Ready-Up Studios, the developer of the MMORPG Oath, has come out of its recent radio silence with a message from the game’s Discord regarding its new art studio, what this means for future previews, and a very brief word about its planned alpha.
The post opens with an assurance that its art studio payment controversy has quieted down to the point that things are going back to normal, however Ready-Up has been asked by its new art studio that it remain anonymous due to a fear of negative publicity and its impact on the art studio.
“During the peak of the drama they received several emails […] from some of you asking if they were working on Oath, and because of the drama and the negative publicity and impact it could have on their company a few days ago they asked us to keep their work private for the time being until the situation has been dealt with completely. We are thankful they understand what has gone on and are going to respect their wishes as currently they are the only art studio we have working on the game.”
This means that future previews of Oath, which are planned for sometime in November, will feature assets from the old art studio Ocean Spark. Readers will recall that Ocean Spark leveraged a number of accusations including failure to pay for completed work and mismanagement of crowdfunded money, which prompted Ready-Up to bring some literal and figurative receipts.
In spite of all of this wriggling behind the curtain, the message indicates that an alpha for Oath is still arriving in December, though the secrecy of this new art studio partnership is apparently paramount to making that happen. “Currently they are the only art studio we have working on the game, and if that came to a halt it would cause problems with development until we found a new studio to work with, and could possibly even make us have to delay the December Alpha which is the last thing we want to do,” explains the post.
This new missive is the first official peep out of Oath ever since the art studio debacle, which seems to suggest the game’s official Discord will be the only source of communication as its official forums, official site, and official Twitter account largely remain silent.
