Under the studio name Avalon, several industry veterans have come together to implement a visionary MMO. The information available so far sounds (to certain ears) so promising that investors have already invested 23 million US dollars in the project.
What kind of project is it? According to the developers of Avalon, the eponymous MMO is supposed to offer an immersive gaming experience in Unreal Engine 5, with the following features to excite players:
- Avalon will consist of two parts. Through Avalon Core, you will access the contents designed by the developers, which include traditional MMO challenges like quests.
- The second area focuses on user-generated content. Players will have the opportunity to create their own content through a powerful AI tool.
- Through the content from players as well as developers, a sustainable metaverse is expected to emerge over time that captivates players for long periods – similar to how Roblox or Fortnite Creative do it.
- Possible theme worlds for the content so far are High Fantasy and Cyberpunk. More themes are expected to follow.
- The MMO is based on Web3 and AI-powered avatar NFTs.
The early access to Avalon is expected to occur for PC and cloud streaming services sometime in 2024.
A first teaser trailer showcases the current themes of Avalon:
Metaverse, AI, and Web3 – is there money for that? Yes, the marketing buzzwords that are unpopular with many players open the wallets of investors. According to Venturebeat, the studio was recently able to raise ten million US dollars during a funding round.
In addition, there are investments totaling 13 million US dollars, which Avalon had previously secured (via Massivelyop). Currently, 20 developers from the studio and nearly 30 external contractors are working on the metaverse MMO.
Who is behind Avalon? The studio may seem new and relatively small at first glance, but the experience of the employees is impressive. “Lore Master” Jeff Butler might be known to you from his work on Everquest. CEO Sean Pinnock previously worked at Electronic Arts and Microsoft.
The two veterans are joined by developers who have worked on franchises like World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, Diablo, God of War, Elden Ring, and Assassin’s Creed. So the team possesses a lot of expertise. The question is whether a good MMO can ultimately emerge from this. What do you think?
Interestingly, another MMORPG is also based on everything that players do not want – and is already extremely successful
