In a new twist in the Chronicles of Elyria saga, Soulbound Studios CEO Jeromy Walsh penned a letter on the MMORPG's official Kickstarter in an attempt to clarify the game's status moving forward.
If you'll recall, back on March 24th, Walsh posted a large forum post, showing some of the progress the team was making, though in the end it resulted in ultimately suspending development and laying off all the staff at Soulbound. Since then backers have been demanding refunds, going so far as to start contacting the Washington State Attorney General's office to potentially look into investigating the studio's handling of the millions in Kickstarter funds that were raised.
Today, via the MMORPG's Kickstarter page, Walsh posted a new letter to the Elyria community, aiming to "clarify" the status of the game.
"On March 24th I posted a “State of Elyria” update for our game, Chronicles of Elyria, to our blog. In that post, I informed our community that, due to the under-performance of our recent Settlers of Elyria event and the economic impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic, I had made the hard decision to lay off staff and suspend development. However, it was my aim to leave the blog post with a message of hope that we could find a way to secure additional funding, honor your pledge package rewards, and deliver the game we promised.
In retrospect, I understand that the message might have been interpreted in many ways, for which I take full responsibility. To correct any misunderstandings going forward, let me clarify the status of Chronicles of Elyria."
Walsh states that the statement suspending development was "born out of a concern" for his team's ability to find paying work as a result of this suspension. Walsh continues that his goal was never to "permanently end the development" of Chronicles of Elyria.
"It was never my intent to permanently end the development of the game, disregard your contributions, or fail to deliver what we promised."
As such, Walsh mentions he is working with a team of advisors to investigate what their options are, and he states he will be posting a detailed FAQ for those with questions surrounding the situation. The timing of this is interesting, especially after multiple reports of players seeking refunds through Xsolla, as detailed on the Class Action 4 COE Discord that is tracking all the complaints, as well as the complaints mounting with the Washington AG.
