Simply put
- Ember Sword, an Ethereum-based game, made $203 million from Metaverse land sales in 2021.
- However, just four years later, the game has been canceled due to insufficient funds.
- This year has already seen the closure of several crypto games, including Nyan Heroes and Deadrop.
After attracting a staggering $203 million in NFT land sales, Ember Sword has officially shut down. Brightstar Studios, the developer, cited a lack of financial resources as the main reason for ceasing operations. This closure is part of an increasing trend of crypto games shutting down.
“In the end, we couldn’t secure the necessary funds,” the game stated on its site. “We explored every possible avenue, but in today’s market, even projects that seemed promising have failed. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find a way to keep things running.”
Ember Sword gained popularity during the Metaverse boom in 2021. It completed several funding rounds, including one that disclosed a total of $2 million, backed by investors such as Draseppect and key figures from the gaming world, like the co-founders of Sandbox and Twitch.
The project also attracted experienced advisors, including Rob Pardo, previously the Chief Creative Officer at Blizzard Entertainment, and retired eSports player Dennis “Thresh” Fong.
In 2021, as the Metaverse hype peaked, there was a rush for virtual land, resulting in high-value NFT sales from games like Sandbox and Central Land. In this wave of interest, Ember Sword itself saw NFT land purchases reaching $203 million, supported by 35,000 players.
In July 2024, the game entered a closed beta, but feedback from players indicated disappointment with the gameplay. Towards the end of the year, it transitioned to early access on the Ethereum Layer-2 network, Mantle.
As of now, the game is permanently offline, access is inconsistent, and Ember tokens are struggling, with a market cap of merely $82,000, down over 99% from their peak.
“This isn’t the ending we envisioned,” the site states. “But we want to express our gratitude to those who believed in our vision and helped us create Ember Sword, which we will always remember.”
Sadly, Ember Sword’s closure isn’t unique; it’s part of a wider trend of crypto games shutting down this month.
Just last week, the cat-themed Solana shooter, Nyan Heroes, was also shut down by its developer, 9 Lives Interactive, who cited funding issues. This game had just wrapped up its fourth playtest through the Epic Games store and had reportedly attracted over a million players. It was expected to launch its full version next winter.
On the same day, another announcement through Discord revealed that the mobile game Blast Royale would cease development, but its assets would be made open source for other developers. Similarly, the role-playing game Tatsumiko was discontinued, with creators shifting their focus to a fantasy life simulator called Project: Wonder.
Recent months have seen other notable game closures as well, including Deadrop and the Mystery Society. GalaGames has also announced that The Walking Dead: Empires will close at the end of July.
