This week week in MMO crowdfunding, we’ve seen what could be potential setbacks for two larger crowfunding MMORPGs. First, Shroud of the Avatar studio Portalarium announced it has closed its physical office, partly to save money and partly because of lease gouging in Austin. Developers will work remotely for now while studio leads continue scoping out a new physical space for onboarding new developers expected to be hired this year.
Second, Ashes of Creation yesterday announced it will be delaying the next phases of alpha one slightly for infrastructure refactoring following its battle royale tests earlier this year. It also won’t be making 2019 for launch, though you probably figured that already.
Meanwhile, Ship of Heroes teased street signs, Chronicles of Elyria finally put out a dev blog, Valiance Online posted fresh weekly updates, crowdfunding platform BrightLocker is collapsing, Temtem teased caves, Albion Online announced its Oberon expansion, and Star Citizen company Cloud Imperium mucked about with rebranding its Squadron 42 studio. Finally, the Kickstarter for Spycursion, an indie cyberespionage MMO, appears to have stalled out a bit, still sitting at around $4000 of its $100,000 goal.
Read on for more on what’s been up with MMO crowdfunding over the last few weeks and our roundup of all the crowdfunded MMOs we’re following!
Spycursion’s Kickstarter
Recent MMO crowdfunding news
Chronicles of Elyria vows to ‘bring the storm’ this year, according to new dev blog - Stormiest future -- or storm-bringer? Chronicles of Elyria hopes to be the latter according to its newest developer blog. "Last year, people told us we weren't strong enough to withstand…
Albion Online explains the mechanics of its randomized dungeons and why they’re a big deal - The randomized dungeons are the biggest feature arriving in Albion Online with the Oberon update on March 20th, but they might be a bigger feature than you're aware of. The…
Path of Exile’s Synthesis expansion is officially live - [AL:POE]It's here! It's here! Path of Exile has officially launched its Synthesis expansion for both PC and Xbox One. Still wondering about that PlayStation 4 launch? It's on track for…
Star Citizen’s hair tech has come a long way, as proven in this week’s Around the Verse - Sure, obsess about your space pixels and starships, but the spacelegs content in Star Citizen is still most compelling to me, and that's exactly what's on offer in this week's…
Pantheon has begun sharing VIP dev roundtables with the public - Are you ready to be invited into Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen's VIP lounge? One of the perks of being a VIP supporter of the game is getting monthly developer…
Kickstarted MMORPG Ashes of Creation delays alpha one slightly for infrastructure refactoring - If you're one of the folks still wondering what's going on with Ashes of Creation since it began alpha testing a battle royale mode after a successful Kickstarter for an…
Star Citizen’s new tutorial videos get you flying without the fuss - Not to be presumptive or anything, but this is one post that you might want to bookmark if you are ever thinking about trying out Star Citizen. For those not following…
Squadron 42 studio Foundry 42 is rebranding under Star Citizen’s Cloud Imperium conglomerate - Foundry 42, the Chris Roberts subsidiary studio that's been working on Star Citizen's singleplayer spinoff Squadron 42, is getting a bit of a rebrand this week, bringing it more clearly…
Albion Online sets a date for Oberon, its next content blast: March 20 - Albion Online's next big thing has a name and a date: Oberon and March 20th. This round up content updates includes a full rebalance of gear unlocking, new mobs, new…
Dual Universe showcases community ship creations in new alpha video - When you hear the word "voxel," chances are that chunky, Minecraft-like building blocks come to mind. But Dual Universe is bound and determined to demonstrate that its voxel tools are…
Camelot Unchained is tackling the performance ‘death spiral’ traditionally afflicting MMO PvP - This past week was reportedly another busy one for the devs of Camelot Unchained, with lots of work being done to further tweak a number of game systems and lots…
Shroud of the Avatar studio Portalarium temporarily closes office in favor of remote studio - It sounds as if Shroud of the Avatar studio Portalarium has uprooted its home office. "We are nomadic now," Portalarium's Starr Long told players on the game's livestream this weekend.…
Temtem’s cave tease
Coming next week to #Temtem Alpha: the Aguamarina Caves.
Get ready to explore them! pic.twitter.com/89nmgjZEMb
— Temtem 🏰 ARBURY OUT NOW!! (@PlayTemtem) March 6, 2019
Ship of Heroes
The street signs in Apotheosis City are getting an update!#SoH #gamedevelopment pic.twitter.com/O7rBxerj39
— Ship of Heroes (@ShipofHeroes) March 8, 2019
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.
Spycursion (Defun) – Kickstarter ends March 28.
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.
