Make My MMO: Oath’s Kickstarter success, Star Citizen’s funding drama

This week in MMO crowdfunding, Star Citizen made headlines once again thanks to a rather brutal article on Forbes that references everything from Chris Roberts’ past marital spats to the testimony of seemingly disgruntled former employees to suggest the game’s development suffered from “incompetence and mismanagement on a galactic scale.” Yikes. Well, our commenters had a bit to say about that, anyway.

On the live Kickstarter front, MMORPG Oath successfully funded for $67000 of its $35000 funding ask.

Meanwhile, SOTA devs addressed Kickstarter fulfillment, Dual Universe is hiring, Albion Online keeps putting up solid numbers on Steam, Ashes of Creation is hiring, ECO put up a piece on solving the tragedy of the commons in MMOs, we examined Star Citizen’s legal spat with Crytek, Crowfall aims to launch the The God Trials on its test servers next week, and Playcraft joined our watchlist.

Read on for more on what’s been up with MMO crowdfunding over the last week, plus our roundup of all the crowdfunded MMOs we’re following!

Ashes of Creation

Recent MMO crowdfunding news

Indie MMORPG Oath has successfully funded on Kickstarter at nearly twice its original ask - Oath has been a bit of an anomaly on the Kickstarter scene this spring: Ten days into its campaign, it had raised only $6000, but a week later it had…

Shroud of the Avatar developers address Kickstarter reward novel fulfillment, SEC filings - Over the last few days, we've had a rash of tipsters reaching out to us with concerns about Shroud of the Avatar, and now we've spoken to Portalarium to allow…

Forbes characterizes Star Citizen’s development as ‘incompetence and mismanagement on a galactic scale’ - If you have only the faintest idea what has gone on with Star Citizen since its initial Kickstarter, a new Forbes piece on the game and its creator Chris Roberts is…

Dual Universe is embracing player-to-player trading, not just an auction hall - While many MMO players are slowly becoming inured to the idea that some modern MMOs won't have proper player-to-player trading, I'll never be one of them, which is why Dual…

Playcraft is new indie multiplayer game-building game now on Kickstarter - So here's a fun new multiplayer toy that just landed on Kickstarter: It's called Playcraft, and it's being billed by Bebop Games' creator Adrien "Zeroneus" Quay-Thevenon as a "multiplayer free-to-play…

Wandering Wraeclast: Path of Exile studio Grinding Gear Games earns respect by showing respect - This is Grinding Gear Games. Grinding Gear Games recently acknowledged that some Path of Exile players were unhappy about a few topics and accepted responsibility, apologized for not addressing them…

Inside Star Citizen discusses the 3.5 flight model, collecting feedback, and the Banu Defender - The weekly Star Citizen development video is out once again, and this time it's all about that flight model, which is something that the players wrought based on their feedback…

Lawful Neutral: The war over Star Citizen in Crytek v. Cloud Imperium Games - Hello citizens! Today, I'm going to talk about a little game that's been flying under the radar and I think deserves some air time: Star Citizen. I'm obviously being a…

Dual Universe begins a drastic overhaul of container storage, inventories, and item weight - There's something about space trucking that I adore a whole lot, personally. The logistics of managing weight and fuel load, planning of the route, the zen of a focused task…

Elite Dangerous shores up April update with drag munitions revert and bug fixes - Elite Dangerous' April update was a bit rocky, with Frontier immediately following it up with a laundry list of planned fixes, including the revert of Drag Munitions. As of this…

Camelot Unchained discusses dev tools, art and animation progress in latest newsletter - Camelot Unchained's end-of-April newsletter has arrived, and as always it's stuffed to the brim with plenty of behind-the-scenes info on the game's development progress. One of the biggest bits of…

Ashes of Creation talks architecture and building tools in the newest dev diaries video - The latest entry in Ashes of Creation's ongoing dev diaries video series is out, and following in the vein of its predecessor, which gave players a behind-the-scenes look at the…

Star Citizen celebrates the arrival of its alpha 3.5 update with a week-long Free Fly promotion - Tomorrow, Star Citizen's alpha 3.5 update is lifting off, and to celebrate the occasion, Cloud Imperium Games is making the game free for anyone to download and play. During the…

All systems are go for Elite Dangerous’s first Interstellar Initiative, Bridging the Gap - Saddle up, space cowboys: Phase one of Elite Dangerous's first-ever Interstellar Initiative has begun. Announced earlier this month, Interstellar Initiatives are "a series of in-game events and narratives that play…

Valiance Online’s latest alpha patch touches on characters, animations, and interior procedural generation - We're having a superhero MMO moment here, folks. Last week, Valiance Online teased something big happening, and now we know what it is: an update. Two updates, in fact. "Two…

Chronicles of Elyria details the trials and tribulations of preparing for domain and settlement selection - As Chronicles of Elyria's ambitious domain and settlement selection process kicks off today, the folks at Soulbound Studios have released a new dev diary that delves into the details of…

Legends of Aria’s latest update brings changes to the mount system, introduces ‘horses that don’t suck’ - Earlier this week, indie sandbox MMORPG Legends of Aria received its Point Release 5 update which, among other things, brought big changes to the game's mount system. Why, you may…

Camelot Unchained takes a look at new animations and UI updates as siege scenario development continues - This week's Camelot Unchained newsletter is live, and -- quelle surprise -- the team at City State Entertainment is still hard at work refining the game's work-in-progress siege scenario that's…

Ship of Heroes’ signature hero Sword Blossom takes the spotlight in the latest newsletter - This past weekend marked the 15th anniversary of the venerable City of Heroes, and amidst all the hullabaloo about rogue servers (the most recent of which were brought online just…

Playcraft

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1296370660/playcraft/description

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)
Oath (Ready-Up) – Kickstarter funded.
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.
Playcraft (Bebop Games) – Kickstarter ends May 28.
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 unsuccessful.
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.

Oath funds

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/readyupstudios/oath

Yes, some crowdfunded MMOs most definitely do succeed. But others crash and burn, and you need to hear about the whole spectrum of games that sought your money early in exchange for the promise of input and transparency. And that’s exactly what Make My MMO does every Saturday. Help us keep ’em accountable, would ya?