In August 2021, the MMORPG “Untamed Isles” joyfully launched on Steam. The game was inspired by the Pokémon series: players could catch and breed monsters. The game’s funding was initiated through the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter – additionally, many investors were involved. A year later, in August 2022, the developers Phat Loot stated that they had very bad news for the players.
What is Untamed Isles?
- The game describes itself as a “very ambitious title”, an “Open World Monster-catching MMORPG”. They promised players unique zones, PvP, trading, breeding, and a story – all the good stuff.
- A Kickstarter campaign raised a proud sum of $527,000 in 2021, 4 times more than planned (via kickstarter).
- The game relied on a “Pay2Earn” model: all items and monsters in the player’s possession could be bought, sold, or traded using cryptocurrency – and that’s where things went wrong.
The studio simply ran out of money after the crypto crash
What went wrong? As the studio writes in a message to fans (via steam):
To work on the project, we needed more than 70 team members on board and we worked tirelessly for over 2 years to build the game we dreamed of.
The truth is, development costs are high, and there were a lot of problems along the way. Since the start of our journey in 2020, the economic landscape has changed dramatically, both generally and specifically in cryptocurrency. We no longer have confidence in the market.
We have exhausted our resources and cannot continue development.
The team says they relied on the crypto market. When the crash came, they had no money left. They love the game and do not want to make compromises, so the team is pausing development and considering how to proceed.
They hope to one day meet the players on the islands of Untamed Isles.
Critical YouTube video and crypto crash triggered the downfall
What’s going on? The website PC Gamer quotes a Twitch livestream from Phat Loot last week, where more background information about the failure of “Untamed Isles” was provided.
The problems for the company behind the game began when a YouTube video by MMOByte from July 21 criticized the game and apologized for originally supporting it. The YouTuber practically withdrew trust from the game (via youtube).
Even a former Pokémon champion, Wolfe Glick, seemed to distance himself from the game on Twitter (via twitter).
This led to others withdrawing from the project. Instead of the 2,000 to 3,000 pre-sales that were hoped for, only 50 were left at the end.
They want to quietly continue developing the game and look at the market:
The bigger blow for Untamed Isles was that investors vanished into thin air after the crash of the crypto market. In a live stream, it was stated:
Everything was going very well. Then came the crypto crash and we lost our funding very, very quickly. The investors withdrew when they saw the market collapse – and to be fair, they were right because it is very uncertain times in the world economy.
Actually, the developers had planned to release the game in October on Steam in a “This is how it is right now” version, but they depleted their last financial reserves so quickly that it became impossible.
What about the Kickstarter money now? Bad. While investors were able to pull their money out of the project and save it, those who invested through Kickstarter seem to be in bad shape.
In a FAQ about the game, it states: No refunds are possible, as there simply is no money left (via untamedisles).
Players believe: They gambled our Kickstarter money in the crypto market
What is the reaction? The premature end of Untamed Isles is also frustrating because many Kickstarter backers and supporters were not aware of how deeply the game is rooted in cryptocurrencies:
- On Steam, there are angry accusations that the developers gambled the money given to them for the development of the game on the crypto market.
- However, the developers want to clarify: They did not invest the Kickstarter money in cryptocurrency, all the money went into the development of the game (via untamedisles). Investors withdrew from the game, partly due to the problems in the crypto market.
It surely is another setback for Pay2Earn, crowdfunding games, and games that rely on cryptocurrency and NFTs. The mood among gamers is already skeptical to openly hostile:
