If there’s any developer alive who knows realm-vs-realm MMO design better than Mark Jacobs, I haven’t met him or her. Jacobs and Mythic Entertainment made an MMO genre name for themselves with 2001’s Dark Age of Camelot, which figured out that three-way faction warfare was the ideal setup for PvP MMOs. Then, of course, there was an even grander attempt at this with 2008’s Warhammer Online.
So it made complete sense to me that when Jacobs went indie once more in the 2010s, he’d try again to produce what he knew best. Initially, it seemed like so much was going in favor of Camelot Unchained, but now there’s a grave concern that this title — which is supposed to come back any day now — is doomed. But is there anything I can say in its favor right now? It might be hard, but I will try.
There certainly was a lot of nice things you could say about Camelot Unchained in its early years. The 2013 Kickstarter raked in an impressive $2.2 million, showing that there was a rabid fanbase that put hope and dollars into such a game. It really did help that it didn’t feel that this MMO was starting from scratch but instead building on top of lessons learned over the previous two decades.
As development proceeded, I was impressed at the level of communication and passion by the studio. Perhaps a little too much communication at times, as some of those monthly newsletters ended up becoming infamous in our office for the sheer amount of text we’d have to parse to pull out the most significant news. It was a lot of very, very granular stuff that made this project sound like it was always busy and moving forward without quite telling us how much was left.
As is becoming common many of these long-running crowdfunding projects, the wheels started to fall off Camelot Unchained somewhere around the five-year mark. People get really tired of waiting for these to germinate, mind you, and a project’s most passionate fan can easily turn into a vocal enemy if they are jilted or told to be patient once too many times.
As we detailed in our post earlier this year, the last five years have been a string of bad omens for Camelot Unchained. There have been layoffs, demands for refunds, a really weird side game announced before the primary game was even finished, a long-delayed beta that didn’t satisfy anyone, no more development updates, and the end of public playtesting without any concrete details on a development and launch timeline.
I may be a dense person who takes a lot of convincing, but every bone in my body tells me that this game is in trouble. I don’t really believe there’s going to be some miraculous 11th hour resurrection with a revitalized dev team flush with cash from angel investors who will bring this title across the finish line to triumphant reception. It could very well have already died and the obituary is simply taking its sweet time getting here because the comms are so few and far between.
And yes, I know that after the pause in testing and then layoffs, the studio reiterated that it was planning to return with a “State of the Game” presentation and clarity on what is going on in early 2025, a period that is fast coming to a close. But even if that does happen at some point, what hype is left for the game? There really hasn’t been much buzz for a while.
And that’s sad because — and here’s where I dig deep and say something positive — this project did originally have loads of promise. It was clear to me that City State had some great talent on board, and I always enjoyed seeing the class and race designs along with the released art assets.
While I’m not a PvPer at heart, I could even acknowledge that there’s certainly room for a well-designed RvR MMO that could get in there and deliver what, say, Crowfall failed to do. I think a lot of Camelot Unchained‘s potential was in being a small but financially viable product with a loyal playerbase that would want to keep the “tri-realm war” (as they called it) going indefinitely.
Of course, never say never in this industry. Stranger comebacks than a last-minute rally have happened to far more obscure titles. Perhaps Jacobs and whoever is left at the studio are investigating some possibilities for survival that could give Camelot Unchained enough time to regroup and try again.
But if I had to place a bet right now, I wouldn’t put my money on the future of this MMO. I’ll be happy if I’m wrong, but I see it now as a cautionary tale to add to the growing pile of failed Kickstarter dreams. The road to launch is littered with games like this. Third time was not the charm, and I can’t see how there will ever be a fourth.
Do you love spectating and speculating about upcoming MMOs? We do too! Every week, Justin tackles another upcoming title on the MMO Hype Train with opinions, analysis, and blind fervent hope. Choo choo all aboard!
