In crowdfunding MMORPG Camelot Unchained the mood has reached a low point. Hardcore fans have been waiting since 2012 for the PvP MMORPG; now, with “Final Stand: Ragnarök,” a PvE game from the studio is emerging. This is driving some fans to protest. We take a look at the state of the MMORPG Camelot Unchained just before the year 2021.
How long have fans been waiting for Camelot Unchained? For 8 years. MMORPG veteran Marc Jacobs first announced his new project on December 23, 2012. A Kickstarter campaign began in April 2013 and raised over 2 million USD by May 2013.
29 classes and the “Dark Age of Camelot” feeling
This was the plan for the MMORPG: Jacobs is known as the mastermind behind beloved PvP MMORPGs like Dark Age of Camelot and Warhammer Online. The new project was supposed to be “his baby,” where he wouldn’t have to compromise anymore.
A reputation has developed around Jacobs: His games are actually great, but bad publisher decisions have ruined them. EA is blamed by fans for the downfall of Warhammer Online. For the new game, everything was supposed to be better.
Early on, the classes of Camelot Unchained were introduced in blog posts: 3 realms would fight against each other:
- The Arthurians – with 7 races like Gargoyles, Golems, Humans, and 9 classes
- The Tuatha Dé Danann – with 7 races like Fir Bog, Bean Sidhe, or the Tuatha and 10 classes
- The Vikings – with 5 races so far like Valkyries and 10 classes
Aspiring ideas get fans excited about Camelot Unchained
At first glance, all of this sounded very much like Dark Age of Camelot, but Camelot Unchained wanted to offer much more: players should be able to have more influence on the game world than in the old MMORPGs. The talk was about the “C.U.B.E.” system, through which players could expand the MMORPG themselves.
In Camelot Unchained, players should also have the opportunity to customize and tailor abilities to themselves.
Another unique feature was the scale of the game: the developers envisioned battles with thousands of players. Additionally, it was promised to develop a subscription MMORPG. It would never tolerate any Pay2Win elements in the game.
Everything sounded fantastic at first, and a group of core fans formed around the game. For many, the idea of playing a “modern Dark Age of Camelot” resonated, especially for those who started their journey into the world of online role-playing games in the early 2000s with the original.
And it all looked quite close. A beta was supposed to begin in the summer of 2016.
7 years of development and little to show
This is how the development went: The development of Camelot Unchained proceeded only slowly. Frequently, deadlines for the start of a beta were postponed. This became a running gag. Originally, the beta was announced for March 2016. However, it only started on July 31, 2018: more than 2 years later.
Jacobs informed fans about how difficult it was to even find programmers and staff. Because they are competing with tech giants like Apple and Microsoft for the same professionals. The studio’s headquarters is in Fairfax, Virginia, away from tech metropolises, making it difficult to find people willing to relocate there. Moreover, Camelot Unchained was so ambitious that the project simply took much longer than originally planned.
But there was also positive news: Jacobs managed to attract investors for the game in 2018 and find additional funding. A release was projected for 2019, and initial tests would finally begin.
The first 7 years of the MMORPG passed with many lulls and a few highlights. The release in 2019 was quickly removed from the plan. In November 2019, it was stated: There is no longer a new timeframe for the release of Camelot Unchained.
According to estimates from fans, the studio is now about 5 years behind the original schedule.
“Colossal announcement regarding Camelot Unchained is coming”
This is why fans are now angry: Fans were upset by an announcement in January 2020. The developers stated they had a “Colossal Announcement” regarding Camelot Unchained. This was interpreted as a promise: Finally, after 7 years, the developers were ready, and Camelot Unchained was entering the hot phase.
However, City State Entertainment announced a new game called “Colossus” in a live stream. This was to be a multiplayer title intended only for PvE players. It essentially missed the target audience entirely.
Up to 1000 players were to fight against endless hordes of NPC enemies in the game.
Many fans of the game were extremely upset. They wanted full focus on Camelot Unchained and finally more information. Marc Jacobs even had to apologize in February 2020 for the announcement and promised to focus more on the progress of Camelot Unchained.
Team emphasizes how important the new game is for Camelot Unchained
This is the current situation: In the last 10 months, much at Camelot Unchained has been overshadowed by the Covid pandemic, just like in the rest of the world. However, by the end of the year, it was finally time, and the PvE game announced in January actually started as “Final Stand: Ragnarök.”
The situation is tense.
The developers learned from the backlash in January:
- Already at the announcement of the new game, Jacobs emphasized that the development of the new game ultimately benefits the development of the MMORPG
In further statements from the developers on the Discord server, it is stated (via reddit):
- The new project helps a team that has never released a game to work together towards a release
- They learn important things about “Scaling” – the new game is now in live operation, and they can see and solve problems here
- Also, the new game is actually just a mode from Camelot Unchained; it would even be the same branch of the code, so everything can transition 100% into Camelot Unchained
“Not as shit-inspiring as you think”
But all the statements cannot calm the agitated parts of the community. Critics of the new game even feel cheated out of their money by Jacobs. On reddit, there are posts that reject the new game outright and express feeling misled:
- They criticize that Camelot Unchained is progressing much slower than originally planned. Every minute spent on “Ragnarök” is just another minute not spent on Camelot Unchained, a further delay
- No one asked for the new game. It also looks terrible
- Jacobs is criticized for only having shown the new game to fans after the team had been working on it for months. Now there’s no way to know what the team is actually working on while believing they are working on Camelot Unchained
- One user says: “I don’t care anymore. This whole song about how you learned how to make a game you advertised 7 years ago is not as shit inspiring as you think.”
Bad mood at Camelot Unchained for a year
What’s behind it: The PR disaster of January 2020, bringing a “colossal announcement for Camelot Unchained” and then explaining that they had been working on a new game for months, has destroyed much trust in the MMORPG.
This anger is still clearly felt 11 months later and shapes the current discussion around the game.
The developers’ arguments for why they are making Final Stand: Ragnarök are all valid and logical. However, few want to hear those arguments at the moment.
The idea that the team wants to make a “small game” because they can handle it, feel up to the task, and learn many important lessons points to the actual problem that many feel: The team seems to have taken on too much with Camelot Unchained. There was probably too much ambition.
This process is often seen with crowdfunding MMOs: In the presentation phase of the game, when money is being raised from backers, the game sounds incredibly ambitious and enticing. However, the actual development seems to drag on endlessly:
