Early Access Fraudsters: I Compiled A List Of Abandoned EA MMOs


There are a lot.

Captain’s log stardate 404.500. These are the continuing voyages of the Starship MMO Fallout. Its continuing mission to explore deep Steam, to seek out new games and new civilizations, and to boldly go where no man’s sanity has gone before.

*cue theme music*

I was going to say that compiling this article may have driven me insane but I’m pretty sure the thought to write it is proof that I was already there to begin with. So those of you who read the website might know that I try to keep track of Early Access MMOs and check up on them from time to time. I actually log all of this on a big paper calendar that I keep next to my desk because on the inside I’m an 80 year old man.

Anyhow, I’ve begun paying attention to the number of games in early access that have been abandoned yet are still on sale and I thought “why not compile a full list?” So I went down every game in the Steam early access list for MMORPGs. I searched specifically for games where the developer has been silent with news and updates for at least six months, preferably at least a year.

Every. Single. One. Not just to determine if it is abandoned but if possible why. I found dozens upon dozens of games that have been summarily abandoned by their devs and many of which are still available for money. Some of these games have shut down going back to 2016, some are functionally broken because their servers are offline. And this is not a comprehensive list either. These are the titles that I managed to find with a cursory glance.

Future Connor can go back and do a more sweeping search. Enjoy reading this. My enthusiasm waned somewhere around the halfway point.

