Viking MMORPG dies – developers put around €800,000 in cryptocurrency, which today is not worth a penny

The Viking MMORPG Northern Guild is bankrupt. Because the developers have relied on the high-risk cryptocurrency LUNA. But today the currency is hardly worth anything. which drove the developers into bankruptcy.

Some developers today rely on digital currencies or other pay-to-earn systems in their games. The idea is: you can earn some money while you play. But some developers rely on risky ideas in their game.

This is what happened to the team behind the MMORPG “Northern Guild”. Because they relied on a cryptocurrency that is almost worthless today and now have to file for bankruptcy.

NFT game relied on Vikings and retro look

What was that for a game? The developers at Pixie Interactive described Northern Guild as “a playground for players and guilds that remember the freedom of early MMORPGs to define and reinvent themselves”:

• Players should be able to build a world together and form clans.
• In-game trading should be player-based and you should be able to fully control in-game trading.
• You were allowed to decide whether you wanted to become a warrior or a trader.

Northern Guild also relied on a cute retro pixel look and was more reminiscent of older titles.

Developers put all their money into Luna – Today the cryptocurrency is worth nothing

What was the problem? The developers invested around 800,000 euros in the Luna cryptocurrency, one of many currencies that are now on the market. But just like Bitcoin or Ethereum, Luna also has a strongly fluctuating course.

In its last heyday, 1 luna was worth 106.05 euros, that was on April 5, 2022. The all-time high was even 120.23 euros. But it didn’t stay that way for long. Currently (September 5, 2022) 1 Lunacoin is worth €0.000261. You don’t even get a single cent for a Lunacoin.

A former developer had reported the bankruptcy in the official Discord. He himself said that none of the officials would get in touch. Because they either disappeared or didn’t recognize the problems or wanted to apologize.

This is how the developer writes about the chaos (via martijnvwezel.com):

Our founders set aside some of Luna’s taxpayers’ money, and with Luna’s demise, they lost it all. As far as I know, Pixie owed about 800,000 (as of the end of June 2022) in taxes. This decision and the eventual loss is the reason that the debt could not be paid off and Pixie is ultimately bankrupt.

(via martijnvwezel.com)

Initial talks with new investors are said to have taken place as early as February 2022. This is said to have surprised some, because the last round of financing should have brought in more than enough money for 1 – 1.5 years of development.

But even apart from this wrong investment, there are said to have been a lot of problems within the team that are said to have contributed to the downfall of the studio:

• The founders of the team are said to have worked on another NFT project without the knowledge of the other colleagues.
• The head of Pixie Interactive is said to have been present less and less: he was said to be barely able to keep the team together and was
• There are said to have been many business trips, which are said to have been expensive above all.
• New, potential investors would have viewed the project as not big enough and with too little scope.

What’s next? It is said that the former team is doing everything possible to get back at least the intellectual property of “Northern Guilds” and to save at least part of the stuff. Because you don’t want to lose the work of 9 months. In the best-case scenario, the game would still be playable somewhere in the end.

More stories about NFTs and Co: Developers can not only speculate heavily, but there are also some black sheep who are after the players’ money. This happened to some players in Minecraft:

A Minecraft-style game sold over €1.1 million worth of NFTs and is suddenly gone