The Viking MMORPG Northern Guild is bankrupt. Because the developers relied on the risky cryptocurrency LUNA. However, the currency is barely worth anything today, which has driven the developers to bankruptcy.
Some developers are now focusing on digital currencies or other pay-to-earn systems in their games. The idea is: You can earn some money while playing. However, some developers rely on risky ideas for their game.
This is what happened to the team of the MMORPG “Northern Guild”. They bet on a cryptocurrency that is now almost worthless and now have to file for bankruptcy.
NFT game focused on Vikings and retro look
What kind of game was this? The developers from Pixie Interactive referred to Northern Guild as “a playground for players and guilds who remember the freedom of early MMORPGs to define and reinvent themselves”:
- Players should be able to build a world together and form clans.
- Trading in the game should be player-based, and you should be able to take over trading in the game completely.
- You were allowed to decide whether you wanted to become a warrior or a trader.
Northern Guild also relied on a cute retro pixel look, reminiscent of older titles.
Developers put all their money into Luna – Today the cryptocurrency is worthless
What was exactly the problem? The developers invested around 800,000 euros in the cryptocurrency Luna, one of many currencies that exist on the market today. However, just like Bitcoin or Ethereum, Luna also has a highly volatile price.
In its last peak, 1 Luna was worth 106.05 euros, this was on April 5, 2022. The all-time high was even at 120.23 euros. But that didn’t last long. Currently (as of September 5, 2022), 1 Lunacoin is worth 0.000261 €. You can’t even get a single cent for a Lunacoin.
A former developer commented on the bankruptcy in the official Discord. He said that no one from the official team would respond. Because they are either missing or refuse to acknowledge the problems or apologize.
The developer wrote about the chaos (via martijnvwezel.com):
Our founders set aside part of the tax money in Luna, and with the collapse of Luna, they lost everything. As far as I know, Pixie owed about 800,000 (as of the end of June 2022) in taxes. This decision and the potential loss are the reason why the debts could not be settled and why Pixie ultimately went bankrupt.
(via martijnvwezel.com)
In February 2022, there were reportedly first talks with new investors. This surprised some because the last funding round should have brought in more than enough money for 1 – 1.5 years of development.
However, apart from this bad investment, there should have been many problems within the team that contributed to the studio’s downfall:
- The founders of the team allegedly worked on another NFT project without the knowledge of their other colleagues.
- The head of Pixie Interactive reportedly was present less and less: He could barely hold the team together.
- There were said to be many business trips that were particularly costly.
- New potential investors viewed the project as not big enough and having too little reach.
What happens now? It is said that the former team is doing everything possible to at least regain the intellectual property to “Northern Guilds” and save at least part of the assets. Because they do not want to lose the work of 9 months. In the best case, the game could still become playable somewhere in the end.
More stories about NFTs and co: Developers can not only speculate heavily, but there are also some bad apples that target players’ money. This has happened to some players in Minecraft:
A game in a Minecraft style sold NFTs worth over 1.1 million € and suddenly disappeared
