This week in MMO crowdfunding, we did a retrospective on why crowdfunded MMOARPG Hero’s Song failed. It’s almost as if Justin knew (cue spooky music) because two days later, Hero’s Song’s John Smedley and most of the Pixelmage team showed up at Amazon, announcing a new studio and a new game for the shopping giant’s games division. In other words, don’t expect Smed back on Kickstarter any time soon.
Meanwhile, Star Citizen’s alpha 2.6.1 went live, we poked around TUG’s status, Elite Dangerous demoed its upcoming “Holo-Me” character creator, The Exiled prepped for next week’s launch, Ruin of the Reckless entered its backer test phase, and Camelot Unchained hinted at beta.
Read on for more on what’s up with MMO crowdfunding over the last few weeks and the regular roundup of all the crowdfunded MMOs we’ve got our eye on.
Star Citizen
Star Citizen Alpha 2.6.1 is now LIVE. You can begin downloading, and learn more about what's contained within here: https://t.co/gOBXudnXID pic.twitter.com/Ef3lXAoo7Z
— Star Citizen (@RobertsSpaceInd) February 18, 2017
Recent MMO crowdfunding news
AdventureQuest 3D cranks it up with its open beta trailer - It has been a while since AdventureQuest 3D kicked off its open beta phase -- since last October, to be more specific -- but the team wants to keep excitement…
Project Gorgon previews its Orc community dungeon - The largest and toughest dungeon in Project Gorgon to date is getting ready for its online debut. The team gave a sneak peek at Gazluk Keep, an Orc-themed dungeon intended…
Camelot Unchained talks about development challenges and beta announcement - There are several notable quotes in this week's progress report from the Camelot Unchained team. Mark Jacobs said that encumberance penalties are being worked into the inventory system and explained…
Edengrad starts players down the Lost Highway - When you first step into the wasteland of Edengrad, you'll be treated to the classic post-apocalyptic experience of trekking through a dry and mostly abandoned American southwest desert. That isn't…
Star Citizen free-fly, 3.0 release interview, and Around the Verse - Valentine's Day may be over, but the chalky candy hearts and five-foot teddy bears remain. You know what's one other thing that's still around? Star Citizen's Valentine's Day promotion, which…
Crowfall preps faction system, playtests, and houses - Coming soon -- not in time for this weekend's pre-alpha test, but soon -- is the first version of Crowfall's faction system. At some point in Pre-Alpha 4.0, players will…
The Imperial Realm: Miranda offers up a teaser trailer before a new test weekend - Want to try something very different next weekend? You'll have a chance with the next test weekend for The Imperial Realm: Miranda, a seamless open-world real-time strategy game that's hosting…
The Exiled outlines early access packages, denounces pay-to-win - With just a week to go until its early access launch on February 23rd, indie "social sandbox" The Exiled -- formerly known as Das Tal -- has nailed down the…
Smed’s new Amazon studio is basically Pixelmage Games - Amazon Game Studios announced yesterday that it had picked up MMORPG genre veteran John Smedley to helm one of its up-and-coming online game studios. Today, it published a blog post…
Shards Online pumps up early access hype with a community roundtable - Last week we reported that Shards Online is winding down its alpha program and gearing up for Steam early access launch sometime in the next few months. As a follow-up…
Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen recaps the state of the game, defends the class matrix - Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen's latest newsletter includes a state-of-the-game memo from Creative Director Chris "Joppa" Perkins, who recaps the game's progress since the last one (apparently in May of…
Conan Exiles unloads its kitchen sink patch and opens up its test server - The sizable update that Conan Exiles fans have been anticipating since, uh, yesterday has finally arrived on the servers. Chants of "Patch 15.2.2017! Patch 15.2.2017!" are being heard around the world…
Amazon Game Studios gave John Smedley a new online game team to run - If you wondered what John Smedley was up to following the death of Pixelmage Games and Hero's Song in December, now you have an answer: Amazon Game Studios picked him…
You need to see Elite Dangerous’ new character creator, ‘Holo-Me’ - Elite Dangerous players, it's time to get hyped: During yesterday's stream, Frontier announced a brand-new toy for the game, a commander creator. Known as "Holo-Me" in-lore, the tool will allow…
Elite Dangerous halts sales of standalone Arena product - At the tail end of last week, Frontier pulled Elite Dangerous: Arena from sale across all platforms. "We’ve been looking at our metrics which suggest that the vast majority of…
Shroud of the Avatar’s Kobolds are high-tech marvels - Kobolds don't have the best reputation in most RPGs, usually taking the role of a low-level, non-threatening mob that you vaguely feel sorry for when you kill and pillage its corpse.…
Five reasons behind the failure of Hero’s Song - In July of 2015, MMORPG fans were stunned to hear that John Smedley was stepping down from his post as president of Daybreak. After all, he had been in the…
What in the world happened to TUG? - TUG, better known as The Untitled Game, burst onto the scene in May of 2013 with a Kickstarter, which didn't elicit the same groans and annoyance back then as it…
Elite’s Holo-Me stream
AQ3D open beta video
Campaigns and crowdfunded MMOs we’re watching
3001SQ (Société des Mondes Virtuels) – Kickstarter unsuccessful. Work continues.
