2021 was supposed to be the year of Crowfall . The indie MMORPG flopped at launch in July and received little attention. However, by the end of the year, there is only good news for the players. The “best news”: The game has been sold. This is supposed to bring new hope for 2022.
This was the idea of Crowfall:
- Crowfall was to become a PvP MMORPG where the world is reset regularly. This was intended to prevent the game experience from becoming stale due to one side of the conflict dominating the server. The game was described at its presentation in 2015 as “EVE Online meets Game of Thrones” – great intrigues and power plays in a fantasy world.
- Behind the game were experienced MMORPG developers who seemed somewhat annoyed that MMORPGs had only tried to imitate WoW for years. They believed the genre could offer much more.
- The development of Crowfall took more than 6 years. The developers took their time. Additional money came in because the team was able to sell the engine. A beta was postponed multiple times. The release, however, was finally on July 6, 2021.
When an MMORPG is released and no one notices – Has it really been released?
What went wrong? When the game was released, no one really cared. Crowfall failed to attract attention. Not even the people who once financially supported it, seemed to be greatly interested in the game even after 6 years.
The people who played it saw potential in the game, but found it incredibly difficult to get into and were discouraged by the fact that not much was happening. It was also criticized that a Steam launch was missing and therefore many people didn’t even notice that the game was out.
Others said: The game lacks a “clear direction.” The developers failed to “read the market correctly” and developed a game that no one wants. Additionally, the timing of the release was poorly chosen, as alongside Crowfall, solid MMORPGs such as “Swords of Legends Online” and especially the monstrously successful New World were released.
“Exciting news!” – We have been sold
Why is there hope at the end of the year? The Executive Producer of Crowfall, Gordon Walton, published a lengthy blog post to reflect on 2021 and provide an outlook for 2022. There is not a bad word to be read here; instead, there is an abundance of enthusiasm.
The main goal is to make Crowfall more accessible for 2022 – players should find it easier to navigate the game.
As a great hope for the future, Walton states that the studio “Monumental” has bought them just a few days ago. Now it is said that these are fantastic news, as it will bring new money into the coffers and enable the implementation of “exciting plans for Crowfall.”
After layoffs that had to be carried out, they will now expand the team again and soon publish a large roadmap.
The community manager also said in dialogue with the players that the news that Crowfall was sold was “fantastic.” She is very happy about it, and every player should be too.
How is this being discussed? Overall, Crowfall is a puzzle for many MMORPG fans because there is so much competence behind it, yet the game seems so inaccessible.
Overall, the purchase by Monumental is viewed positively, as the only alternative would have essentially been the closure of Crowfall due to lack of success. However, the buyer is now being critically observed: A mobile developer and indie studio without significant MMO experience buys an unsuccessful MMORPG – this also seems puzzling.
A reddit user says the chance to save Crowfall would be a Steam release combined with a major update – that could bring attention again. Many MMORPG fans probably simply did not have Crowfall on their radar.
We have extensively dealt with the situation surrounding Crowfall on MeinMMO:
