What do you call a sale of founder’s packs without actually using those words? You call it the “founder crowdfunding program” if you’re old-school sandbox MMORPG Ethyrial: Echoes of Yore, which sent out a press release lauding what it described as a “new approach to MMO crowdfunding” but which MMO players will know is a model that’s been in wide use in the genre for many years.
The packs in question, which are detailed in the image below, come in $25, $100, and $400 versions, each with their own unique perks like titles, in-game items, and subscription time to the game. Additional “add-ons” are also planned that let founders create a custom NPC for $250, create a game item for $750, or help concept a town for $2,000. Readers might remember that developer Gellyberry Studios had tried crowdfunding via Kickstarter before but threw in the towel on the drive after only a few weeks. We also remind readers that Ethyrial announced in July that it secured a publisher, making this need for self-described crowdfunding extra strange.
We don’t yet know exactly where the packs will be sold as links referencing the program redirect to the game’s wiki instead, and there are no links to be found on Steam, the website, on Twitter, or the game’s Discord. The Discord did at least confirm in an FAQ channel is that these packs will be on sale at some point this month. The same FAQ also confirmed that the game will have a subscription fee attached to it, which will likely be $10 a month. Meanwhile, the game’s Steam page has been full of dev blogs that outline vocations, questing, professions, and a caravan system.
