This week in MMO crowdfunding, MOP reader Winterskorn alerted us to the Kickstarter for Day of Dragons. It’s not a pure MMO, but it’s on our periphery as an “online creature survival sandbox game set in a large, beautiful, open world with multiple biomes.” Developer Beawesome Games sought $12,000, but as I type this, the Kickstarter’s already over $325,000 with more than a week remaining. And yes, you play as a dragon.
Meanwhile, the Kickstarter for cyberpunk MMORPG Zenith is now in the home stretch; with just a few days left to go, it’s now raised more than $230,000 after seeking only $25,000. Plus Valiance Online teased more patch notes, Legends of Aria implemented its premium sub, Cube World set September 23rd for closed beta, Pantheon tackled class questions, Elite Dangerous’ new currency and tutorial launched, and Ashes of Creation made plans to put up perma-servers for Apocalypse this coming week.
Read on for more on what’s been up with MMO crowdfunding over the last couple of weeks, plus our roundup of all the crowdfunded MMOs we’re following!
Zenith
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zenithmmo/zenith-the-fantasy-cyberpunk-mmo-game-for-vr-and-desktop
Recent MMO crowdfunding news
Dual Universe’s new podcast talks up the features of alpha 2 and 3 - Do you have 30-odd minutes to yourself and want to hear about Dual Universe? Then your extremely specific needs are met as a podcast from the devs is now online…
Project Gorgon’s September update touches combat, treasure, and skills - Tiny indie studio Elder Game is still doggedly working on the whimsical and weird MMORPG Project Gorgon, and as of today, the September patch has arrived, complete with more adjustments…
Ashes of Creation previews the lore and creation of its adorable otter mount - Who doesn't love an adorable otter? Maniacs, that's who. And if you get yourself an adorable otter that can also carry you on its back, like the tidebreaker mount on…
Here’s where Frontier stands on Elite Dangerous’ September patch bugfixing - In the wake of Elite Dangerous' September patch, which ostensibly added a new newbie tutorial and revamped the cash shop to use a new currency called ARX, Frontier has been…
Star Citizen nibbles on space rocks with a look at FPS mining - Last week, the video digest from Star Citizen was all about exploring caves and what you'd find within them such as mining deposits. So it would perhaps stand to reason…
Legends of Aria implements optional premium sub, drops base game price permanently - If you remember the beginning of 2019 - yes, it's been like 100 years this year, but try - you'll recall that the Legends of Aria community was in uproar…
Chronicles of Elyria marks its crowdfunding anniversary with a contest and more crowdfunding - Most MMO anniversaries are to mark a game's launch date, but since Chronicles of Elyria still hasn't quite completed development yet, it has to mark the march of time another…
Albion Online improves guild logs and adjusts enemies with its latest update - Have you ever found yourself fighting an enemy and think, "gosh, this boss has really let himself go?" Because the latest patch for Albion Online literally describes the changes to the…
Cube World’s closed beta begins September 23 – go get your Steam keys - When Picroma's Wolfram von Funck resurfaced earlier this month to announce that 2013 voxelbox Cube World was not only back in development but hitting Steam with a beta, I was…
Ashes of Creation sends its Apocalypse battle royale to early access next week - Now calling it a "prequel" to the MMORPG itself, Intrepid Studios announced today that Ashes of Creation's Apocalypse battle royale title will hit early access on September 24th with persistent…
Pantheon addresses questions for every class in the upcoming MMO - Visionary Realms is back this month with another look at Pantheon's development in its September newsletter. There's a new segment this round focused on the game's playable classes; not only…
Elite Dangerous’ new tutorial and new shop currency are live today - My own experience with getting started in Elite: Dangerous went pretty smoothly, but I contend that the tutorials I went through could have been a bit better. With today's update,…
Antares Open World is an outrageously ambitious new MMO sandbox being built with SpatialOS - Let's take a quick break for what's fast becoming MMO Anniversary Week around here for a peek at a brand-new MMO still on the horizon: It's called Antares Open World,…
Choose My Adventure: Accidentally naked adventures in Legends of Aria - It would probably stand to reason that my rise in confidence in Legends of Aria would take a hit this week. But mercifully, I'm so full of cold medicine that…
Camelot Unchained’s weekly update talks textures and Minstrels - The pure support class is one that is sorely missing from the modern MMORPG, so news that Camelot Unchained is working on some musically-minded support classes is definitely going to…
Chronicles of Elyria domain settlement snags cause Soulbound Studios to issue store credit - The headline event of Domain and Settlement Selection (DSS) for Chronicles of Elyria has hit a few speedbumps along the way in the form of players being unable to use…
The Repopulation’s latest update is all about database improvements and server merges (in a good way) - It can be really hard to swallow the idea that you can discuss server merges in any MMO in a good way. Sure, it means that a given server will have…
