The balance of MMO projects that sought to finance themselves through crowdfunding has so far been disastrous. Nevertheless, genre enthusiasts continue to invest a lot of money in the promise of a new MMORPG.
How bad is the balance of crowdfunding MMOs so far? In the 2010s, old-school role-playing games like Wasteland 2, Divinity – Original Sin, or Pillars of Eternity triggered a real crowdfunding boom with their successful campaigns. Various MMO developers wanted to benefit from this … and the money flowed in:
- Star Citizen raised a strong $2,134,374 in 2012
- Pathfinder Online followed in the same year with $1,091,194
- For Camelot Unchained by MMO veteran Mark Jacobs, a record-breaking $2,232,933 was raised in 2013
- Crowfall pulled an incredible $1,766,204 from fans’ accounts in 2015
- Chronicles of Elyria was the next million-dollar campaign in 2016, with $1,361,435
- The record for MMOs is still held by Ashes of Creation, with $3,271,809 in 2017
- Richard Garriott raised an impressive $1,919,275 for Shroud of the Avatar in 2018
However, he has not invested a single cent in Kickstarter projects so far. He also normally advises against early pre-orders. It’s better to wait until launch and the first reports.
Currently, there are 26 MMOs on our list of Kickstarter projects. The balance is sobering. Only 2 crowdfunding projects from the past 14 years have been released and are currently playable – only Project: Gorgon enjoys a positive reputation (although the Steam reviews have also turned significantly negative here lately).
14 games on the list are now offline, canceled early, or so far from completion that there is hardly any hope left. Just through Kickstarter, these projects have burned over 7.5 million dollars (Ashes of Creation is not included here, as the servers are still likely online).
Ashes of Creation was one of the last great MMO hopes from the West – but the end seems certain:
MMO? Shut up and take my money!
Due to the countless failed crowdfunding projects, the crowdfunding boom has somewhat subsided in between, but for a few months now there has been something like a new Kickstarter hype wave. Several MMO projects have tried their luck and were actually able to reach their minimum goal in the end.
- AdventureQuest Worlds: Infinity is an online role-playing game with 2D graphics and a fantasy setting that has been playable for 18 years. The developers want to create a modernized remaster and were able to raise incredible $2,149,404 from almost 29,000 fans on Kickstarter. The minimum amount was, by the way, one dollar.
- Behind Asteria: Fate of the Fallen is a VR MMORPG with a fantasy medieval setting that reached the targeted $50,000 in 22 hours. In the end, the total was $164,806 on Kickstarter .
- Epitome is an MMORPG that aims to create particularly immersive NPCs and quests with the help of AI. Additionally, more than 33,000 players are supposed to be on a server. On Kickstarter, this was very well received, with over 20,000 supporters raising €559,490.
- In 2026, Hana landed on Kickstarter, a turn-based tactical MMORPG with a top-down perspective. The developers wanted €25,000, and in the end, €38,744 were raised. On Steam, you can sign up for the playtest.
- Currently, the Kickstarter campaign of Hollowed Oath is underway, a fantasy MMORPG with a multi-class system and dynamic challenges and rewards. There are still 23 days left and the developers have already raised 68,016 of the targeted 85,057 euros (as of May 11, 2026 – 10:08 AM).
5 relatively recent Kickstarter projects that have so far – as of now – been able to raise more than €2.6 million from genre fans. Who finds this remarkable in light of the previous balance of crowdfunding MMOs?
Why the new Kickstarter wave? That developers are currently landing more often on crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter does not surprise me. At the moment, it is simply very difficult to find reliable financiers for new MMOs. Even notable veterans like Jack Emmert and Greg Street cannot get their games fully funded.
Publishers try to take as few risks as possible in financing external projects or are in cost-cutting mode. The MMORPG genre has already been burnt for over a decade due to the many failed WoW killers in the West. Asia is unfortunately following suit, having canceled some Western projects in development (such as the Warhammer MMORPG and Project Ghost) and is increasingly implementing MMO litters like Honor of Kings: World.
Investors from outside the gaming industry are currently preferred to throw their money into areas like artificial intelligence. So what remains is to directly ask fans for support?
More about the best genre in the world can be found on the YouTube channel of MeinMMO. A new video about the biggest MMO release of 2026 has just been released:
Why invest money in the dream of an MMO? One might think that genre fans have learned their lesson after the many failed crowdfunding MMOs. The current examples show, however, that there are still enough enthusiasts willing to financially support their dream of a new online role-playing game.
In the current campaign for Hollowed Oath, the previous 347 supporters have each transferred an average of almost 200 euros, for example. And that for a fantasy MMORPG that looks neither graphically great nor particularly remarkable in gameplay in the screenshots and trailer.
For Epitome, several alarm bells are ringing for me, especially regarding all the AI promises and plans. Hana and Asteria seem very niche. AdventureQuest Worlds: Infinity is an old PC and mobile MMORPG in a new guise. That it has received more than $2 million and managed to complete all stretch goals is simply crazy.
I can personally explain these successes only with the prolonged drought that has persisted since 2015 and that big releases like New World, Lost Ark, or Throne and Liberty were not able to change sustainably. Some genre fans seem to be grateful for every project that could remotely meet their taste.
In the spirit of: Eventually, there must be a fun MMO out there again. And: If we don’t finance our dream MMO, no one will.
How well this dream can be milked has been shown for many years by Star Citizen. The funding total currently stands at $970,529,801 (Source: robertsspaceindustries.com). Nearly 6.5 million supporters have raised this sum over the past 14 years. With such regularly incoming revenue, the final release can still be a while off …
I can only advise you after all these years: If you are not rich and have more money than you can ever spend, let it be. The chance is far too high that you burn your hard-earned euros. At the latest with Ashes of Creation, many genre fans had to learn this lesson the hard way: One of the biggest YouTubers for MMORPGs falls into a hole after the end of Ashes of Creation: “I invested thousands of dollars”
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