Fractured Online
Setting: Fantasy / MMORPG | Developer: Dynamight Studios / Happy Cauldron Games | Platform: PC | Status: Release on July 24, 2024 | Year of the Campaign: 2018 | Money raised on Kickstarter: €111,662 | Backers: 1,050
The online role-playing game from Dynamight Studios has gone through turbulent years. Although the Early Access launch on Steam was celebrated on September 15, 2022, it was marked by numerous challenges and technical issues.
In January 2023, the team decided to return to closed development. In November 2023, they celebrated a rather successful comeback. This time, however, without the previous publisher gamigo.
In this version, Fractured Online left a significantly better impression, allowing the poor Steam reviews from launch (only 27 percent positive) to climb to a balanced 56 percent. Furthermore, player numbers were finally high enough to pay salaries and other liabilities.
However, this high point did not last long. Player numbers dropped again due to the ongoing challenges. The developers fought for the studio’s survival. Ultimately, in March 2025, it was acquired by the studio “Happy Cauldron Games”, which announced a relaunch similar to Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn in April.
Zenith
Setting: Cyberpunk / VR-MMO | Developer: Ramen VR | Platform: PC, VR | Status: Release on January 27, 2022 (Early Access) | Year of the Campaign: 2019 | Money raised on Kickstarter: $280,075 | Backers: 3,415
A dynamic, player-driven MMO inspired by popular JRPGs and animes – that was the promise behind Zenith, which launched into Early Access on Steam on January 27, 2022, under the title Zenith: Nexus and was expanded with the DLC The Last City on February 27, 2024.
At launch, Zenith captured the interest of about 4,000 players, who even crashed the servers at that time. At times, Zenith was the best-selling game on Steam and the Oculus Store. This led to a financial boost of €31.7 million in May 2022 to further develop Zenith.
After the release, however, player numbers dropped significantly and never recovered. As of now, Zenith: Nexus remains in Early Access, but the game is no longer officially supported by the developers. More on this here: Zenith was supposed to be the first major VR MMO like Sword Art Online and launched strongly on Steam – Now it is over
