Kickstarter as a Start-Up Help? Rarely Works
While large publishers like NCsoft, NetEase, Kakao Games, or Tencent often stand behind eastern productions, western developers have had to seek alternative funding options. Many utilized the Kickstarter hype starting from 2012 to raise money for their own MMORPGs via crowdfunding.
Some games have come (and continue to come today) from well-known industry veterans like Richard Garriott (for Shroud of the Avatar), Raph Koster (just recently: Stars Reach), Mark Jacobs (Camelot Unchained), or Brad McQuaid (Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen), which managed to excite numerous fans for the respective crowdfunding campaigns.
A clear positive example comes from Germany, is almost seven years old and celebrated player records in 2024: Albion Online. Much less successful was Shroud of the Avatar (2018), but at least there was a release, and the servers are still online. The same applies to Fractured Online (2024), which recently found a new owner and is planning a relaunch.
Although there was a successful Kickstarter campaign for an MMORPG project only in March 2025 with Stars Reach, this has become the exception rather than the rule. Instead, many western developers are now relying on paid early access, such as via Early Access on Steam.
In the past year alone, four exciting projects, namely Pax Dei, Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen, The Quinfall, and Brighter Shores, have entered Early Access. Currently, 197 MMORPGs are said to be in Early Access on Valve’s distribution platform (via Steam). In addition, there are others like Corepunk and Ashes of Creation, which are currently offering paid testing phases outside of Steam.
So much luck did not have Crowfall. After a long development time, it was released in July 2021, but the servers had to go offline again in November 2022. Other projects like Camelot Unchained or Chronicles of Elyria have been stuck in development hell for many years and have to deal with accusations of being scams from time to time. The outcome is uncertain.
The Wagadu Chronicles? Died even before the official release in 2024. Pathfinder Online? Has been in the grave since 2021. City of Titans? Is reportedly still in pre-alpha after 12 years. Greed Monger? Development was halted three years after the 2012 campaign.
All in all, the balance for Kickstarter MMORPGs so far looks pretty catastrophic. With Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen (now in Early Access on Steam), Ashes of Creation (Phase 3 of Alpha Two is currently running), and Stars Reach (had its successful Kickstarter in March 2025), there are at least a few projects that give hope.
Ashes of Creation is currently in Alpha Two, which recently received, among other things, the rogue class and node sieges:
Mobile MMORPGs are trending
In recent decades, the mobile market has become so strong that more and more MMORPG providers are developing their games exclusively or additionally for Android and iOS devices. No wonder.
A publisher like NCsoft has been making significantly more money with its mobile hits Lineage M (2017), Lineage 2M (2021), Lineage W (2021), and Blade & Soul 2 (2021) – the now rather stale PC portfolio of Lineage, Lineage 2, Aion, Blade & Soul, and Guild Wars 2 is holding up well but can’t keep up.
Online RPGs like Albion Online, Black Desert, Old School RuneScape, Tower of Fantasy (2021), or EVE Echoes (2020) can also be experienced on mobile today. Or ODIN: Valhalla Rising, which was released on April 29, 2025, for PC and Mobile.
This is a trend that has gained considerable momentum since 2015 and will certainly continue to accompany the genre in the future. However, some publishers are rowing back because they expect greater success in the global market by focusing on PC and console. An example of this is Aion 2, which was originally supposed to be released only for mobile devices but now has a clear focus on PC.
