Popularized as a ‘Pokemon-like game’, Untamed Isles was on a break. Last week, Phat Loop Studios, the developer of Untamed Isles announced a “hiatus” from the development, which was met with backlash from the community.
Several members from their community accused the developers of misusing the investor’s funds. However, in the latest post, the developers of MMORPG have denied all the allegations.
What is Phat Loop Studios Saying?
After the angry reactions and accusations, the developers gave out an official statement on the matter. For context, the studio had raised $841,000 NZD (equivalent to $525,000 USD) on Kickstarter for the open-world game.
In the latest blog post, the developers have stated that they used all the funds raised through crowdfunding and investors for the development of the project.
“Phat Loot Studios and Untamed Isles did not invest any funds into crypto, all funds raised through crowdfunding and through traditional investment were spent by the studio developing the game,” the team responded.
Further, the studio also claimed that the break was due to a lack of funds. The company admitted to having exhausted all the available funds.
“The reason for the pausing of game development is due to the company exhausting its available funds. We have around 70 full-time staff and have had so for over a year and ran a smaller team for over 2 years,” claimed Untamed Isles team while addressing the allegations. To add to this, Untamed Isles devs explained that the lack of resources wasn’t due to misuse of funds but rather due to investors pulling out support. Due to this, the game’s early test version could not be released.
“The game was progressing well and beta testing feedback was very positive. Unfortunately, the crypto market crash meant that investors that were lined up earlier this year pulled out (i.e. the token raise investors). This investment was necessary to make it through our runway to launch,” the team explained. The full story on hiatus can be found here, while the new statement from Untamed Isles can be accessed here.
On the Flipside
- The crypto winter seems to have an effect on blockchain games, even if it’s minimal. At the same time, it is common for even traditional video games under development to never see the light of the day.
Why You Should Care
A recent report by DappRadar observed that blockchain games made up almost 60% of the blockchain activity. Even with all that skepticism in the market, blockchain games have shown great promise. However, this does not mean that all projects will be launched successfully and find a user base.
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