Project Friendship, Spry Fox’s new cozy MMO, just opened tester signups

October 8, 2024 10:30 AM

Way back in 2021, we first caught wind that indie developer Spry Fox was hiring for a new “non-violent” MMO, essentially a cozy game. The Road Not Taken and Cozy Grove dev was then acquired by no less than Netflix a year later; the studio told fans that work on Cozy Grove 2 and the unannounced non-violent MMO would continue. But we haven’t had much to report on since then.

Well, now we do! Spry Fox has begun sending closed test announcements to “Netflix members with mobile phones” to test the game, starting next week on October 14th. Spry Fox still hasn’t given it a proper name, but we do have a codename now – Project Friendship – and the studio is now characterizing it as a “multiplayer community life sim.” (This may sound like a loss to the genre, but even in 2021, we were skeptical that it was going to resemble traditional MMORPG dungeon grinders; it always looked more like a Palia than a WoW.)

“Project Friendship is a cooperative village life sim set in a wistful, whimsical world designed to froster friendship through shared experiences and creative building mechanics,” the studio’s invite reads. “You’ll be among the first to explore our early prototype calendar of events and festivals, try our communal home systems with other testers, and build an early community with other players while chatting, playing music, and dancing together.”

The FAQ expounds a bit more, specifically on its solo vs. multiplayer nature; it doesn’t really sound as if multiplayer is ready at all, but it’s coming.

“Our multiplayer features still need a lot of development, which means this playtest will be mostly focused on the solo experience (for now!). This is a rare opportunity to influence the direction of our multiplayer systems, so bring your imagination!”

There’s a sign-up link that invites sharing, so that’s exactly what we’re doing here – just note you’ll need a Netflix account, mobile device, and so forth. Good luck!