Kickstarted MMORPG Pantheon has a big announcement this afternoon: It’s swapping over to a seasonal dev schedule. Visionary Realms presents the plan as a way to lower the cost of access for players significantly as well as keep it on track with content during development – as well as to fund the game and help VR “gather data and feedback on a large-scale environment.”
“Every six weeks a new season is introduced that contains a significant content update for our pledges to test out,” the studio says. “Prior to this, only high-tier pledges had regular access to the game. With this new approach, all pledges can access the game during development, no matter what tier of pledge. This means that for the first time ever, even a $50 pledge will get a player into the game during scheduled sessions in each season. VIP pledges get full-time access; Champion-tier pledges get two weeks of access per season; and Supporter-tier pledges get one week of access per season. This allows thousands of pledges into the game while development continues, and gives them a front-row seat to the expanding world.”
The first such six-week season – Chapter 1, Season 1: Into the Pass – will rollout February 17th and focuses on the Avendyr’s Pass locale, with mobs, quests, crafting, and explorables, plus an early phase of Shaman wolf pet testing. The second season of this first chapter is slated for March 30th and will continue development of the pass zone.
MMO players will recall that 2023 was a shaky year for Pantheon as Visionary Realms announced both an art makeover for the game and a spin-off extraction title, neither of which went over with the backers and tester playerbase, to the point that VR canceled the 247 mode with apologies. Clearly, this is the company’s attempt to pivot development once again.
