This week in MMO crowdfunding, our eyes are drawn back to Kickstarted survival sandbox Day of Dragons, which made headlines earlier this autumn over accusations from the YouTube and Discord community that the game was a scam and an asset flip, which was met with equally harsh vitriol from the developer. The drama, as MOP reader Xanward pointed out to us, has only continued, as this week the developer dropped a massive (~3700 words) statement on Steam that, among other things, accuses YouTubers IcyCaress and IGP of defamation and reverse engineering (they poked through the code to look at the assets) and announces bans for both. That was followed up by another involved (but not banned) critic cutting ties with the game, noting he’s gotten death threats for playing the game and saying that “the drama alone around the constant shit show of PR management is just not worth my time anymore.” Y I K E S, as they say.
Meanwhile, Temtem dropped a new trailer, Elite Dangerous turned five, our CMA column dipped a toe back into Project Gorgon, and we interviewed the Star Citizen devs about the Argo MOLE. Finally, Monster Sanctuary, which Kickstarted for over €100K, announced the addition of online PvP. It was originally billed as a “monster-taming RPG with party-based combat and metroidvania-like exploration”; it’s not a pure MMO, but it’s edging closer, and you can play it right now on Steam.
Read on for more on what’s been up with MMO crowdfunding over the last week, plus our roundup of all the crowdfunded MMOs we’re following!
Monster Sanctuary
Recent MMO crowdfunding news
MassivelyOP’s 2019 Golden Yachties: Best drama in an MMO that doesn’t exist yet - MassivelyOP's not-so-serious end-of-the-year awards continue today with our pick for Best drama in an MMO that doesn't exist yet. If you're wondering what the heck a Golden Yachtie is, you…
Interview: Star Citizen on the Argo MOLE and the future of mining gameplay in alpha 3.8 - It was probably easy to assume that the marquee feature of Star Citizen's alpha 3.8 was going to be blowing wind. That's not all, however: There's also the unveiling of…
Dual Universe shows off alpha 3’s new industry features and answers numerous player questions - Alpha 3 is on the horizon for Dual Universe, which means the questions and the feature details are still coming. The devs at Novaquark have helped to show off some…
Ashes of Creation addresses Siege Mode, Node dev, and 5000-bot test battles - Yesterday saw another Ashes of Creation livestream with several devs offering a general rundown of progress. The broadcast touched on a pretty wide swath of talking points, from balance adjustments…
Star Citizen: Alpha 3.8 on the PTU, SOCS interview, Pillar Talk, and the BBC Click investigation - Star Citizen is having a huge last week before the holidays. Let's round it all up, shall we? First, the patch: Alpha 3.8 was pushed out to all backers on…
Chronicles of Elyria begins putting unclaimed land up for sale for a limited time - For any Chronicles of Elyria fans who happened to miss out getting themselves some in-game land and has $65 to $3,500 burning a hole in their pocket, you probably will…
Choose My Adventure: Conquering the fear of Project Gorgon (and getting rewarded for it) - You’ll probably notice that last week’s CMA was absent, and that’s because Project Gorgon intimidated me. I basically was scared off for a bit. I wasn’t scared off by the…
Elite Dangerous celebrates five years with a retrospective and a celebratory Community Goal - Happy fifth birthday to Elite Dangerous! The internet spaceship sandbox is marking its latest milestone with a whole lot of looking back, some warm messages from the team at Frontier…
City of Titans is adding fixes to the character creator and a seasonal mission - Just because City of Titans is still in development doesn't mean it can't get in on the holiday season. The in-progress superhero MMO is offering its backers a couple of…
Crowfall discusses discipline adjustments, balance, and power polishing in the December Q&A - December is halfway done, but there's still time for Crowfall to provide its usual monthly update with the latest ACE Q&A video, which touches on a variety of updates coming…
Day of Dragons mess
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.
Book of Travels (Might and Delight) – Kickstarted successfully.
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 successful.
Descent Underground (Descendent Studios) – Successful KS.
Destiny’s Sword (2Dogs) – Kickstarter successful June 2019; demo avail now.
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.
Past Fate (Icy North): Kickstarter running until Dec 31.
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.
Seed (Klang Games) – Kickstarter launching in 2020.
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 successfully funded.
Dual Universe
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?
