has shut down after raising more than $200 million selling virtual plots of land. Up until recently, the crypto MMORPG was playable on PC and mobile devices.

Ember Sword started development in 2018 at Bright Star Studios, a company based out of Aarhus, Denmark. It was envisioned as a blockchain-based game, utilizing its own $EMBER token—based on the Ethereum blockchain—for purchasing and upgrading a wide variety of items, ranging from cosmetics to equipment. The in-game economy had a fixed supply of items in order to maintain their value. In April 2020, Bright Star Studios raised $700,000 in pre-seed funding for the game, according to fundraising records maintained by Wellfound. By August of the following year, the developer sold $203 million worth of virtual plots of land in the Solarwood Nation, one of Ember Sword's four worlds.

Ember Sword's development came to an unceremonious end in late May 2025, with Bright Star Studios announcing plans to shut down the game with immediate effect. "This isn't the ending any of us wanted," reads the notice on Ember Sword's official website. Bright Star cited a lack of funding as the reason for pulling the plug on the project. The company maintains that it still believes in the potential of blockchain technology to improve games, providing players with "real ownership, agency, and value for their time."

The $203.785 million that Ember Sword raised selling virtual plots of land came from 34,791 individual pledges. Apart from this open land sale and the aforementioned $700,000 in pre-seed funding, Bright Star also raised $2 million in venture capital in May 2021. The company previously employed at least 21 freelancers and permanent staff, according to publicly available data compiled from LinkedIn. It's currently unclear whether the shutdown of Ember Sword will also lead to the closure of Bright Star.

The crypto MMORPG was available for a bit over six months in total, launching in early access on December 2, 2024. Prior to its shutdown, Ember Sword was playable on mobile devices and PC. The thousands of backers who paid for virtual plots of land in the game never actually got to use them, as the feature wasn't implemented before Ember Sword shut down. The game's end-of-service notice mentions nothing in the way of refunds.

The fate of Ember Sword reignites questions about the long-term viability of crypto gaming and the use of blockchain technology in video games. Its abrupt closure may also further fuel skepticism about the transparency and sustainability of blockchain-integrated game economies.

Sources: Wellfound, Bright Star Studios