Make My MMO: Oath’s alpha never happened and probably never will

So who remembers indie MMO Oath? In the spring of 2019, the game pulled in $67,000 on Kickstarter, in spite of concerns about the qualifications of the studio behind the game, Ready-Up. By the fall, we were covering a very public spat between Ready-Up and Ocean Spark Studios, which was apparently working on art for the game. Ocean Spark accused Ready-Up of non-payment for its services, then Ready-Up accused Ocean Spark of breaching its contract, and then after weeks of silence, Ready-Up resurfaced to promise a December alpha and then a January one, neither of which happened. The last public-facing updates on social media and Kickstarter were over a year ago, while the last message from Ready-Up in Discord came in January, and the website has been intermittently inaccessible this week as I’ve been looking into all this (the forum is also riddled with spam).

All of this popped up on our radar again this week thanks to reader Rakk, who pointed us to YouTuber KiraTV, who’s been digging back into the whole fiasco and trying to figure out who exactly are the people supposedly building it, whether they’re really just one person, and why that one person appears to be ignoring Oath backers while seemingly working on Fiesta Online emulators. At this point, the game’s Redditors seem under the impression that the game is abandoned at best and a scam at worst, akin to Chronicles of Elyria. Hopefully, refunds for this one won’t be so hard.

Meanwhile, Temtem rolled out its Kisiwa Island patch, Valiance Online announced a beta coming in August, Past Fate returned for another go at Kickstarter, and Ashes of Creation talked up its lore. Read on for more on what’s been up with MMO crowdfunding over the last few weeks, plus our roundup of all the crowdfunded MMOs we’re following!

Temtem

Recent MMO crowdfunding news

Star Citizen devs discuss the updates, features, and adjustments of alpha 3.10 - With alpha 3.10 now in the PTU, fans of Star Citizen have a number of questions about the update. This past Friday's Star Citizen Live sought to address those questions…

Medieval sandbox MMORPG Past Fate opens its second Kickstarter campaign - Earlier this month we told you about Past Fate’s upcoming second attempt at crowdfunding after the first swing failed to strike. As of yesterday, that second shot at Kickstarter redemption…

Albion Online explains the hideouts of Roads of Avalon - Hideouts? In my Roads of Avalon? It's more likely than you might think in Albion Online. Yes, players can definitely stake their claim to locations within the Roads of Avalon…

Inside Star Citizen returns with details about building in-game brands and a sprint report - After another break, Star Citizen is back on its weekly video series rollout as Inside Star Citizen makes its full return. In this episode, players are first shown how CIG…

Superhero MMO Valiance Online plans an open beta in August - Of the big three City of Heroes-inspired superhero MMOs, Valiance Online probably wasn't the one most folks expected to be next in line for a beta, although given its big…

Albion Online’s Rise of Avalon launches August 12, hits player testing today - We've been talking about Albion Online's Rise of Avalon update for weeks, but as of today, we finally have a target date for launch: August 12th. The patch will mark…

Dual Universe shows off its shiny new character model - Dual Universe would like to introduce you to someone. It's yourself. No, the devs at Novaquark aren't asking you to do some meditative introspection; they'd like to show you the…

Fractured starts its next alpha test today - The original plan for Fractured was to kick off its next alpha testing session on July 16th. That didn't happen, unfortunately; bugs cropped up at the last minute that needed…

Sandbox MMORPG Past Fate readies another Kickstarter campaign and shows off alpha footage - Alright, this one is going to need a bit of a refresher. Past Fate is a sandbox MMORPG that we showcased last December which tried (and failed) to bring in…

Shroud of the Avatar is adding teleporters that link player-owned towns in Release 80 - Don't let that image above fool you. That's no ordinary covered wagon, that's a high-tech teleportation device that will forever change how players travel between player-owned towns in Shroud of…

Star Citizen’s artists create armor concepts using space crab pieces in a livestream - Star Citizen will eventually have beasts like crabs, cows, and space whales. They will likely provide crafting materials and salable components. But what if you decided to go all Monster…

Temtem adds in the Kisiwa island tomorrow - It's time to make some friends in Temtem with the next major update coming tomorrow. Not just because players will be tasked with fighting as part of the resistance on…

Ashes of Creation’s Steven Sharif gives an impromptu talk on the game’s mechanics - So a funny thing happened during a Summit1g livestream on Saturday. The streamer was checking out a recent LazyPeon breakdown video for Ashes of Creation, when who showed up but…

Oath

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. Closed beta.
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. Abandoned March 2020.
City of Heroes Homecoming (Homecoming) – Monthly donation rounds.
City of Titans (Missing Worlds Media) – Successful KS; Issue 0 delayed into 2019.
Dawngate (Studio Wayfinder). Kickstarter ends Aug 27.
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) – Abandoned in 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, then again.
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.
Frozen Flame (Dreamside) – Fig campaign successful. In founder alpha.
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) – 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. Launched 2020.
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) – Open donations, no end date.
Novus AEterno (Taitale Studios)
Oath (Ready-Up) – Kickstarter funded. Seemingly abandoned.
Occupy White Walls (Stikipixels) – Kickstarter unsuccessful.
OrbusVR (Ad Alternum) – KS funded March 2017. In early access.
Overpower (Hydrant Games) – Kickstarter unfunded; heading to early access.
Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen (Visionary Realms) – Open donations. Pre-alpha.
Pantropy (Brain Stone GmbH): First Kickstarter canceled, second funded.
Past Fate (Icy North): First Kickstarter unsuccessful, second ends August 22.
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.
ROKH (Darewise) – Kickstarter canceled; in  early access but not active dev.
RUiN (Tarhead Studio) – Kickstarter successful.
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.
Starfighter Infinity (Ben Olding) – Kickstarter funded. Early access.
Swords ‘n Magic and Stuff (Kindred) – Kickstarter funded.
Temtem (Crema) – Kickstarter fully funded; now in early access.
The Exiled (Fairytale Distillery) – fka Das Tal; KS 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.
The Stomping Land (Alex Fundora) – Abandoned.
Trials of Ascension (Dragonfire) – Latest Kickstarter failed.
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; now in alpha.

Past Fate

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?