  • ABD: A Beautiful Day
    • Developed by: Robert Bonner, Jack Hanley, Ben Rawles, Boris Blosse
    • Launched: August 14, 2015
    • Verdict: Game is a scam. The developer has blamed a former programmer for basically creating a completely broken game and scamming them. This was 2015. The last news update is from 2017 and the game has been completely abandoned for years. Still on sale for $24.99.
  • Ancient Siberia
    • Developer: Valga Games Studio
    • Launched: December 11, 2017
    • Verdict: Game has been abandoned due to lack of funds as of April 16, 2018. Still trying to sell copies for $4.99.
  • Badland Bandits
    • Developer: Wild Wolf Std.
    • Launched: July 16, 2015
    • Verdict: The game was last updated in 2015. According to the forums servers have been offline for years going back to early 2017 if not further. Developer presence is nonexistent in community. Game is free to play with $80 worth of DLC.
  • The Battle of Ages
    • Developer: “None”
    • Launched: September 7, 2018
    • Verdict: Scam. Asset flip shoved on to Steam for $4.99 and abandoned almost immediately. Title appears to be nonfunctional.
  • Break_In
    • Developer: Craig Gibbs
    • Launched: April 29, 2015
    • Verdict: Game has not been updated since January 20, 2018 and has been seemingly abandoned by its singular developer who has been playing a lot of video games. Despite being abandoned, still sold for $9.99.
  • Build It
    • Developer: AO Games Studios
    • Launched: September 17, 2018
    • Verdict: Very likely abandoned. Developer has not posted a news update since February 2019 and has not posted on the forums in that same amount of time. Game has zero players and six reviews.
  • Colonies Online
    • Developer: Iron Bit
    • Launched: May 1, 2014
    • Verdict: Developer abandoned game and left it for sale on the store. They may not exist anymore, but consumers should be wary of any future products released by Iron Bit.
  • Crazy Justice
    • Developer: Black Riddles Studio Ltd.
    • Launched: September 2018
    • Verdict: I added this one because it was crowdfunded through Fig and is a massive scam. Developer seems to have run off with everyone’s money.
  • Deepworld
    • Developer: Bytebin
    • Launched: April 22, 2015
    • Verdict: Deepworld has been shut down as of September 2019. While the game is still available on the Steam store, it is thankfully a free to play title.
  • Divergence: Online
    • Developer: Stained Glass Llama
    • Launched: January 6, 2016
    • Verdict: Developer is notoriously incompetent. Divergence: Online has been abandoned since 2016 and developer claims to be locked out of account. I have seen no evidence to back up this claim. Game is still on sale for $19.99.
  • Divergence: Year Zero
    • Developer: Stained Glass Llama
    • Launched: October 16, 2016
    • Verdict: The second scam from Stained Glass Llama. This was launched to help fund Divergence: Online and was also abandoned shortly after by developer. Game is still on sale for $19.99.
  • Dogfight Elite
    • Developer: Echoboom S.L.
    • Launched: June 11, 2016
    • Verdict: Game has never posted an update nor apparently had communications from developers. It appears to be a shoddy, nonfunctioning port of a mobile game. Costs $2.99.
  • Exchange
    • Developer: Self Destruction Games
    • Launched: October 12, 2018
    • Verdict: Appears to be dead. No updates since Dec 2018 and developer has not posted since February 2019.
  • The Exiled
    • Developer: Fairytale Distillery
    • Launched: February 23, 2017
    • Verdict: Development stopped, last patch deployed October 2, 2017. Developer has apparently halted all development on the game. Virtually nobody playing which is important since this is a mainly pvp game.
  • Exile to Death
    • Developer: Aleksei Milchakov
    • Launched: June 1, 2018
    • Verdict: Game appears to be abandoned by developer. Last news update dated July 13, 2018. No posts from developer since June 25, 2019. Game is still being sold for $20.
  • Fantasy ERA
    • Developer: Faith KAYA
    • Launched: August 1, 2017
    • Verdict: Scam. Developer has not posted any news since November 2017. Game is abandoned in a virtually unplayable state. Developer was on forums last year claiming updates would be coming in 2020. No evidence to back that up. Sells for $4.99.
  • Fantasy Tales Online
    • Developer: Cold Tea Studio
    • Launched: May 5, 2016
    • Verdict: Developer is absent and while servers are online (and unstable) the last patch notes are from July 5, 2016. Developer has not posted in over a year.
  • Flash Point
    • Developer: Aidangig
    • Launched: March 22, 2019
    • Verdict: No updates since May 23, 2019. Developer has had no presence on the forums and with the community for over a year now.
  • Gangs of Space
    • Developer: Little Big MMO
    • Launched: August 10, 2017
    • Verdict: Abandoned by developer in November 2018. Commercial closure, official servers and support have been discontinued. Game is free to play.
  • Hide & Hold Out – H2O
    • Developer: Red Abyss Software
    • Launched: April 9, 2016
    • Verdict: Game is still on sale for $17.99 despite developers abandoning it in 2018 after claiming development is “picking up some speed.”
  • High Octane Drift
    • Developer: Cruderocks
    • Launched: October 11, 2016
    • Verdict: Game is free to play and appears to be online but was abandoned by developer in 2018 and has nobody playing it.
  • Hurricane
    • Developer: Because I Can
    • Launched: March 6, 2017
    • Verdict: Developer has abandoned the title, but left it for sale for $.99. Game has never had a news post.
  • Identity
    • Developer: Asylum Entertainment Inc
    • Launched: November 30, 2018