Players held a steamy Release 69 ‘dance party’ in Shroud of the Avatar - We assume most MMO players are at least aware of the more "adult" roleplaying that goes on in the quiet corners of our genre - it's just a thing, humans…
Elite Dangerous takes its cash shop offline for this week’s currency revamp - It's an odd sort of day for Elite Dangerous, as the Frontier Store has gone dark - but only for a bitsy: It'll return refreshed as part of the September…
Crowfall’s ongoing Trials of the Gods moves on to Yaga, goddess of magic - Crowfall players have fought in the name of Gaea the Earth Mother, and now it's time to fight in the name of the goddess of magic. The Trials of the…
The Stream Team: Experience AdventureQuest 3D’s new Friday the 13th dungeon - No one has a better Friday the 13th event than AQ3D, and this year there's a brand-new dungeon in Camp Gonnagetcha. Massively OPs MJ can't decide whether she will select…
City of Titans offers a look at the landmarks of Alexandria from inside the game’s world - While we've gotten a look at landmark locations a couple of times in City of Titans before, the latest preview post would be the first time we've seen these buildings…
Lawful Neutral: Examining Ashes of Creation’s controversial referral program - I have a really hard time taking anything seriously that refers to money as "bucks." You'll recall that I opened the Lawful Neutral column on virtual currency a while back…
Inside Star Citizen goes spelunking with a full episode all about patch 3.7’s cave systems - The weekly Inside Star Citizen is once again an episode focusing all on one aspect of the developing game: caves. Covering everything from lighting and sound to generation tools and…
TonyV leaves City of Heroes NCsoft negotiations, resigns from Titan Network - Over the course of the last few months, following the revelation of working City of Heroes server code out in the wild and the community's Herculean efforts to restore the…
City of Heroes: Homecoming plays with Rage crashes, PvP stuns, and Tanker powers on the test server - The PTS for the City of Heroes Homecoming servers is looking to tweak the knobs of the rogue MMO a bit. Yesterday's patch offered up a beefy list of upcoming…
Camelot Unchained is nearly ready to set in-game traps and test its new NPC AI - This week's update from Camelot Unchained hit a couple of pretty good milestones. In the regular Top Tenish write-up, the folks at City State Entertainment have gotten one step closer…
Here’s roughly ten minutes of Chronicles of Elyria pre-alpha gameplay - A common complaint among those who are watching the development of Chronicles of Elyria from the sidelines is that there's not much actual game being shown off, with only claiming…
Crowdfunding for VR cyberpunk MMO Zenith hits $200,000 with new playable race - Zenith, the plucky little cyberpunk VR MMO that rocketed onto Kickstarter last month, has made it to another funding stretch goal. The project now has raked in over $200,000 with…
City of Heroes Homecoming asks players what they want from a licensed server - Now this is an interesting development, and very possibly a hint at things to come, though there's no official confirmation of legitimacy one way or the other: The devs of…
Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen discusses crafting in its August developer roundtable - The one thing I like most about sandbox MMOs -- and the one thing that I'll probably end up doing if I find one that sticks -- is crafting that…
Fight or Kite: Crowfall’s new Infected content is the best thing added to the pre-alpha - This past week has been the best week I’ve had in Crowfall all year. First, ArtCraft dropped a weekend-long event that really turned heads, and then it immediately followed that…
City of Heroes Homecoming is now banning accounts for… real-money trading - If you thought you could get away with a bit of gold-selling or gold-buying on the side while participating in City of Heroes' rogue server community, think again, as apparently…
Star Citizen
Campaigns and crowdfunded MMOs we’re watching
3001SQ (Société des Mondes Virtuels) – Kickstarter unsuccessful, dev halted in 2018.
AdventureQuest 3D (Artix Entertainment) – Raised 368k; beta began Oct 2016.
Albion Online (Sandbox) – Launched July 2017, hit Steam May 2018.
Antraxx (Team Antraxx) – Kickstarter canceled.
Ascent: The Space Game (Fluffy Kitten Studios) – Successful KS. Fully launched 2016.
Ashes of Creation (Intrepid Studios) – Successful KS. Alpha zero.
Broke Protocol (Cylinder) – Unsuccessful KS. In free early access.
Camelot Unchained (City State) – Kickstarter successful; open donations/packages.
Caribbean Conquest (Invenio) – First KS canceled, second ended unsuccessfully.
Codename Reality (Orode) – Kickstarter unsuccessful.
Contested Space (Zon)
Crowfall (ArtCraft) – Kickstarter win, open packages, Indiegogo crowdfunding ongoing.
Chronicles of Elyria (Soulbound) – Kickstarter successful, open packages.
City of Heroes Homecoming (Homecoming) – Monthly donation rounds.
City of Titans (Missing Worlds Media) – Successful KS; Issue 0 delayed into 2019.
Day of Dragons (Beawesome) – Kickstarter ends Sept 30
Descent Underground (Descendent Studios) – Successful KS.
Destiny’s Sword (2Dogs) – Kickstarter successful June 2019.
Divergence Online (Stained Glass Llama)Â –Â Three campaigns; now in KS early access.
Dogma: Eternal Night (Prelude Games Factory): Kickstarter. Probably dead.
Dragon of Legends (Thrive Games) – Successful Kickstarter.
