The MMORPG Crowfall was released on July 6, but soon after the release, it faced issues with player numbers. Now ArtCraft announces that the IP will be sold to the indie developer Monumental. The takeover starts immediately.
This was announced: In a press release, ArtCraft stated that they have sold their PvP MMORPG Crowfall to the indie studio Monumental. But not only the IP Crowfall will now be handed over to the new owners, but also the entire development team of the MMORPG. This includes President and Executive Producer Gordon Walton.
He and his colleagues will leave ArtCraft and continue to develop and maintain Crowfall for Monumental. Since both studios are based in Austin, Texas, this should at least present little logistical issues. The handover of the MMORPG begins immediately, with no interruptions in gameplay.
The Chief Executive Officer of Monumental, Monty Kerr, is according to his own statement one of the early backers of Crowfall on Kickstarter and is also an active player himself. In his statement about the purchase, he said he is pleased to welcome Crowfall to his studio.
The remaining developers at ArtCraft will instead focus on work on an unannounced project.
Who is Monumental? If you look at the game portfolio of the indie developer on their official site, you’ll quickly notice that they have primarily specialized in mobile games so far:
- Little Alchemists (4.3 stars in the Google Store)
- Storm Wars (4.6 stars in the Google Store)
- Looty Dungeon (4.6 stars in the Google Store)
In October 2021, Monumental also purchased the dying Steam card game Mythgard, which has very good ratings but very low player numbers. The goal was to save Mythgard from maintenance mode.
A similar approach appears to be happening now with Crowfall.
What were Crowfall’s problems? The Kickstarter MMORPG was introduced in 2015 and managed to raise enough money for development. However, the launch was tepid and the player numbers seemed to be far below the number of backers.
Relatively quickly, a measure was introduced to prevent bots from reading the player numbers of the MMORPG. In September 2021, the news about the dismissal of employees came, which ArtCraft initially did not comment on.
In early December, a letter to investors painted a grim picture for Crowfall:
- Player numbers are lower than expected
- The layoffs in September were confirmed
- Quarterly revenues were below the set goals, and in the third quarter of 2021, the company even had a loss of 2.4 million dollars.
The letter was clear: If no significant changes occur, Crowfall will either be transferred to maintenance mode to reduce costs or completely shut down.
Apparently, developer Monumental intervened at this point and offered to purchase the MMORPG, much like they had done with the card game Mythgard.
What exactly the future of Crowfall will look like, whether there will be changes in monetization or the type of content, is not yet known.
What do you think of the sudden sale of the MMORPG? Let us know in the comments.