    • Verdict: No updates since Jun 26, 2019. Game has raised $1.4 million yet has so far only implemented the Town Square module. More updates allegedly on their way, developer has shown little work for the amount of funding this game has received. Did I mention Identity costs $30?
  • Impulse of War
    • Developer: Dmitry Medvedev
    • Launched: February 24, 2017
    • Verdict: Game appears to have been abandoned by developer. No news updates since May 2017, the developer has not been active since January 2018, and the game has nobody playing it.
  • Intershelter
    • Developer: Eforb
    • Launched: November 20, 2016
    • Verdict: Free to play game. Servers have been offline possibly as far back as 2018. Battle royale game abandoned by developers in 2018. 0 players.
  • The Last Front
    • Developer: Fever Game Studios
    • Launched: July 11, 2018
    • Verdict: Scam. Developer shuffled onto Steam for $1 and then walked away.
  • Lonath Online
    • Developed by: 4NetGames
    • Launched: October 16, 2015
    • Verdict: Developer abandoned game and left it for sale on the store. 4NetGames doesn’t exist anymore.
  • Metal War Online: Retribution
    • Developer: GDT Limited
    • Launched: December 11, 2015
    • Verdict: Game appears to be completely abandoned. No updates since February 2018 however game is free to play. Did not fully launch as launcher is downloading at 100kb/s and would take hours to fully patch.
  • Mortal Royale
    • Developer: Star Vault AB
    • Launched: December 17, 2018
    • Verdict: Game has not been supported since the month of its launch going by the latest patch news being December 21, 2018. No players, game is unplayable.
  • Mystica: The Ninth Society
    • Developer: Bread Vision Studios LLC
    • Launched: March 7, 2016
    • Verdict: Game was abandoned with the last game update in 2017 with the servers shutting down somewhere between 2017 and 2018. Developer showed up years later in 2020 to launch private servers and announce a remake. Game was still on sale for $1.99 while offline.
  • Redemption
    • Developer: Move Games Co. Ltd.
    • Launched: August 11, 2016
    • Verdict: Game is a scam. Selling for $14.99, the servers as far as we can determine are offline. The developer is still around and working on a game called Digimon Masters Online. last update was February 22, 2017.
  • The Region
    • Developer: Black Snake Games
    • Launched: March 1, 2019
    • Verdict: Scam. Developer threw the game on the store for $6 and abandoned it immediately.
  • Riding Out
    • Developer: UnexEvo
    • Launched: December 24, 2015
    • Verdict: Developer has not posted an update since March 2018 and the game has gone unsupported for a couple of years now.
  • Road Dogs
    • Developer: Teletower Studios
    • Launched: September 25, 2017
    • Verdict: Game is free to play and has not had any updates since April 12, 2018. Reviews suggest the game is still operational.
  • ROKH
    • Developer: Nvizzio Creations
    • Launched: May 16, 2017
    • Verdict: Game has been abandoned by developers due to a failure to recuperate development costs. Developers are working on Project C which looks like a scam and is selling in-game currency for real money.
  • Sirius Online
    • Developer: Digital Dawn Studios
    • Launched: June 1, 2015
    • Verdict: Developer sunsetted development  in 2018 and took the servers offline, yet continue to sell Sirius Online for $4.99 with the Early Access page estimating a 2017 launch. Developer Digital Dawn Studios changed their name to “World of Dex” and relaunched Sirius as “Sirius: Age of the Free Agents” which was similarly abandoned.
  • Slay Together
    • Developer: Owl Tribe Entertainment
    • Launched: January 31, 2019
    • Verdict: Developer moved the game from a free to play to buy to play system in January and has not posted a news update since. Game seems to have been monetized and abandoned.
  • Sneiroball
    • Developer: Sneirox
    • Launched: July 20, 2018
    • Verdict: Absolute scam. No reviews, no screenshots, no video, no gameplay, virtually no information about the game itself yet developer is looking for $24.99. No news posts, developer has not bothered to post in community since July 2018.
  • Space Universe
    • Developer: Universe
    • Launch Date: June 15, 2016
    • Verdict: Last update was July 15, 2016. Game appears to have launched unplayable and was abandoned sometime between late 2017 and early 2018. Developer is completely inactive. Game still being sold for $14.99.
  • Titans: Dawn of Tribes
    • Developer: 34BigThings srl
    • Launched: June 15, 2017
    • Verdict: This one is odd. It appears that the developer is trying to push out updates to the game but the publisher Indiegala is stonewalling things and basically using the game’s Steam page to spam promotions for their other title Die Young.
  • Voice of Pripyat
    • Developed by: Slav Pankratov
    • Launched: November 19, 2014
    • Verdict: Game has been abandoned since 2015 and is completely broken. Game does not load, servers are not online, developer is completely absent and working at another company. Game is still on sale for $6.99.
  • Warma Online
    • Developed by: BA.D
    • Launched: June 19, 2018
    • Verdict: Last update was August 2019. Almost nonexistent community, developer has not posted since August 5, 2019 and has had no presence. Game wants $9.99.
  • Wild Warfare
    • Developed by: Hyper Hippo Games
    • Launched: July 15, 2014
    • Verdict: Game has no upfront fee and due to nonexistent population is completely unplayable. Developer abandoned game years ago to work on Adventure Capitalist.
  • Win That War!
    • Developer: Insane Unity, Bidaj
    • Launched: April 7, 2017
    • Verdict: Developer abandoned game and left it for sale on the store. Bidaj was associated with another game Brawl of Cards which had a failed crowdfunding attempt and then disappeared. Consumers should be wary of supporting projects from Bidaj.