been a rough ride for Legends of Aria in early access, something that the game's most recent newsletter acknowledged; the game was rolling out hotfixes for Early Access on Sunday,…
Guild Wars and Elder Scrolls franchise composer Jeremy Soule starts Patreon for exclusive music - It's not really a holiday season around Massively OP if we're not asking that annual question, "What is composer Jeremy Soule up to these days? And did he ever make…
Dual Universe opens winter alpha to all Kickstarter donors next week - If you put any money at all into sci-fi sandbox Dual Universe back during its 2016 Kickstarter, you're about to have a happy Christmas indeed, as Novaquark announced earlier this…
Ashes of Creation shows off alpha gameplay while prepping fans for the Apocalypse - With the public battle royale-style Apocalypse mode coming to Ashes of Creation next week, Intrepid Studios is leveraging the increased attention as best it can. In Thursday's livestream, the team…
You HAVE to see these Roaring Twenties-inspired Star Citizen clothes concept pieces - Chris Roberts and Sandi Gardiner are back at the helm of Star Citizen's Around the Verse this week, and it's fun! But let's be honest, you should skip past the…
Prosperous Universe blasts off to early access today - Call it early access, call it first access, just don't call it late to space dinner. The sci-fi sim Prosperous Universe is taking one giant leap forward for gamekind today…
Shroud of the Avatar expands fishing and teleporting with today’s release - Shroud of the Avatar's final update of the year is live later today as Release 61 hits the ground running and the devs get some much-needed rest for the holidays. Players…
Population Zero starts selling founder’s packs, lays out 2019 testing schedule - Russian-made survival MMO Population Zero plans to head into alpha testing at the start of 2019 -- and hopes to end the year with a full-fledged launch of some sort.…
Pantheon’s full world begins to emerge as pre-alpha winds down - One of the big hopes of the future of the MMO genre is finally putting all of its pieces together. Pantheon announced in its December newsletter that for the first…
Kickstarted MMORPG Crowfall is preparing to test its first real campaign - Crowfall's on a "fast track" to its first campaign, ArtCraft says. Getcher "it's happening" gifs: "After a few weeks of testing, our final pre-alpha milestone (lovingly numbered 'version 5.8' and…
Choose My Adventure: Postcards from the Star Citizen universe - Your votes last week in my first Choose My Adventure gave me a great way to start looking around the environs of Star Citizen by actually... well... looking around! Exploration…
Elite Dangerous’ Beyond – Chapter Four is live today with exploration, background sim, and guilds - The fourth chapter of Elite Dangerous' Beyond campaign is live today, and if it seems as if we've been covering it forever, that's only because Frontier has been remarkably good…
Camelot Unchained teases ‘epic siege battles’ as beta development continues - Hey, old school Dark Age of Camelot and Warhammer fans, you might want to take a peek at the latest Camelot Unchained studio report. It sounds like siege content is…
Ship of Heroes opens registration for its first login test - It's uncommon for a development team to describe an upcoming test phase as "boring," since the goal is usually to get fans excited and happy to take part in testing.…
The Stream Team: Dog pile on Ship of Heroes! - Ship of Heroes is conducting another test, this time focusing on logging in a large chunk of players at once. It sounds like a great opportunity for a mosh pit…
Dual Universe
A gentle reminder for our Alpha testers: the Winter Holiday 24/7 test starts tomorrow at 14:00 UTC and will last 18 days! 🚀😃⏰
There will also be a new shipbuilding contest! https://t.co/lodWfIFJnl pic.twitter.com/DZ3HPbWiWS
— Dual Universe (@dualuniverse) December 19, 2018
Campaigns and crowdfunded MMOs we’re watching
3001SQ (Société des Mondes Virtuels) – Kickstarter unsuccessful, dev halted in 2018.
AdventureQuest 3D (Artix Entertainment) – Raised 368k; beta began Oct 2016.
Albion Online (Sandbox) – Launched July 2017, hit Steam May 2018.
Antraxx (Team Antraxx) – Kickstarter canceled.
Ascent: The Space Game (Fluffy Kitten Studios) – Successful KS. Fully launched 2016.
