Richard Garriott, also known as Lord British, is considered the inventor of MMORPGs. In 2013 he announced his new game Shroud of the Avatar. This should take the genre back to its roots, include more freedom and at the same time more role-playing. But 10 years later it is practically dead. We’ll summarize the story for you again.
What made the game so interesting? Richard Garriott created an absolute global success from nothing with the Ultima series. The crowning achievement was 1997’s Ultima Online, an MMORPG that is still running today. Garriott himself created the name “Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game” and has since been considered the founder of the genre.
After his follow-up project Tabula Rasa failed dismally, he launched a new attack in 2013. With Shroud of the Avatar he wanted to restore MMORPGs to their former glory. He didn’t think much of the newer titles like SWTOR or Guild Wars 2, which were too oriented towards casual players.
His new game, on the other hand, should be less linear, contain less dull grinding and, above all, put the focus back on role-playing:
To finance this milestone among MMORPGs, he relied on Kickstarter, which worked very well at the time.
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$2 million to start, $15 million total
How did the Kickstarter campaign go? Very good. The game reached its original goal of $1 million fairly quickly. Within 30 days, 1,919,275 dollars were donated by a total of 22,322 supporters. 11 people even bought the largest package for $10,000.
At the time of the campaign, there wasn’t much of the game to see. It was more the ideas presented and the fact that Lord British was making a new game that excited players.
Unlike most Kickstarter MMORPGs, Garriott managed to complete his game to the point where it became playable in March 2015. In a kind of early access, fans were able to explore the New Britannia game world and try out the first content.
How was that received? Mixed, although many reviews were surprisingly positive. There was criticism for the weak graphics, which were more reminiscent of an early 2000s game, the dated combat system and the lack of content that was originally promised.
Not much remained of the vision that Garriott had praised in 2013. The promised hardcore approach no longer came through.
But many fans back then still believed in the promises and therefore even gave positive reviews. They read something like this: “Yes, the game is still completely unfinished, but it is an alpha. But it looks very promising.” Time should save the game.
What happened next? Shroud of the Avatar initially developed very well, especially financially. Through a shop – which some mockingly say is the only modern thing about the MMORPG – the game was quickly able to break the $4 million and later even over $15 million mark invested by fans.
But this form of monetization was not well received by everyone. There were houses for hundreds and a castle for 12,000 dollars, as well as a number of cosmetics and other bonuses.
Nevertheless, many fans remained loyal to the MMORPG because it ultimately contributed to the bigger picture – a new ultimate. By the way, the developers themselves said: We are the target of an organized smear campaign.
A weak release and the exit of Lord British
How did the player numbers develop? Since Shroud of the Avatar was published on Steam almost from the start in addition to its own client, the number of players can be tracked quite well. While an average of between 50 and 200 people played at the same time in Early Access, the game had around 587 players when it was officially released in 2018.
There isn’t the total number, but it gives a good idea of how the numbers have developed overall. CEO Chris Spears also once said that around a third or a quarter of all players are on Steam, while the others use the actual launcher.
But the release version was nowhere near the level that many players had expected. Here the mood changed significantly and the ratings on Steam also got worse. What made things more difficult for EU players was that an external publisher had recently been commissioned to accompany the MMORPG here. You felt pushed away.
A few months later, the game switched to a Free2Play model, only jumping from 318 to 372 players at its peak on Steam.
In the meantime, in 2023, there are still around 35 players who log in at the same time. By the way, Shroud of the Avatar currently only has 52% positive reviews on Steam, with around 3,000 ratings.
How was the studio doing? Not so good. Early on there were rumors that they would run out of money. Then a model was introduced where players could become shareholders in the company. But associated rewards, such as insight into finances or player numbers, were not given out.
In addition, there was a first wave of layoffs in 2018 after the release and in 2019 the office was closed and the employees were supposed to continue developing the game remotely in order to save costs. In October 2019, the game and its rights and assets were sold to another company. However, the head of this company was Chris Spears, the previous president of Portalarium, the studio behind SOTA.
As a result, Richard Garriott’s company was completely replaced and he no longer played a role in the development of the MMORPG.
By the way, you can listen to and watch a detailed version of the development story in this video from KiraTV:
The game is still running and Garriott is also working on an MMORPG
Where is the MMORPG today? Shroud of the Avatar still receives irregular updates. However, these are no longer as large as they were in the days of early access and release. The overall number of players should be manageable.
However, if you feel like it, you can try the game at any time.
Richard Garriott himself is working on a new MMORPG that relies on NFTs. It should be a modern Ultima again, with an iso perspective and lands that players can own:
Developer legend is making new MMORPG with NFTs because there is a black market on eBay anyway
What do you think about Shroud of the Avatar and the legacy of Richard Garriott?