I’m a hardcore EverQuest player, and the cancellation of EverQuest Next still stings.
I wasn’t looking for another EQ2. I wanted the spirit of the original EverQuest in a modern sandbox, somewhere my friends and I could explore, get into trouble, and settle in together.
Instead, it disappeared. I kept going back for progression servers, hoping to find that old feeling again, only to watch the communities I joined fade after a few months. Eventually, I got tired of starting over. By the time EverQuest Legends arrived, I wasn’t interested anymore. I still love what EverQuest meant to me. I just don’t want to keep chasing it.
That’s my experience. Other players have their own games, their own money spent, and their own reasons for feeling burned.
Paying for a world that might never happen
An MMO pitch is an easy thing to fall in love with. You’re already imagining your character, your friends, the guild you might build. Kickstarter campaigns and paid alphas let you put money into that picture long before there’s a finished game.
Chronicles of Elyria promised an MMO shaped by aging, death, and generations. Backers later pursued refunds in court, but that story didn’t end with a win. In Falls v. Soulbound Studios, the appeals court upheld dismissal in October 2023. It rejected the argument that the studio’s contract incorporated payment processor Xsolla’s refund policy. That wasn’t a finding that every development promise had been fulfilled; it was a ruling on the claims before the court.
Yogventures! raised roughly $568,000 on Kickstarter before being canceled. Here, the basic disappointment is straightforward: backers funded a finished game that never arrived.
I don’t want crowdfunding to disappear. It can give unusual ideas a chance. But asking people to fund development should come with more responsibility than a reminder that they took a risk.
Sometimes you get the game, then lose it
Landmark launched and closed in February 2017. Face of Mankind: Fall of the Dominion had a Kickstarter-funded revival before shutting down. Those players had actually entered the worlds they were hoping for. Then the doors closed.
The Day Before collapsed shortly after release, although refunds were offered. Amazon’s New World: Aeternum is scheduled to go offline on January 31, 2027. Being backed by a huge company didn’t make that world permanent, either.
Money matters, especially when you don’t have much to spare. But even a refund can’t give someone back the evenings they spent building a community.
How long do we keep waiting?
Shroud of the Avatar’s original pitch estimated its first episode for October 2014, with four more full-length games following yearly. The first episode launched in March 2018. It remains supported under Catnip Games, so calling it nonexistent would be wrong. The missed release estimate is a concrete reason to discuss it here, rather than assuming every Ultima fan feels the same way.
Star Citizen raises the question on a much larger scale: reported player funding passed a billion dollars this year, while the game remains a playable alpha. Its dedicated players can value what exists. Others can reasonably ask how long the promised future should keep them opening their wallets.
Failure isn’t automatically fraud. The board-game campaign The Doom That Came to Atlantic City! led to an FTC settlement over deceptive crowdfunding representations and refunds. That’s a different situation from a game running out of money or disappointing its audience.
Still, “development is risky” can’t be the answer to everything. Companies need to tell us what our money buys, be honest when plans change, and make refund terms understandable. If the servers are closing, explain what, if anything, players will be able to keep.
And we need to expect more as gamers and paying customers. Wanting a game badly doesn’t mean we have to accept whatever shows up, excuse every missed promise, or keep spending because we’ve already put money in. We can love the idea and still question the price, wait for a finished release, or walk away. Our enthusiasm shouldn’t be a reason for companies to lower the bar.
My lost world was EverQuest Next. Someone else’s was a Kickstarter pledge, a short-lived purchase, or a server full of friends.
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