Four years after attracting $203 million in pledges towards an NFT land sale, Ethereum game Ember Sword has shut down, with developer Bright Star Studios citing a lack of funding required to continue its operations. It's the latest example of a growing trend of crypto games closing up shop.

“We were ultimately unable to secure the funding needed to continue,” the game’s official site now reads. “We explored every possible way forward. But in today’s market—where even some of the most promising projects are shutting down—we couldn’t find a path to keep building.”

Massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) Ember Sword rose to prominence in 2021 amid the metaverse boom—around the time that Facebook rebranded to Meta. It had completed a number of funding rounds, with one disclosed to total $2 million, attracting investment from the likes of video game streamer Dr. Disrespect, The Sandbox co-founder Sebastien Borget, and Twitch co-founder Kevin Lin.

The project also attracted prominent gaming veterans as advisors, including Rob Pardo, former chief creative officer at Blizzard Entertainment and lead designer of the enormously popular World of Warcraft, as well as retired esports player Dennis “Thresh” Fong.

As metaverse mania hit its peak in 2021, there was a virtual land grab, prompting high-value NFT sales in games like The Sandbox and Decentraland. Amid this explosion of interest, Ember Sword itself attracted $203 million worth pledges to purchase NFT land, from a total of nearly 35,000 players, though the total amount raised by the final sale appears to be much lower than the amount initially pledged. Decrypt is still working to clarify the final amount raised from the sale.

Ember Sword eventually entered closed beta in July 2024, but the gameplay footage was met with a slew of commenters disappointed with the product.

 NFT Revolution

Gaming, Esports Stars Join Ethereum Game Ember Sword After Metaverse Land Sale

Virtual land sales are booming lately following Facebook’s metaverse push, but upcoming Ethereum-based fantasy game Ember Sword made a big statement even before the recent hype. The game attracted more than $200 million worth pledges to buy NFT land in July—and now its developer has raised new funding and recruited veteran game industry talent to deliver on its aims. Last week, developer Bright Star Studio announced an investment round led by BITKRAFT Ventures that brings a number of veteran gam...

Late in the year, the game entered public early access after moving to Ethereum layer-2 network Mantle—its second move after previously jumping from Polygon to Immutable X.

Now, the game is shutting down for good, with its servers going offline and Discord access being limited. The EMBER token has meanwhile plunged to near-worthlessness, with a market cap of just $82,000 and a price down more than 99% from peak.

“This isn’t the ending any of us wanted,” the site reads. “But we wanted to sincerely thank you for being here, for believing in this vision, and for helping make Ember Sword something we’ll never forget.”

Unfortunately, this isn’t an isolated incident, but rather part of a much broader trend of crypto games closing this month.

Last week, cat-themed Solana shooter Nyan Heroes shut down, with developer 9 Lives Interactive also citing an inability to secure funding as the reason it had to close shop. The hero shooter had just completed its fourth play test via the Epic Games Store, with the studio claiming more than one million players across the four periods. A full version of the game was planned to launch next winter.

Solana Shooter Game 'Nyan Heroes' Shuts Down Amid Funding Issues

Solana cat-themed hero shooter game Nyan Heroes is shutting down, 9 Lives Interactive announced Friday, with the developer citing an inability to secure the necessary funding to finish the game.  The free-to-play hero shooter recently completed its fourth play test via the Epic Games Store, which included its largest play-to-earn airdrop of the NYAN token on Solana. A full game launch was planned for next winter. The Overwatch-style PC game launched its first pre-alpha test in March 2024 and ult...

That same day, it was announced via Discord that mobile game Blast Royale’s development is set to be discontinued, although the game will become open-source for other developers to pick up. On Monday, Ronin role-playing game Tatsumeeko was also discontinued as its creators said they were shifting focus onto their Discord-based fantasy life simulator called Project: Wander.

Other notable game closures in recent months include Deadrop and The Mystery Society, with Gala Games' The Walking Dead: Empires also announced to shut down at the end of July.

Edited by Andrew Hayward

Update: This story was corrected after publication to note that the $203 million figure from 2021 was the amount pledged towards the NFT land sale by interested parties, not the final amount raised. Decrypt is still working with a studio representative to clarify this figure.