Ashes of Creation (Intrepid Studios) – Successful KS. Alpha zero.
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.
Codename Reality (Orode) – Kickstarter unsuccessful.
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.) – Open donations.
City of Titans (Missing Worlds Media) – Successful KS; Issue 0 delayed into 2019.
Descent Underground (Descendent Studios) – Successful KS.
Divergence Online (Stained Glass Llama) – Three campaigns; now in KS early access.
Dogma: Eternal Night (Prelude Games Factory): Kickstarter. Probably dead.
Dragon of Legends (Thrive Games) – Successful Kickstarter.
Dual Universe (Novaquark) – Kickstarter funded, donor platform. Backer alpha.
Eco (Strange Loop Games) – Funded, now in alpha.
Edengrad (Huckleberry Games) – Kickstarter funded; in early access.
Elite: Dangerous (Frontier Developments) – Funded and fully launched.
Empyrion Online (Eleon) – Kickstarter canceled; launched on Steam early access.
Endless Trials (Fire Hurts) – Kickstarter canceled.
Epic Space (EpicSpace.net)
EverFeud (PSB) – Kickstarter canceled.
Ever, Jane (3 Turn Productions) – Now in open beta.
Fractured (Dynamight) – Kickstarter successful. Pre-alpha.
Global Adventures (SubaGames) – Kickstarter funded.
Gloria Victis (Black Eye Games) – Open donations, no end date; in early access.
Greed Monger (Greed Monger) – Abandoned, now allegedly in refund process.
Grim Dawn (Crate Entertainment) – Funded and launched.
Guardians of Ember (Runewaker) – Funded and launched.
Guns of Icarus (Muse) – Funded and launched.
Hero’s Song (Pixelmage) – KS canceled; Indiegogo. Canceled w/ refunds.
Infinity: Battlescape (I-Novae Studios)
HEX (HEX Entertainment) – Funded and launched.
Legends of Aria (Citadel Studios) – Kickstarted as Shards Online. Early access.
Life is Feudal (Bitbox): Indiegogo ended. Currently in beta.
LUX (Chimera) – Kickstarter canceled.
Maestros of the Anthymn (String Theory) – Kickstarter canceled.
Maguss (Maguss) – Indiegogo successful; open beta.
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) – Open donations, no end date.
Novus AEterno (Taitale Studios)
OrbusVR (Ad Alternum) – KS funded March 2017. In early access.
Overpower (Hydrant Games) – Kickstarter unfunded; heading to early access.
Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen (Visionary Realms) – Open donations. Pre-alpha.
Pantropy (Brain Stone GmbH): First Kickstarter canceled, second funded.
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. Early access.
Project Oasis World (POW) – Kickstarter unsuccessful.
Pumpkin Online (Monique) – Downgrading from MMORPG.
Temtem (Crema) – Kickstarter fully funded; now in alpha.
The Exiled (Fairytale Distillery) – fka Das Tal; KS unsuccessful. Early access.
The Flower of Knighthood – Kickstarter canceled.
The Realm: Reawakened (Stephen Nichols) – Ongoing GoFundMe.
The Repopulation (Idea Fabrik) – Kickstarted twice by A&B. Back in alpha.
ROKH (Darewise) – Kickstarter canceled; in early access but not active dev.
RUiN (Tarhead Studio) – Kickstarter successful.
The Stomping Land (Alex Fundora) – Abandoned.
Sacrament (Ferocity Unbound) – Kickstarter failed; Patreon ongoing.
Saga of Lucimia (Stormhaven) – Indiegogo. Intermittent pre-alphas.
Shadow’s Kiss (Clockwork Throne) – Ongoing Patreon, Kickstarter funded.
Shroud of the Avatar (Portalarium) – Soft launch July 2016. Launch March 2018.
Squadron 42 (Cloud Imperium) – Beta delayed until at least 2020.
Star Citizen (Cloud Imperium) – Ongoing donations/packages. Backer alpha.
TUG (Nerd Kingdom) – Totally abandoned without a word. Now considered a scam.
Vigor Roads (NeuronHaze) – Kickstarter unsuccessful; early access planned for 2017.
War of Rights (Campfire Games) – Successful Kickstarter; in early access.