AdventureQuest 3D (Artix Entertainment) – Raised 368k; beta began Oct 2016.
Antraxx (Team Antraxx) – Kickstarter canceled.
Ascent: The Space Game (Fluffy Kitten Studios) – Successful KS. Fully launched 2016.
Camelot Unchained (City State) – Kickstarter successful; open donations/packages.
Caribbean Conquest (Invenio) – First KS canceled, second ends March 7.
Contested Space (Zon)
Crowfall (ArtCraft) – Kickstarter win, open packages, Indiegogo crowdfunding ongoing.
Chronicles of Elyria (Soulbound) – Kickstarter successful, open packages.
Citadel of Sorcery (MMO Magic, Inc.) –Â Open donations.
City of Titans (Missing Worlds Media) – Successful KS; launch planned for fall 2018.
Descent Underground (Descendent Studios) – Successful KS.
Divergence Online (Stained Glass Llama)Â –Â Three campaigns; now in KS early access.
Dogma: Eternal Night (Prelude Games Factory): Kickstarter over, donor preorder packs.
Dragon of Legends (Thrive Games) – Successful Kickstarter.
Dual Universe (Novaquark) – Kickstarter funded, now has donor platform.
Eco (Strange Loop Games) – Funded, now in alpha.
Edengrad (Huckleberry Games) – Kickstarter funded; now in pre-alpha.
Elite: Dangerous (Frontier Developments) – Funded and launched.
Empyrion Online (Eleon) – Kickstarter canceled; launched on Steam early access.
Epic Space (EpicSpace.net)
Ever, Jane (3 Turn Productions) – Now in open beta.
Gloria Victis (Black Eye Games) – Open donations, no end date; in early access.
Greed Monger (Greed Monger) – Abandoned, multiple times now.
Grim Dawn (Crate Entertainment) – 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) –Â Funded and launched.
Life is Feudal (Bitbox): Indiegogo ended.
LUX (Chimera) – Kickstarter canceled.
Maestros of the Anthymn (String Theory) – Kickstarter canceled.
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)
Overpower (Hydrant Games) –Â Kickstarter unfunded; heading to early access.
Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen (Visionary Realms) –Â Open donations, no end date.
Pathfinder Online (GoblinWorks) – Doom, mostly.
Planet Nomads (Craneballs) – Successful Kickstarter.
Pixel Starships (SavySoda)
Project Gorgon (Elder Game) – Kickstarted in three tries + Indiegogo. In alpha.
Pumpkin Online (Monique) – Downgrading from MMORPG.
The Exiled (Fairytale Distillery) – fka Das Tal. Steam early access February 2017.
The Realm: Reawakened (Stephen Nichols) – Ongoing GoFundMe.
The Repopulation (Idea Fabrik) –Â Kickstarted twice by A&B. Relaunch Q1 2017.
ROKH (Darewise) – Kickstarter canceled; early access delayed to 2017.
RUiN (Tarhead Studio) – Kickstarter ends March 9.
The Stomping Land (Alex Fundora) – Abandoned.
Sacrament (Ferocity Unbound) – Kickstarter failed; Patreon ongoing.
Shadow’s Kiss (Clockwork Throne) – Ongoing Patreon.
Shards Online (Citadel Studios) – Kickstarted. Currently in alpha.
Shroud of the Avatar (Portalarium) – Successful KS. Soft launch July 2016.
Star Citizen (Cloud Imperium) – Ongoing donations/packages.
TUG (Nerd Kingdom) – In middle of year-long revamp after funding surge.
Vigor Roads (NeuronHaze) – Kickstarter unsuccessful; early access planned for 2017.
