Phat Loop Studios, the company known for the crypto-funded MMORPG game Untamed Isles, has received backlash for abandoning its Pokemon-like open-world video game. The company has been accused of spending game development funds to bet on crypto markets.
The project developers, in an official statement, said all the funds raised (USD 525,000) were spent by the studio developing the game. It clarified that the hiatus was due to the company running out of available funds. The statement outlined that several investors pulled out because of concerns about the economic market and the crypto market downturn. The project had aimed for an October release. But now, the project has been paused as the company was unable to financially keep up with the demands.
Grant attributed the problems to the economic landscape changing for cryptocurrency. He said it made it difficult to continue pursuing the project, which has more than 70 staff working on it relentlessly for more than two years. Grant shared that the crypto market crash prompted the investors that were lined up earlier this year, to pull out. The investors were necessary to make the project through its runway to launch. The game was developed to launch with NFT implementation, but this was dropped. This angered many in the community and they also questioned the legitimacy of using the crypto market crash as an excuse for the project’s failure. They pointed out that it was based on the game first, and crypto second. Grant reiterated that until the crypto situation is resolved, the project has to be paused. It remains unclear whether the project had plans to integrate cryptocurrency into the game at all.
