Make My MMO: Temtem’s 500K sales, Kickstarter’s union, Elite’s lore debate

This week in MMO crowdfunding, Temtem studio Crema announced that it has officially sold over 500,000 copies of the game across the globe – we presume that means Kickstarted copies combined with Steam, but that’s a lot. The early access title just rolled out a new patch focused on anti-scam security, trading, and bug-fixing, and the team is promising an updated roadmap in the near future.

In crowdfunding meta news, Kickstarter itself decided to unionize this week. “Today we learned that in a 46 to 37 vote, our staff has decided to unionize,” Kickstarter’s CEO told press. “We support and respect this decision, and we are proud of the fair and democratic process that got us here.”

Meanwhile, Saga of Lucimia tackled the topic of crowd control and teased preorders, Elite Dangerous players (and even a famous author – thanks to Stuart for telling us about this!) agitated for the return of in-game lore, the Crytek Star Citizen dispute may be coming to an end, and Albion Online changed course on its alliance plans and warned against third-party software.

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!

Saga of Lucimia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bA9iqB5dV0I

Recent MMO crowdfunding news

Ship of Heroes grants a look a new Martial Arts melee powerset in a video - It takes a special kind of superhero to go into a fight against the forces superheroes face with nothing but your fists and feet, but that's the modus operandi for…

Elite Dangerous players agitate for the return of GalNet lore, even if they have to write it themselves - The trouble with petitions and open letters is that if a studio accedes to one, people are going to keep trying it. That seems to be the case with Elite…

Albion Online has already nixed plan to cap alliances, hopes to balance with penalties instead - Last week, we covered Albion Online's big plans to overhaul its alliance system, citing both developer and player unhappiness with how dominant large alliances are in the game - the…

Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen takes a tour of the Faerthale region in a livestream - That Faerthale gameplay look we were promised has arrived. The new area is the focus of the latest livestream from Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen, which offers a look at…

Star Citizen explores microTech’s moons and Anvil Carrack as the Crytek lawsuit reaches a settlement - Another week, another Inside Star Citizen. This time, we're continuing the three-part look at development work on microTech's moons and given a room-by-room tour of the highly anticipated Anvil Carrack. The…

Legends of Aria’s Point Release 9 update is officially live - For the past few days we've been getting updates about the features coming to Legends of Aria in Point Release 9. Now, players have their opportunity to try them all…

Past Fate starts its open alpha on February 24 following Kickstarter cancelation - At long last, Past Fate is entering its open alpha testing on February 24th. "How is this possible?" you ask, before clarifying that the reason you're asking is that you…

Crowfall takes a closer look at character race disciplines - Racial passives in MMOs are a bit of a dying system, but Crowfall is bringing them back with racial disciplines, which were the subject of a recent dev blog from…

Albion Online’s latest update tweaks Avalonians, streamlines UI, and polishes elite dungeons - Albion Online's Queen update has ushered in a new era for the game in terms of player concurrency - but also in terms of hotfixes and patches and plans. Since…

The Stream Team: Headbanging at AQ3D’s Breaking Benjamin battle concert - It's time for AdventureQuest 3D's third battle concert! Rocking out for the audience today (and for the next two weeks) is Breaking Benjamin. Massively OP's MJ is excited for this…

Wild Terra 2: New Lands will hit closed alpha this week for high-end backers - Last fall, Juvty Worlds announced that it had run into the "ceiling of technology" with Wild Terra and was pointing its four-person dev team at building Wild Terra 2: New…

The Repopulation’s latest update once again focuses on optimization and error fixing - I've often written here about how not every patch or update needs to bring some big ticket feature and that, sometimes, it's just better to refine what's in-game now first.…

Crowfall will start handing out monthly appreciation rewards to its backers - How do you thank those who have been monetarily supporting your in-development throne war MMO? By dishing out monthly freebies, that's how! Crowfall is going to be showing the love…

Temtem opens a new weekly endgame location and makes Luma critters more rare - The world of Temtem has opened a new location in its latest patch that should be pretty enticing to those who are at the top end and seeking the right…

Saga of Lucimia may be moving toward a hybrid business model - While the topic of lockboxes, cash shops, and business models isn't anything new -- which is an understatement -- Saga of Lucimia's team is exploring these issues as it deeply…

Elite Dangerous

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.
Book of Travels (Might and Delight) – Kickstarted successfully.
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.
City of Heroes Homecoming (Homecoming) – Monthly donation rounds.
City of Titans (Missing Worlds Media) – Successful KS; Issue 0 delayed into 2019.
Day of Dragons (Beawesome) – Kickstarter successful.
Descent Underground (Descendent Studios) – Successful KS.
Destiny’s Sword (2Dogs) – Kickstarter successful June 2019; demo avail now.
Divergence Online (Stained Glass Llama) – Abandoned in 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. Abandoned, then not, then again.
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. Alpha 2.
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.
Past Fate (Icy North): Kickstarter unsuccessful.
Pathfinder Online (GoblinWorks) – Doom, mostly.
Path of Titans (Alderon) – Indiegogo.
Planet Nomads (Craneballs) – Kickstarted, early access launched sans multiplayer.
Playcraft (Bebop Games) – Kickstarter funded May 2019.
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.
RAW (Killerwhale) – Kickstarter canceled by Kickstarter.
Starfighter Infinity (Ben Olding) – Kickstarter funded. Early access.
Temtem (Crema) – Kickstarter fully funded; now in early access.
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.
Seed (Klang Games) – Kickstarter launching in 2020.
Shadow’s Kiss (Clockwork Throne) – Ongoing Patreon, Kickstarter funded.
Ship of Heroes (Heroic) – Kickstarter canceled, beta expected before 2020.
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.
Zenith (Ramen) – Kickstarter successfully funded.

AdventureQuest 3D

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?