Crypto WoW-wannabe Ragnarok loses $1.8M in ETH before it even gets off the ground

August 27, 2022 11:00 AM

The crash of crypto has damaged another starry-eyed dreamer looking to blend MMORPG gaming, the metaverse, and NFTs together: Ragnarok, not to be confused with any of the existing MMOs that already use that name.

This self-proclaimed “true metaRPG” has a list of typical MMO aspirations such as leveling up, looting, slaying monsters, and socializing with others, on top of similarly typical crypto aspirations like distinct NFTs serving as in-game avatars, the ability to craft NFTs, and the opportunity to trade, sell, or own in-game real estate. The avatar NFTs, known as Ronin, were created in a limited mint of 7,777 and are minted on the Etherium blockchain. The game features a playable browser-based demo, though interested players do need to link the game to a crypto wallet before starting (not that our readers would ever do any of this, right?).

The head of the project, Fanfaron, has been writing a series of blogs about the game as early as February where he muses about what blockchain to link to, lauds the idea of batch minting to keep gas fees players pay low, and talking up its development plans. Discord missives suggest that the team’s goal was to “create something similar to WoW, but with everything being digitally owned” – in other words, Second Life, which actually launched well before WoW. Yes, these ideas were extensively tested 20 years ago. Time is a flat circle.

But in the CEO’s latest blog, he confirms that the game has suffered $1.827M in ETH losses as a result of selling its position in ETH multiple times as crypto prices have continued to crash all summer – that’s roughly in line with how much the company had pulled in from seed-round investors. The CEO does say he’s repaid the project for all the company’s losses by reducing his compensation, which is apparently considerable given the average $22,000 salaries for the other 56 “core team members” as outlined by his figures.

Despite the investment fiasco, Fanfaron is still retaining his position as the CEO of the game’s company after a discussion with investors, and the Ragnarok team is forming a board of advisors and holding monthly business review calls. Currently the project has $10M in funds, which will purportedly be used to develop game features like an arcade, new zones, and party functions among other things.