GameFi Information Bureau | NFT Game Introduction: Why was Ember Sword development discontinued? A thorough explanation of GameFi's hopeful dreams and lessons! Check out the article if you're interested! #GameFi #NFTGame #EmberSword
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What is Ember Sword? The story behind why the much-anticipated MMORPG was cancelled
Hello gamers! In today's article, we will explain in an easy-to-understand way for beginners about the once highly anticipated GameFi project, the fantasy MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) "Ember Sword," from its grand plans to its unfortunate cancellation.
Ember Sword was attracting attention as an innovative game with a player-driven economic system while being free to play. However, the cancellation of development was announced around May 2025, shocking many fans and investors. In this article, we will take a closer look at what kind of game Ember Sword was aiming to be and why its dream was cut short, based on the information provided.
Overview of Ember Sword and its intended features
Ember Sword was a sandbox MMORPG for PC (Windows and macOS) being developed by Denmark-based Bright Star Studios. The development team's goal was to create a "free-form world where players have true ownership."
Key features initially announced include:
- Free-to-Play: We aimed to create a model that would allow anyone to easily start playing the game.
- Player-Driven Economy: The idea was that in-game land and rare items would be owned and traded by players as NFTs (non-fungible tokens), and the economy would be driven by players.
- Sandbox elements: The design was planned to allow players to freely explore, create and influence the world rather than just following a set plot.
- Vast fantasy world "Thanabus":
- Solarwood: An area of lush forests and plains.
- Duskeron: An area of desolate desert and dangerous creatures.
- Edisau: A very cold area covered in snow and ice.
- Sevrend: A hot, volcanically active region.
The story was planned to be set in a world made up of these four unique nations.
- Classless Combat System: The plan was to abolish the traditional class (occupation) system and instead allow for greater freedom in character development, with skills and combat style changing depending on the weapon equipped.
- Play-to-Earn Model: The game also promised a system where players could earn cryptocurrencies by playing the game, with rewards available for defeating enemies and completing quests.
These factors have generated high expectations from many MMORPG fans and people interested in blockchain games.
Tech: What technology did Ember Sword plan to use?
Ember Sword was planning to actively incorporate blockchain technology to realize its innovative gaming experience. Let's take a look at what specific technologies were envisioned.
NFTs and the use of blockchain
One of the core elements of Ember Sword isNFT (Non-Fungible Token)The purpose of the project was to utilize NFT. NFT is a type of digital data issued on the blockchain, each of which has its own unique value and is extremely difficult to tamper with. In the game, the following items in particular were planned to be treated as NFTs.
- Land Plots: The plan was for players to own land in the game world as NFTs, which could be bought, sold, or rented. Land owners would have the right to obtain a portion of the resources produced by that land and set usage fees for other players. In 2021, it was reported that the sale of these virtual lands raised more than $2 million in pledges (purchase reservations).
- Cosmetic items: Items that change the appearance of characters (skins, emotes, etc.) were also provided as NFTs, and the aim was to enable free trading between players. This was expected to allow players to customize their avatars to their own personalities and have true ownership of those items.
These NFTs were intended to give players "true digital ownership."
Supported Blockchain
Ember Sword initially planned to deploy on the Ethereum blockchain, but due to rising gas fees (transaction fees) and scalability issues, they later explored using layer 2 solutions such as Immutable X in the Polygon (formerly Matic Network) ecosystem. The profile of the official X (formerly Twitter) account states "Powered by @0xMantle & @mintleapp," and it seems that they were also considering collaboration with the Mantle Network. These technologies were intended to enable high-speed, low-cost transactions and provide a smooth gaming experience.
smart contract
Smart ContractA smart contract is a program that is automatically executed when certain conditions are met on the blockchain. Ember Sword planned to use smart contracts in various processes, such as NFT ownership transfer, in-game item trading, and revenue distribution from land. This was expected to enable highly transparent transactions without intermediaries.
Use of virtual currencies
Ember Sword is$EMBERThe plan was to introduce a unique cryptocurrency called $EMBER as the base currency for the in-game economy. The main uses of the $EMBER token were envisioned as follows:
- Buy and sell NFT items (land, cosmetics, etc.) on the in-game marketplace.
- Access to certain in-game features and services.
- DeFi (decentralized finance) elements such as staking (a system in which rewards are earned by holding).
$EMBER tokens were also intended to act as a “play-to-earn” reward that players could earn by playing the game.
How to start the game (planned process and current situation)
Ember Sword has been discontinued,You cannot start a new game at this time. However, the participation process for the game as originally planned was expected to be similar to that of general blockchain games.
If development had continued, here's how you would start the game:
- Create an account on the official website: First, register an account on the Ember Sword official website.
- Connect your crypto wallet: Prepare a cryptocurrency wallet such as MetaMask and connect it to your game account, which will allow you to manage your NFT items and $EMBER tokens.
- Download the game client: Download and install the game client for PC.
- Game Start: Log into the game and embark on a journey into the vast world of Thanabus.
During development, there were some limited alpha and technical testing sessions, but these plans never came to fruition, as Bright Star Studios announced the end of development in May 2025.
Reputation and reviews: expectations and disappointments
Ember Sword attracted a lot of attention from the moment it was announced due to its ambitious concept and beautiful art style, but its cancellation ended up disappointing many.
Expectations from players (at the time)
- Expectations for an innovative economic system: The economic system, which allowed players to truly own items and trade them freely, was expected to be a new form of MMORPG.
- High quality graphics and worldview: The released artwork and trailers gave a glimpse of a beautiful fantasy world, captivating many players.
