The VR MMORPG Zenith – The Last City (PC, PS-VR) had a grand start in the early access program in January. Now, the development team has secured a financial boost of 31.7 million euros for further development and has big plans. We from MeinMMO summarize.
What is the current situation? On January 27, the VR MMORPG launched into early access on Steam and was so popular that the servers went down. Over 4,000 people were trying to dive into the virtual universe at the same time.
What sounds very little compared to New World or Lost Ark is, however, a milestone in the VR community. The game has built one of the largest Discord communities in the VR scene, currently counting over 125,000 members.
However, the MMORPG has also faced criticism as it felt too unfinished for many players, even for an early access title. Others criticized the lack of content, saying that one had seen everything Zenith currently has to offer after just a few hours.
What has happened now? In a blog post, the head of the studio revealed that the numbers for Zenith are outstanding and exceed expectations. The game even quickly recouped its development costs and is now profitable.
With these arguments, the studio was able to attract investors who are providing 35 million dollars for Zenith to move the game forward. With this money, the studio aims to more than double its size, as reported by mmorpg.com (via mmorpg.com).
In addition to further development of new content for Zenith, accessibility of the game will also be worked on to make it reachable for new players.
Here you can see gameplay from the game:
Zenith is also coming for Desktop and Mobile
What else will be done with the money? Although the head of the studio says that they would never sacrifice VR immersion just to reach more players or be cross-platform, a release for more platforms is a goal of the developers.
The aim is to make the world of Zenith more appealing for desktop players and smartphone fans. How exactly this implementation will work is currently unknown.
Standalone versions as well as spin-offs or a simple adaptation of the game from VR to non-VR are conceivable. However, the studio has not yet provided any concrete statements on these plans.
What is coming next? Furthermore, Zenith is sticking to its roadmap for 2022 and aims not only to fix many bugs but also to bring new content into the MMORPG. A lot of new content is expected to be available this year:
- Player Housing
- Life Skills and Crafting
- The third class, the Cyber Ninja
- Quality of Life improvements
- Increased server capacity
In the developers’ blog post, the head of the studio summarizes all upcoming improvements in one sentence: ‘We get more $$$ to make Zenith better, faster.’ (We get more $$$ to make Zenith gud, faster.)
What is Zenith as a game?
Zenith: The Last City is primarily an MMORPG, like many others. However, it is fully based on virtual reality and cannot currently be played without such a headset.
The game takes place in a futuristic world that has a small problem with monsters. Here, classic high-fantasy meets sci-fi, leading to an interesting design concept.
In some places, the game stylistically resembles Overwatch, though the intensity of the colors is different.
The game is a classic buy-to-play title and currently available in early access for €22.49. Many of the features are yet to come. Nevertheless, Zenith already offers an open world, combat, various classes, and the social aspects of an MMORPG, all in VR.
What do you think of the game? Do you believe that the MMORPG will have greater success once it also appears beyond VR? What do you generally think of an MMORPG in VR? Feel free to write it to us in the comments here at MeinMMO.
The major MMORPG streamer Asmongold is convinced, that VR is the future of the genre.
