[Update] Saga of Lucimia Developer Stormhaven Studios Release Statement Addressing Concerns Over Game's Status

[Update 1:53pm PT] - Stormhaven Studios' John Gust, Executive Producer for Saga of Lucimia, responded with the following statement per our inquiry earlier. 

We reached out about the timing of the announcement, as well as questioning why specific pages of the Saga website were brought down, noting specifically the site is no longer taking pre-orders. Additonally, we asked for comment as to why nothing was stated about Tim and Joey Anderson's departure back in September when it occurred.

Here is the studio's statement in full in response to our questions earlier:

"The shutting down of certain things this morning was planned specifically for this date and were planned before news of Tim's departure had been made known in the recent articles published by you and [MassivelyOP]. It was not done in response to any of the discussions in the comment sections of these articles either. What I can say is there were legal reasons we couldn't officially announce things before today. I'd like to make the distinction that Tim and Joey aren't simply not involved, but are in fact no longer owners of Stormhaven Studios or connected to the company in any way as of today, March 15th. "

[Original Story Follows Below]

Stormhaven Studios, the developer of Saga of Lucimia, have released a statement regarding the status of the game in the wake of the news that Tim Anderson, the creator of the Lucimia IP and a co-founder of the studio, was no longer involved in the project.

In case you missed it last week, we reported on the news that Tim Anderson and his brother, Joey Anderson, were no longer involved in the development of the MMORPG, Saga of Lucimia. The reasons for the split aren't being made public, however the news was initially revealed on a Patreon post by Tim Anderson back in January. The post revealed that he and his brother hadn't been involved in the development of Saga of Lucimia since September of 2020.

Concerns then swirled from backers of the MMO about its future and it's current development progress, seeing as the official channels have been largely silent since last September. Robert Thompson, one of the developers on the Lucimia project, took to Discord to assure fans that the MMORPG was still in active development. Today, the studio put out an official statement on the issue, assuring fans that, despite Tim and Joey Anderson no longer being involved, the development on Saga of Lucimia is "full steam ahead."

"Timothy and Joseph Anderson have withdrawn as members of Stormhaven Studios LLC and no longer represent the company in any capacity. The remaining team wishes them well in their future endeavors and thanks them for their contributions to the project.  

Stormhaven Studios remains committed to delivering an engaging MMORPG experience as development continues full steam ahead. Weekly testing sessions with the community have allowed the team to test critical infrastructure and gather feedback on game play features as they are introduced. At the current pace of production Stormhaven is confident in its ability to bring the product to launch in a timely manner."

This same statement was posted to the Saga of Lucimia forums this morning as well.

An eagle-eyed forums user (Thanks, Wellspring!) noted a few of the pages on the Saga of Lucimia website are no longer linked to on the homepage, including the blog, the lore section, as well as a the fact that the website doesn't appear to be taking any pre-orders any longer for the title. We reached out for a follow up comment as to why these pages and pre-orders were down, as well as why the studio took so long to release a statement regarding the creative director's departure and will follow up here once we have a reply.

Saga of Lucimia is an MMORPG currently in alpha, and one that hearkens back to the roots of the MMO genre. The MMORPG has a massive focus on group and co-op play, Designed to give "tabletop immersion," Lucimia will feature no quest hubs, minimaps, and will revolve around skill-based gameplay. The team held an alpha test last April, though updates since have been incredibly scarce, as their Twitter account and YouTube channel have gone rather quiet since September of last year. Hopefully, for backers of the project, this is a signal that more updates are coming down the pipeline.