Alphas & Betas

MMOs in various stages of testing and crowdfunding, playable and… not. Don’t forget to follow our Betawatch and Make My MMO columns for a weekly rundown. [Follow this category’s RSS feed]

Loric Games, founded by Mythic vets, picks up fresh investment and Jeff Hickman to build a survival game

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Remember back in 2022, when we first learned a trio of Mythic vets - Brian Johnson, Ray Soto, and Mythic co-founder Rob Denton -...

Extraction shooter Hawked plots Q1 launch, new stories, ranked PvP, and crafting in 2024 roadmap

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MY.GAMES' PvPvE extraction shooter Hawked has laid out its roadmap for 2024, and it looks to be as content-rich as it possibly can, with...

PSA: Valheim’s Discord and two Iron Gate Discord accounts have apparently been hacked

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Bad news bears for survival sandbox Valheim tonight, as apparently hackers have taken over the game's Discord - as well as some of the...

Ultra Mega Cats is a ‘cat-tastic’ roguelike co-op third-person shooter headed for early access later this year

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It's said that you can't judge a book by its cover, but in the case of the upcoming Ultra Mega Cats, it's safe to...

Nexon’s preliminary injunction against Dark and Darker was dismissed, but the lawsuit presses on

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One of last year's more distinct stories was related to the medieval fantasy PvPvE extraction RPG Dark and Darker and megacorp Nexon: Readers may...

MapleStory KR begins beta testing adjustments to the meso economy that stir worries among NA fans

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Mesos make the MapleStory world go 'round being the primary in-game currency that they are, but apparently a few faucets for those shiny gold...

Interview: Survival MMO Age of Water on monetization, sandbox play, and the Q1 early access launch

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Way back at the end of 2020, we first caught wind of a new sandbox called Age of Water: Developed by Three Whales Studio...

Camelot Unchained’s latest newsletter reaffirms its old-school business model

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We've had one Camelot Unchained newsletter, yes, but what about second newsletter? Then prepare for paragraphs from City State Entertainment as it showcases the...

Nightingale plans a three-hour stress test on Friday with no NDA attached

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If the potential of Nightgale's Victorian survivalbox keeps you up at night with curiosity, you'll soon have the opportunity to scratch that itch and...

EVE Vanguard resumes playtesting, EVE Echoes changes ship insurance costs

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This weekend brings a couple of news pieces from the world of EVE Online, both in the PC and mobile versions of the game,...

Chronicles of Elyria begins alpha testing… a feedback form

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Despite vows to bring about an alpha for one of the Chronicles of Elyria titles by the end of 2023, it should shock precisely...
We remember so you don't have to.

Betawatch: Survival sandboxes aplenty with Enshrouded, Palworld, and Fractured Veil

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Today, we celebrate Enshrouded entering into early access this week. Not because this is a game I am deeply invested in or anything like...

Hawaii-themed zombie survivalbox Fractured Veil finally makes its early access release to mixed reviews

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After a multi-year series of delays, Paddle Creek Games has made the early access launch for its survival sandbox Fractured Veil, inviting players to...

Skull and Bones previews its endgame takeovers, heists, bosses, and ship combat

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If there's a genre of dev blog I like least, it's the one where studio staffers pretend to offer an unbiased blog post or...

Fight or Kite: Warhaven’s pre-season 2 is super fun but perilously unbalanced

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Update: This column was written before we knew that Nexon has decided to sunset the game in April, unfortunately. Consider this our eulogy and...

Almost 11 years post-Kickstarter, Camelot Unchained devs are working on UI, lighting, NPC navigation, and performance

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Camelot Unchained is moving into its 11th year of development this month, and it looks as if most of the work focus from City...

Avatar franchise mobile MMO Avatar Reckoning has been canceled after split from Tencent

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Almost exactly two years ago, we first caught wind of an MMO based on the Avatar franchise - mobile MMO, to be precise, although...

Tarisland’s new story trailer takes another cue from World of Warcraft

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Tarisland fans have not been wanting for fuel to power the mighty hype engines of this upcoming MMORPG. On top of dev blogs and...

What we knew about Blizzard’s now-dead survival game, Odyssey

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The history of Blizzard's game development includes a graveyard full of titles that never made it to launch, including the likes of Starcraft Ghost,...

MMO sandbox BitCraft emphasizes player ownership and terraforming while avoiding a griefing ‘hellscape’

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Clockwork Labs' Gamer Director Carter "Minch" Minshull and CTO Alessandro Asoni sat for a lengthy podcast-esque video this week focused on upcoming sandbox BitCraft...