Crowfall has a new owner. Artcraft’s MMORPG was snapped up by Monumental over the weekend.
You might not immediately recognize the name but independent game development studio Monumental are now the proud owners of their very own MMORPG. While we were all busy panicking over what stocking fillers to grab for the festive season this weekend, the Austin indies snapped up throne war MMORPG Crowfall. Originally launched this year by Artcraft, the title will now transition under the umbrella of its new proprietors.
Sales and ownership transfers can be a worrying sign for invested fans, especially for a niche product like Crowfall. However, Monumental has promised that “operations transition will take place immediately with no interruption to the game service.” The team also seems to have some skin in the game, with Monumental CEO even being a backer of the early crowdfunding campaign.
As an early backer and avid player through its development, I could not be more pleased to welcome Crowfall to the Monumental family,” said Monty Kerr, Chief Executive Officer of Monumental. “Gordon brings an extraordinary team of talented and creative developers, as well as decades of experience building and operating MMOs. As a combined team, we are well positioned to fully realize Crowfall’s lofty ambitions.
For fans of the PvP focused MMO, the sale should likely be considered a solid move for its future. Originally set to launch under publisher Travian during its development, Artcraft went fully independent before launch, bringing the game to bear on its own. This largely left the studio without the backing of a major label to fall back on and it should receive some of that with the purchase. Monumental CEO Kerr has been both a fan and a critic of the title in many regards. A blog post by Artcraft Founder and Creative Director Todd Coleman dropped during the weekend notes that the Monumental head already has a list of improvements and resources that Artcarft doesn’t have. This doesn’t look to be a cash grab either. Monumental already have CCG Mythgard on the table and Coleman also confirmed that many of Crowfall’s staff will move over to Monumental, keeping the game in experienced hands.
Gordon and Blair and the Crowfall team will be joining Monumental. Josef and I will be working on a new game (that we started with completely separate funding, by the way) and keeping the newer folks who were hired for that project.
While this news sounds somewhat bittersweet, it’s likely to be in the best interests of the title going forward and hopefully we can see something of a Final Fantasy XIV resurgence for an MMO that is designed to do things differently. If you’re a PvP focused player and haven’t heard of this MMO then head over to the official Crowfall website for more.
