Crowfall celebrated its long-awaited release on July 6, 2021, but the MMORPG has not made significant waves so far. A former employee has now reported layoffs at the company. We at MeinMMO take a look at the state of Crowfall 2 months after release.
What is behind the layoffs? The former employee Valerie Massey worked for 5 years as a community manager for Crowfall before she switched to Novaquark, the developer of Dual Universe, in 2020.
She announced on Twitter that there have been layoffs at ArtCraft, the developer of Crowfall. She offered her help to former employees who could contact her directly.
In the Crowfall forum, some members have scoured LinkedIn profiles of employees, and there are reports of some individuals who may have switched companies (via MMORPG.com). However, the corresponding forum thread has since been deleted.
There is currently no official confirmation regarding the layoffs. We at MeinMMO have contacted ArtCraft, but they informed us that they do not wish to comment on the tweet and the topic of layoffs.
What is the current state of the MMORPG? Crowfall had a rather unremarkable release and garnered little attention overall.
The biggest headlines were made by the initially weak player numbers and the fact that the numbers were no longer disclosed to the public shortly thereafter.
This may also be related to the fact that many new MMORPGs were released in 2021 and more will be released, including Swords of Legends, Bless Unleashed, and New World, which celebrates its release on September 28.
However, Crowfall itself also has a number of problems that are now gradually being addressed.
Mega-servers and new hotspots are supposed to bring a turnaround
What problems does Crowfall have? At release, Crowfall struggled with several negative aspects that kept players away from the game:
- Crowfall relies on a strong PvP focus and therefore only addresses a niche
- It is a Buy2Play MMORPG and must be purchased for 40 euros
- The tutorial poorly explained the game at release
- The interface and the map are unconventional and cannot keep up with modern MMORPGs
- Crowfall was poorly optimized at first and even now not everything runs smoothly
The lack of player numbers resulted in fewer large PvP battles, which were supposed to be the hallmark of Crowfall.
What is Crowfall doing about it? With the new update 7.100 “Global Conquest,” the MMORPG introduced mega-servers. Instead of playing across different versions of a campaign, there is now only one version of each campaign.
Additionally, new hotspots have been introduced where players are supposed to gather to acquire good loot.
Both measures are primarily intended to lead to more PvP fights.
Furthermore, several fixes and gameplay adjustments, as well as performance improvements, have been implemented. This is meant to enhance the technical side.
What does the future of Crowfall look like? This is hard to say.
- On both September 2 at 7:00 PM and September 8 at 6:00 PM, all mega-servers were marked with the note “Light.” The population does not seem to be excessively large.
- Furthermore, Crowfall occupies a niche as it primarily appeals to PvP fans. However, they currently have alternatives in Bless Unleashed, Albion Online or especially the new Mortal Online 2, which – as things stand now – make a better impression.
- The layoffs, if they indeed occurred, also cast a shadow over the situation.
The developers have already promised more content for the future, although it has not yet been revealed what specific updates are planned.
We at MeinMMO will continue to keep an eye on Crowfall. After all, several MMORPGs have made comebacks after a weak start, like some of these titles:
These 7 online games wanted a second chance – How did it end?
