This week in MMO crowdfunding, Dual Universe’s Jean-Christoph Baillie chatted up GamesIndustry.biz about the development of the game, suggesting a game that’s essentially a metaverse that relies on player-generated content but is a true game, unlike predecessors like Second Life. “This is a tradition that goes back as far as I can remember in science fiction,” he says. “It’s not a new idea. But one thing that’s central to making this work is technology. It’s been six years. The technology we’ve developed is absolutely crazy complex. We have had some of the best ingenious PhDs working on that for several years. I’m not saying nobody can do it, but it’s not something you can do in your garage in two days. It’s really complex.”
Meanwhile, Albion Online’s Queen update rolled out to players, Temtem hit early access (though it’s been a bumpy, buggy ride, it’s still a big Kickstarter MMO success story!), Crowfall previewed its new spellbook, Chronicles of Elyria retracted art it had implied was its own, and Zenith began teasing its pre-alpha.
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!
Dual Universe
Recent MMO crowdfunding news
Albion Online is fixing up Elite Dungeon loot and fame along with Hideout issues - The Queen update for Albion Online is a big one; it's arguably something of a killer. Unfortunately it also killed a few things it really wasn't supposed to, according to a…
Inside Star Citizen discusses miroTech’s moons and shows off the Cutlass Red space ambulance - The first Inside Star Citizen of 2020 is here, and it's a compact little bundle of new information for players of the developing sandbox. In this edition, we have the…
Here’s how Crowfall’s spellbook and passive skills are changing in the February revamp - Crowfall is back this week with another new dev diary, this one building on the UI changes coming in February (as detailed previously) with an explanation of the tweaks to…
Kickstarted VR cyberpunk MMO Zenith grows its team, lays groundwork for pre-alpha - One of the uplifting victories for the genre in 2019 was the fact that a couple of unorthodox titles were pretty successful in their Kickstarter campaigns. One of these, Zenith,…
Temtem has had a bumpy but active early access launch - It's the way of things when an MMO first launches to hit a variety of potholes along the way. So it was for Temtem, which arrived to early access yesterday…
Dual Universe shows off new piloting updates coming to Alpha 3 - Dual Universe's upcoming January Alpha 3 test keeps on showing off features. This time, it's all about piloting control, which will be seeing a number of new updates once the…
The Stream Team: Working with AQ3D’s werewolves - As Massively OP's MJ had guessed, the rescue missions in AQ3D's Darkovia were much more than the mayor tried to let on. The vampire wedding went well, albeit with a…
Chronicles of Elyria dev blog’s ‘mood piece’ turns out to be ‘photobashed stock art’ - The idea of a mood board, which collects a variety of images from various sources to bring inspiration, isn't exactly a foreign one. Perhaps that's what Chronicles of Elyria was…
Albion Online hot-fixes a Hideout issue while acknowledging issues with the Battle for Caerleon event - Every big patch has some issues, and Albion Online's Queen update, which landed yesterday, was no exception. It turned out that Hideouts were getting completed instantly and not being made vulnerable…
Temtem ramps up for its early access launch with an anime-style launch trailer - Stress testing is over and today marks the official early access launch of Temtem, the critter collecting MMO in the style of Pokemon, and what better way to hype up…
City of Titans makes a small but significant change to the Avatar Builder UI - What difference can a slider bar possibly make? A pretty good one in the case of City of Titans, which showed off a tweak to the Avatar Builder UI earlier…
Star Citizen recounts development progress made in November and December - The end of 2019 was a loaded one for Star Citizen, with many of the fruits of that labor available in the latest alpha version. There's been a lot more…
Albion Online has officially deployed the Queen update today - It's the eighth major update for post-launch Albion Online, Major Outlands rework makes living there feel pretty fine! Hideouts for guilds there, three new towns to play fair, Open-world fighting…
CIG fires back in response to Crytek’s request to pause Squadron 42 lawsuit - Earlier this month we reported on a request from Crytek to halt its ongoing breach of contract lawsuit against Star Citizen studio Cloud Imperium without prejudice - and without fees…
Albion Online
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) – 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.
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 unsuccessful.
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 early access.
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.
Temtem
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?