- Play-to-Earn Potential: The prospect of earning money while enjoying games has attracted attention, especially from those interested in GameFi. The 2021 land sale is said to have attracted more than $2 million (approximately more than 200 billion yen, based on the exchange rate at the time), showing just how high expectations are.
Criticism and the impact of the discontinuation
Unfortunately, Ember Sword ended up being cancelled, which led to some criticism and issues:
- Development Delays and Funding Issues: Despite a long development period of seven years, the game was never released, and the reason given for the halt in development was that "the company was unable to secure the necessary funds to continue development" (according to reports by NFT Insider, Gamerant, etc.).
- "Rug Pull" Allegations: Some community members and the media have criticized the decision to abandon the project after raising a large amount of funding, alleging that it was a "rug pull" (according to posts on Reddit and some reports). The development team has denied this, stating that they "explore every possible avenue," but it is undeniable that the result has damaged the trust of many of their backers.
- Impact for NFT buyers: In particular, for players who had purchased expensive land NFTs, the funds they had invested were effectively lost, causing widespread disappointment and frustration.
- lack of communication: There have also been complaints that the development studio did not provide sufficient transparency regarding the final stages of development and the circumstances that led to the game's cancellation.
The Ember Sword case highlights the potential of Web3 game projects, but also the difficulties and risks involved in their development.
Q&A section: Frequently asked questions about Ember Sword
Here we will answer some common questions a beginner might have about Ember Sword and related technology (these are mainly based on what is in the planning stages).
Q1: What is blockchain and how was it planned to be used in Ember Sword?
A1: Simply put, blockchain is a technology like a "digital ledger" that can safely and transparently record and manage transaction records. In Ember Sword, we planned to use this technology to allow players to truly "own" land and valuable items in the game as NFTs (non-fungible tokens), and to create a mechanism for safely trading them. In this way, even if the game company terminated the service, the ownership of the NFT items should theoretically remain with the player (however, if the game itself is no longer available, the value of the items would fluctuate greatly).
Q2: How was the in-game currency, "$EMBER," planned to be used?
A2: $EMBER was planned as the cryptocurrency at the core of Ember Sword's economic system. Its main uses were expected to be to purchase items in the NFT marketplace, to pay for access to certain in-game content, and to pay fees. In addition, a "play-to-earn" system was envisioned, where players could earn $EMBER by playing the game, suggesting the possibility that player activity could lead to direct revenue.
Q3: How were NFT items planned to be traded?
A3: It was planned that players would be able to freely buy and sell NFT items (land, cosmetic items, etc.) within Ember Sword or on an external NFT marketplace. Transactions would take place on the blockchain and be processed automatically and securely by smart contracts. This would create an economy centered on direct P2P (peer-to-peer, between individuals) transactions, rather than an operating company acting as an intermediary as in traditional games.
Developer Information: About Bright Star Studios
- Developer: Bright star studios
- Location: Denmark
- Established: 2018 (may vary depending on source)
- Overview: A game studio established with the primary purpose of developing Ember Sword, said to be made up of veteran game developers and entrepreneurs.
- Technology partners (previously mentioned): The official X profile states "Powered by @0xMantle & @mintleapp," suggesting that there was or was a collaboration with Mantle Network and Mintle. In the past, a partnership with Immutable X was also announced.
- Roadmap and Status:
Ember Sword presented a roadmap for a gradual release after multiple alpha tests and land sales (a large-scale NFT land sale was held in 2021, reportedly raising more than $2 million in pledges). However, as mentioned above, according to multiple media reports from May 2025 to 5, 21, Bright Star Studios announced that it had discontinued development of Ember Sword due to difficulties in raising funds. This meant that the long-anticipated project came to an end without being completed.
Gamerant reported that "After seven years of development and raising more than $7 million from virtual land sales, Ember Sword is closing down," while CCN.com reported that "Ember Sword, the Web1100 game project that raised more than $2021 million in pledges from players in 2, has officially closed down." According to MMORPG.com, Bright Star Studios "explored all possible avenues of progress," but decided that continuing development was not possible.
Summary: A grand dream and its demise
Ember Sword was an ambitious project that aimed to provide an unprecedented gaming experience by utilizing blockchain technology and NFTs, with the grand vision of an "MMORPG in which the player is truly the main character." Its beautiful world view, highly flexible game system, and expectations for a new revenue model called Play-to-Earn attracted a great deal of attention from gamers and investors around the world.
However, after many years of development, the project was unable to overcome the barrier of fundraising and sadly came to an end in May 2025. This incident once again demonstrated the difficulty of realizing projects in the Web5 gaming industry and the risks associated with investment. The story of Ember Sword ended with a lot of expectations and an equal number of lessons.
I hope this article will pique your interest in the Ember Sword project and the world of GameFi.
Disclaimer: This article is based on past public information and reports about Ember Sword and does not recommend any specific actions. Investing in crypto assets and NFTs involves high risks. Please act at your own discretion and risk (DYOR – Do Your Own Research).
Reference Articles & Related Links
- Ember Sword Official Site: https://embersword.com/ (Please check the access information)
- Ember Sword Official X (old Twitter): https://x.com/playembersword?lang=en
- CCN.com: Ember Sword Shuts Down After Raising Millions From Players (based on a report dated May 2025, 5)
- Gamerant: Ember Sword Is Shutting Down After Raising Over $11 Million Selling Virtual Plots of Land (based on a report dated May 2025, 5)
- MMORPG.com: Ember Sword Ends Development, Bright Star 'Explored Every Possible Way Forward' (based on a report dated May 2025, 5)
- Esports Insider: Ember Sword shuts down after raising millions (based on a report dated May 2025, 5)
- NFT Insider: Ember Sword Shuts Down, Cites Lack of Funding (Based on a report dated May 2025, 5)