This week in MMO crowdfunding, Elite Dangerous formally announced the Odyssey expansion coming in 2021, which will put players on the ground, literally, as they get their space legs and can wander around planets unfettered from their ships. The downside, though, is that the expansion won’t include base building or VR compatibility, at least at launch.
Meanwhile, we poked our noses into Crowfall’s alpha, got ready to plant crops in Path of Exile, and caught up with the state of Ashes of Creation’s pre-alpha.
Read on for more on what’s been up with MMO crowdfunding over the last few weeks, plus our roundup of all the crowdfunded MMOs we’re following!
Ashes of Creation
Recent MMO crowdfunding news
Star Citizen alpha 3.10 will add a visual guidance path to landing zones - One of the things I've been chronically awful at when playing Star Citizen is finding the space port to land in a city. It often requires one to be extremely…
Elite Dangerous’ Odyssey expansion won’t include base building or VR compatibility at launch - Earlier this week, Frontier summoned cheers with the announcement that next year's Elite Dangerous expansion is called Odyssey and will indeed include content that moves players out of their ship…
Albion Online adds arena improvements, more solo randomized dungeons, and zerg changes - A new patch for the Queen update of Albion Online is live, and it's basically providing a few adjustments to make life a little better for the game. For one,…
Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen talks encounter design, NPC Dispositions, and player zone camping - The most recent developer roundtable steam from the Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen devs covers a lot of pretty big topics, including the game's encounter design philosophy, NPC AI, and…
Ashes of Creation puts up a spectacular 4K video of raw gameplay footage - With Ashes of Creation's pre-alpha ticking along and the NDA partially lifted, we're starting to hear more and more about this upcoming MMO. It's still a ways off, though, as…
Elite Dangerous begins its ‘next era’ Odyssey next year – yes, it’s the space legs expansion - Today's Elite Dangerous expansion announcement isn't going to come as a surprise to long-time players, who already knew that Frontier was working on a major expansion, that it had been…
Path of Exile’s take on Farmville blooms on June 19 with the Harvest League - After seemingly countless quarterly updates and leagues, you might think Grinding Gear Games would eventually run out of ideas for Path of Exile. Not so. The studio keeps surprising us,…
Legends of Aria kicks off Season 2 with an emphasis on digging - The second season of time-limited content for Legends of Aria has started up, and the game is digging itself a hole. Wait, no, that's not quite right; it's encouraging players to dig…
Dual Universe outlines alpha 3.1’s updates to visuals, warp drives, resurrection nodes, and tutorials - What's in the works for the next Dual Universe alpha build? A fair number of things according to the latest Inside Novaquark podcast. The subject was all about alpha 3.1…
Star Citizen fans debate monetization, journalism, and the state of the game - This past Sunday, I was invited to join the Sol Citizens community podcast to talk about what it's like to cover Star Citizen. As MOP's de facto "Star Citizen guy,"…
Fight or Kite: Deep-diving Crowfall’s Dregs RvR gameplay - A couple weeks ago I was preoccupied with leveling up my Frostweaver in Crowfall and completely missed out on the Dregs campaign that was running at the time. Fortunately for…
David Braben of Elite: Dangerous sees physical games going away in two to three years - Attention, everyone who ordered a physical copy of a video game within the past year: David Braben is coming for your physical games with a hammer. Wait, that's not quite…
Star Citizen discusses the steps needed to add salvage gameplay - Miner. Delivery driver. Bounty hunter. Criminal. There are several sorts of loose professions in Star Citizen's alpha right now, but one sort of profession that has a couple of planned…
Temtem delays part of its spring patch to mid-summer, including chat - "Spring is the new summer," Temtem declares, and who are we to argue? Heck, we don't even know what day of the week it is right now. Flurbsday? That sounds…
Project Gorgon changes its UI, tweaks Fairies, and revises beehive encounters - The most recent update for Project Gorgon has made a pretty broad swath of adjustments overall. One of the first series of changes are UI related, including turning overhead labels…
Ship of Heroes preps June test run with new animations and better performance - It's June, folks, and you know what that means: Ship of Heroes' promised next test. "Today is June 1st and we said we are targeting June for the time of…
Camelot Unchained works on bug squashing in preparation for its RvR scenario test - The month of May has seen the shoes of Camelot Unchained's developers coated in bug guts. The weekly Top Tenish report details a variety of bug fixes in service to…
Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen showcases animation syncing and how certain stats can affect storylines - Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen has a couple of things to show you. Video things. Two video things. Two video things about combat animation work and the game's perception system…
Ashes of Creation partially lifts its NDA, discusses open world housing and caravans in a livestream - Things appear to be going rather swimmingly for Ashes of Creation. During the game's most recent developer livestream, the team touted an eight hour-long playtest with its Phoenix Initiative testers,…
OrbusVR plans summer events, treasure hunting, and economy tweaks for the rest of 2020 - With OrbusVR's recent mini story pack behind it, the devs are moving on to the content coming for the rest of 2020, starting with the summer festivities. "Warmer weather means…
Star Citizen details electrical weapons and a player trading system coming to alpha 3.10 - Nothing says "future tech" quite like weaponizing lightning. Sure, Star Citizen already has lasers, but lasers just aren't quite as cool as lightning weapons, and in alpha 3.10 players will…
Kickstarted MMORPG Crowfall moves from pre-alpha to alpha today - Goodbye pre-alpha, hello alpha: ArtCraft is officially pushing Crowfall into the next stage of testing. It hasn't been without its setbacks - MMO vets will remember that the game was…
Elite Dangerous plans Fleet Carriers launch for June 9, with bug fixes and mining balances along the way - Elite Dangerous' Fleet Carriers may have been delayed from last year, but the update is on track now: Frontier formalized a June 9th launch for the new update as of…
Albion Online offers a mount skin for an off-season Crystal League tournament - There's a gap between Season 9 and Season 10 of PvP struggles in Albion Online... or at least, the struggle for territory. There will still be PvP action with the…
Shroud of the Avatar plans on hosting official PvP events complete with unique new trophies - Shroud of the Avatar likes hosting its little events. Whether they're weekly fishing tournaments or official decoration contests (which will be coming back soon, incidentally), having fun competitions with unique…
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. Closed beta.
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 unsuccessful.
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.
Swords ‘n Magic and Stuff (Kindred) – Kickstarter funded.
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.
Path of Exile
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?
