Bright Star Studios, the minds behind the upcoming free-to-play, fast paced-combat MMORPG Ember Sword, have released some Early Pre-Alpha Footage on their social media. The company has come out with the video, stating that the game will be instantly playable on any browser – with mobile versions coming after PC, and as well Consoles. In fact, the developers at the studio have shown a great love for the PS4 as a console, with excitement for the brand new generation consoles. When finding information about this upcoming title’s monetization, and why the studio decided to go with Free-To-Play, given that players around the world know that this is an open gate to Pay-To-Win antics, this is what the studio had to say:
Ember Sword is a modern rewrite of the games industry business model in favor of the user, and a love letter to MMORPG gamers. It’s instantly playable, has a classless combat system and a player-controlled world, and NO lootboxes or predatory Pay-to-Win monetization!
If that’s not enough, just today the game was announced to have a US $700,000 Pre-Seed Funding, with an investment led by Play Ventures, with participation from Galaxy Interactive via its Galaxy EOS VC Fund. The studio will use the investment to expand the team and accelerate the launch of its first game. Allan Kirkeby, former Unity Studios CEO, has already come on board as Senior Producer.
“We’ve really thought about the player experience at every step. MMORPGs have traditionally been slow to get into, but our zero-friction play means you jump straight into action without lengthy downloads and installs. Our business model is also free of loot boxes and pay-to-win practices, which creates a fair and competitive environment for our players,” said Bright Star CEO Mark Laursen.
Set in a player-driven dystopian universe, with the world of the game known as Thanabus – the video below shows off one of it’s four regions, Solarwood, with an inclusion of resource collection and combat.
According to a press release sent out to various media outlets, “The team consists of experienced entrepreneurs with a combined 70+ years of experience in game development, developer software tools, and competitive esports. The studio also has a unique approach to in-game items. The team is building player-centric economies, where players can securely trade in-game items with one another on legitimised marketplaces, instead of on third-party grey markets.”
As for the end game of the MMORPG, Bright Star Studios focuses on creating trailblazing free-to-play MMO experiences with player-centric economies that tackle long-standing issues within the genre. With that in mind, this is what the CEO had to say about just that.
“We’ve all experienced the billion-dollar insecure grey markets for in-game items where people get scammed every day. It only makes sense to us that when we reward players with digital collectible cosmetics for participating in end-game content, they should truly own those items. They should be free to trade them inside our games or on third-party marketplaces,” adds Laursen.
I suppose we’ll see where this goes, the game has a lot of potential and even in pre-alpha, it looks pretty darn good. Too many promises in the MMORPG world have been broken, and perhaps Bright Star will be just the studio to break the mold of what the Free-To-Play genre has become.
For more information on the upcoming title, visit their site at: https://embersword.com/
