This week in MMO crowdfunding, Chronicles of Elyria stirred fresh drama, as Soulbound Studios appeared to backtrack on its announcement that it had folded and work on the game had ceased. Initially, that announcement had caused backers to seek help from the Washington State Attorney General’s office and pursue other avenues for refunds and civil suits. But this week, Soulbound’s Jeromy Walsh claimed he’d been misunderstood – that in fact some staff remain to work on the game and he was seeking alternative funding sources, which some backers interpreted to be an effort to stall legal action against the company.
As reader HolyAvengerOne chronicled, representatives from the Washington State Attorney General’s office held a live Facebook discussion this week that in part discussed scams and consumer protection when it comes to crowdfunding campaigns, which are indeed subject to the Consumer Protection Act. In the video (embedded below) the reps recommend that affected citizens submit formal complaints and say they “stand ready” to prosecute scams again. While there’s no specific mention of Soulbound Studios, the reps refer to a spike in complaints (which as we’ve noted come chiefly in regard to the game) and remind would-be backers of “too-good-to-be-true” projects to be careful when investing in crowdfunding efforts.
Meanwhile, Book of Travels confirmed that it’s still on track schedule-wise in spite of COVID-19, Elite Dangerous began the beta for fleet carriers on PC (with a few snafus), Albion Online went egg-huntin’, the Heartwood Forest Saga is live in AdventureQuest 3D, Crowfall’s War of the Gods phase 2 is on the way, and both Dual Universe and Star Citizen tinkered with lore.
Read on for more on what’s been up with MMO crowdfunding over the last couple of weeks, plus our roundup of all the crowdfunded MMOs we’re following!
Chronicles of Elyria
Recent MMO crowdfunding news
Chronicles of Elyria boss says development is still ongoing, still seeking funding - Over the last couple of weeks, we've been covering the abrupt cancellation of Chronicles of Elyria, a Kickstarted MMORPG that raised millions of dollars from backers both on and off…
Disgruntled Chronicles of Elyria backers seek aid from the Washington attorney general - Ever since Kickstarted MMORPG Chronicles of Elyria went belly-up, players have been trying to figure out what to do about it. Some had sunk thousands of dollars into fiefdoms in…
Massively Overthinking: What generates trust in MMO crowdfunding for you? - Last week, an anonymous game developer posted on the MMORPG Reddit about the broader MMO playerbase's frustrations with crowdfunding. See, this dev says he's been working on an MMO and…
The Repopulation works through an annoying crash issue and begins filling out whitebox areas - The April update from The Repopulation notes some pretty important progress. The latest build has addressed a persistent 02 crash issue with the help of player assistance, clearing out approximately…
The Stream Team: Another foray into Fractured - It's been almost exactly a year to the day since Massively OP's MJ peeked into Fractured. So much can happen in twelve months, and she's eager to take another look…
Check out the winners of Dual Universe’s player-generated content contest - Back at the end of March, we covered Dual Universe's space station building contest, whereby alpha participants had six months to put together the most spectacular space station they could.…
The Stream Team: Heading into AQ3D’s new Heartwood - It's springtime, so it is only fitting that the big Heartwood update has sprung in AQ3D! The zone is blooming with new beauty and greater adventure, and Massively OP's MJ…
Pantheon’s unique monster races are absolutely horrifying – in the best way - February and March have been pretty busy months for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen. Don't believe us? Then just take a peek at the producer's letter for April, which basically…
Fractured hosts its first ‘all-backers access’ test to stress the servers and de-stress you - Come one, come all (buyers) to Fractured! The indie MMO is secure and excited enough in its current alpha build that it feels comfortable in opening the test up to…
Star Citizen’s Pillar Talk discusses friends list features and better persistence in alpha 3.9 - The next alpha update for Star Citizen has its fair share of big-ticket items -- the New Babbage area, the prison, new missions, new ships -- but the most recent…
Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen shows off the Shaman and discusses the mastery system - Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen has put out another livestream this week, with this one being all about the Shaman class and its various abilities as well as a brief…
Saga of Lucimia promotes pre-orders with a weekend alpha test - We suspect that your weekend plans are generally pretty open, so maybe you'd be interested in a group-centric MMORPG to try out? If you don't mind it being in an…
Crowfall’s latest ACE Q&A covers class design and the safety of the ArtCraft team - We've all gotten accustomed to videos from the Crowfall team, but the latest ACE Q&A video is a little different from usual as it is, well... not in a studio.…
Star Citizen’s March monthly report outlines alpha 3.9 development progress - Alpha 3.9 is pretty much around the corner for Star Citizen, so reason would stand that the vast majority of March 2020's monthly report would be focused on getting the…
Elite Dangerous fully reveals Fleet Carriers, launching in June - Elite Dangerous is finally getting closer to the fleet carriers content that was originally meant to launch last year, with the reveal of the system in Frontier's latest video. "Fleet…
Legends of Aria’s $19.99 Dark Sorcery DLC has officially launched - It didn't quite make its original March deadline, but it came damn close: Early access MMORPG Legends of Aria has officially launched new DLC dubbed Dark Sorcery. The pack isn't…
Vague Patch Notes: Chronicles of Elyria’s road to nowhere - I honestly cannot stop thinking about Chronicles of Elyria. Not in the sense of surprise, mind you; this was pretty much one of the two endpoints I had always envisioned…
Albion Online wants to boost players’ ‘incentives for backstabbing and going to war’ - Over the last few months, Albion Online's Sandbox Interactive has continued its push to rebalance the endgame meta - specifically, the power and potency of admittedly lopsided alliances to drive…
Choose My Adventure: Albion Online, chestnut logs, and terrible mistakes - I regret to inform you all that my final moments in Albion Online were something of a bellyflop. A number of smaller frustrations just piled on top to effectively lead…
Camelot Unchained details work on Devout classes, new crafted traps and barricades, and Soul Essence Shards - In spite of a work-from-home policy, the folks at Camelot Unchained have been spectacularly busy. In the end of the month update for March, the Top Tenish is now a…
Ashes of Creation plans its alpha one testing starting in May - Make it through this stretch of time, Ashes of Creation, because good things are coming in the future. Specifically, they'll be arriving in May, because the latest letter sent out…
Shroud of the Avatar disables a big experience boost to get rid of shared experience pools - There was a 10x quest experience bonus in Shroud of the Avatar, but it has been disabled now. But the reason is actually somewhat mundane and disappointing because it all…
Star Citizen studio Cloud Imperium just picked up another $17.25M from investors - Looks like Star Citizen and Squadron 42 company Cloud Imperium just got a bit more rope, as its investor groups have bought up more shares worth $17.25M in additional funds.…
Crowfall’s War of the Gods update inches closer with this past weekend’s test - It's been the subject of the vast majority of Crowfall's discussion, and this past Thursday and Friday it went live... for a little bit, at least. The War of the…
Star Citizen
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. Abandoned March 2020.
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) –Â 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) –Â Open donations, no end date.
Novus AEterno (Taitale Studios)
Oath (Ready-Up) – Kickstarter funded.
Occupy White Walls (Stikipixels) – Kickstarter ends April 21.
OrbusVR (Ad Alternum) – KS funded March 2017. In early access.
Overpower (Hydrant Games) –Â Kickstarter unfunded; heading to early access.
Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen (Visionary Realms) –Â 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.
ROKH (Darewise) – Kickstarter canceled; in early access but not active dev.
RUiN (Tarhead Studio) – Kickstarter successful.
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.
Starfighter Infinity (Ben Olding) – Kickstarter funded. Early access.
Temtem (Crema) – Kickstarter fully funded; now in early access.
The Exiled (Fairytale Distillery) – fka Das Tal;Â KSÂ 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.
The Stomping Land (Alex Fundora) – Abandoned.
Trials of Ascension (Dragonfire) – Latest Kickstarter failed.
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.
Crowfall
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?
