The Harry Potter MMORPG “Wizarding World Online” has finished its Kickstarter campaign.
Almost two weeks ago, we introduced you to the Kickstarter campaign for the Harry Potter MMORPG “Wizarding World Online”: A small studio wanted to raise $100,000 through crowdfunding to create the prototype of an MMORPG and then contact Warner Brothers, the rights holders of Harry Potter. They thought: If they first see what we can do, they will give us the license and a bunch of money, and then we can really take off.
As a “non-profit” project, they wanted to avoid legal difficulties until then. That was probably a bit too optimistic, one could also say naively. The Kickstarter campaign has now closed – due to copyright disputes, as can be read on the Kickstarter page.
The developers themselves present it a bit differently: The reaction of the community was probably not as enthusiastic as hoped. That’s why they ended the campaign. They do not want to watch the project being torn apart, as can be read in a statement.
We apologize for the inconvenience, but rather than sit here and watch as the game be torn apart along with the community we will be closing it down and choosing a different route.
At least outwardly, they remain optimistic: The project is not dead, it says in the forum of the Harry Potter MMO. They will not be financing it through Kickstarter, but will negotiate with Warner Brothers. Well.
