The new MMORPG “Camelot Unchained” (PC) has been in development since 2012. However, towards the end of 2021, the project is openly attacked and criticized. A new statement from the head of development, Marc Jacobs, provokes ridicule and mockery. What’s going on?
What kind of game is this?
- Camelot Unchained is the “spiritual successor” to the PvP classic “Dark Age of Camelot” (2001), which is considered a milestone of the genre by many MMORPG fans, especially for how it interpreted “PvP” as “Realm versus Realm” combat. Current games like The Elder Scrolls Online and Guild Wars 2 have adopted a similar concept.
- The head of the project is Marc Jacobs, who also worked on Warhammer Online alongside Dark Age of Camelot. With his own studio, “City State Entertainment,” he wants to realize his vision of an MMORPG – apparently he also harbors some grudges against the “gaming industry” and especially against EA.
- However, Camelot Unchained has been under a bad star for years; the development is dragging on. At the end of 2020, a “spin-off of the game” was announced. But “Ragnarök: Final Stand” was, for many fans of the MMORPG, a red flag.
What’s the current outrage? On December 3, 2021, the developers published a post on their site, informing their readers about the development of Camelot Unchained (via camelotunchained).
In the post, there are some images of icons and landscapes to be seen.
Mark Jacobs ends the post with the statement:
“We are focused on making a game that will come out sooner rather than later.”
Mark Jacobs
“Like Star Citizen – just without the budget”
What is the reaction? On the website “Massivelyop,” which has been closely following the development of Camelot Unchained and where Mark Jacobs often posts himself, the mood in the comments is openly hostile:
- “This is a shame, it has become a farce.”
- “More than 8 years later and they are showing us images for icons. My God, people…”
- “It’s like with Star Citizen, just without the budget…”
- “Hey, they are nourished by 9 years of development time, we really shouldn’t rush them.”
- “Wasting time and resources recording sword sounds in real life instead of using one of the hundred million pre-recorded audio recordings is the perfect example of why the game will never be released.”
The announcement of the new game changed the mood
Why is the mood so bad? For years, the development of Camelot Unchained has been progressing slowly, a beta has been repeatedly postponed. However, the MMORPG had some loyal fans who closely followed the development and stayed informed about every step.
The turning point for Camelot Unchained came a year ago. The mood even changed among some loyal fans.
In December 2020, the developers of Camelot Unchained announced that they wanted to release a by-product of the development of the MMORPG as a standalone game: “Ragnarök: The Final Stand.”
This was supposed to be a self-contained PvP game, whose development benefited the large MMORPG “Camelot Unchained.”
The decision was heavily criticized. Many fans who believed in the MMORPG demanded their money back. They felt that the developers were losing track. They should be working on the MMORPG instead.
On October 28, Final Stand: Ragnarök was released in Early Access on Steam and had a peak of only 19 players.
Currently, it seems that the mood around Camelot Unchained is at an all-time low. A statement that they are developing a game “that will come out sooner rather than later” seems to be upsetting some of the remaining observers of the MMORPG at the moment.
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