Ethyrial: Echoes Of Yore Splits With Its Publisher And Is Now Free-To-Play
Earlier this week, Gellyberry Studios announced that it was delaying the next Ethyrial: Echoes of Yore update and its promised roadmap due to what they described as “unfortunate news.” The team has now shed light on what happened, saying that the studio has ended its partnership with its publisher, Freedom Games, and that the old-school MMORPG is now free-to-play.
“After careful consideration and much deliberation, together with our Publisher, Freedom, we have collectively agreed that the best path forward is to allow us independence in the game’s development,” the studio revealed.
“While Freedom has been an invaluable partner to us and helped us through our entire process, we have been unable to deliver the expected quality level that both Freedom and we wanted to achieve, therefore it doesn’t make sense for the relationship to continue with more investment from Freedom Games at this time.”
Following their newfound errmm… freedom, the team says that they’ll be entering an extended testing and development phase to refine existing mechanics, add new content, and address prevailing issues. They’ve also removed the subscription requirement and has made the game completely free-to-play.
“Our goal in making the game F2P is to create an inclusive environment where everyone can enjoy the game without any restrictions,” Gellyberry shared. “Players will have unlimited access while we work tirelessly to improve the overall experience.
To facilitate a better testing environment, all characters will be transferred to a single server. The team says that they’ll be opening additional servers and will be relaunching the game once they’ve achieved their initial goals. They also note that without backing from Freedom Games, the game is now back to being a “passion project” but promises continued updates.
I’m not sure whether reviews are scrubbed for relaunches, but if they aren’t, Gellyberry Studios has a lot of work to do if they plan to redeem themselves and the game in the scrutinizing eyes of the gaming community.