Dual Universe (Novaquark) – Kickstarter funded, donor platform. Backer alpha.
Eco (Strange Loop Games) – Funded, now in alpha.
Edengrad (Huckleberry Games) – Kickstarter funded. Abandoned, then not?
Elite: Dangerous (Frontier Developments) – Funded and fully launched.
Empyrion Online (Eleon) – Kickstarter canceled; launched on Steam early access.
Endless Trials (Fire Hurts) – Kickstarter canceled.
Epic Space (EpicSpace.net)
EverFeud (PSB) – Kickstarter canceled.
Ever, Jane (3 Turn Productions) – Now in open beta.
Fractured (Dynamight) – Kickstarter successful. Alpha 2.
Global Adventures (SubaGames) – Kickstarter funded.
Gloria Victis (Black Eye Games) – Open donations, no end date; in early access.
Greed Monger (Greed Monger) – Abandoned, now allegedly in refund process.
Grim Dawn (Crate Entertainment) – Funded and launched.
Guardians of Ember (Runewaker) – Funded and launched.
Guns of Icarus (Muse) – Funded and launched.
Hero’s Song (Pixelmage) –Â KS canceled; Indiegogo. Canceled w/ refunds.
Infinity: Battlescape (I-Novae Studios)
HEX (HEX Entertainment) – Funded and launched.
Legends of Aria (Citadel Studios) – Kickstarted as Shards Online. Early access.
Life is Feudal (Bitbox): Indiegogo ended. Currently in beta.
LUX (Chimera) – Kickstarter canceled.
Maestros of the Anthymn (String Theory) – Kickstarter canceled.
Maguss (Maguss) – Indiegogo successful; open beta.
Mekria (Infinity Online Studios) – Kickstarter canceled.
Midair (Archetype Studios) – Kickstarter successful.
Nebula Online (Mizar Games) Kickstarter canceled; launched in November.
Neo’s Land (NeoJac Entertainment) –Â Open donations, no end date.
Novus AEterno (Taitale Studios)
Oath (Ready-Up) – Kickstarter funded.
OrbusVR (Ad Alternum) – KS funded March 2017. In early access.
Overpower (Hydrant Games) –Â Kickstarter unfunded; heading to early access.
Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen (Visionary Realms) –Â Open donations. Pre-alpha.
Pantropy (Brain Stone GmbH): First Kickstarter canceled, second funded.
Pathfinder Online (GoblinWorks) – Doom, mostly.
Path of Titans (Alderon) – Indiegogo.
Planet Nomads (Craneballs) – Kickstarted, early access launched sans multiplayer.
Playcraft (Bebop Games) – Kickstarter funded May 2019.
Pixel Starships (SavySoda)
Project Gorgon (Elder Game) – Kickstarted in three tries + Indiegogo. Early access.
Project Oasis World (POW) – Kickstarter unsuccessful.
Pumpkin Online (Monique) – Downgrading from MMORPG.
RAW (Killerwhale) – Kickstarter canceled by Kickstarter.
Starfighter Infinity (Ben Olding) – Kickstarter funded. Early access.
Temtem (Crema) – Kickstarter fully funded; now in alpha.
The Exiled (Fairytale Distillery) – fka Das Tal;Â KSÂ unsuccessful. Early access.
The Flower of Knighthood – Kickstarter canceled.
The Realm: Reawakened (Stephen Nichols) – Ongoing GoFundMe.
The Repopulation (Idea Fabrik) – Kickstarted twice by A&B. Back in alpha.
ROKH (Darewise) – Kickstarter canceled; in early access but not active dev.
RUiN (Tarhead Studio) – Kickstarter successful.
The Stomping Land (Alex Fundora) – Abandoned.
Sacrament (Ferocity Unbound) – Kickstarter failed; Patreon ongoing.
Saga of Lucimia (Stormhaven) – Indiegogo. Intermittent pre-alphas.
Shadow’s Kiss (Clockwork Throne) – Ongoing Patreon, Kickstarter funded.
Ship of Heroes (Heroic) – Kickstarter canceled, beta expected before 2020.
Shroud of the Avatar (Portalarium) – Soft launch July 2016. Launch March 2018.
Spycursion (Defun) – Kickstarter unsuccessful.
Squadron 42 (Cloud Imperium) – Beta delayed until at least 2020.
Star Citizen (Cloud Imperium) – Ongoing donations/packages. Backer alpha.
TUG (Nerd Kingdom) – Totally abandoned without a word. Now considered a scam.
Vigor Roads (NeuronHaze) – Kickstarter unsuccessful; early access planned for 2017.
War of Rights (Campfire Games) – Successful Kickstarter; in early access.
Zenith (Ramen) – Kickstarter ends Sept 26.
Day of Dragons
Yes, some crowdfunded MMOs most definitely do succeed. But others crash and burn, and you need to hear about the whole spectrum of games that sought your money early in exchange for the promise of input and transparency. And that’s exactly what Make My MMO does every Saturday. Help us keep ’em accountable, would ya?
