Denmark based So Couch Studios have revealed their upcoming F2P cross-platform sandbox MMORPG, Ember Sword, vowing to redefine the genre’s negative pay-to-win reputation by replacing the traditional cash shop with an exclusively player owned and driven economy.

Player Driven Economy & No Cash Shop

Ember Sword is committed to redefining the genre by letting players own, control, and evolve the game world as landowners, and acquire scarce cosmetics through PVP & PVE activities in lieu of the traditional lootboxes, which have in many cases tarnished the gaming world through the excessive use of gambling-oriented micro-transaction schemes. So Couch Studios will also eliminate the need for black markets and remove the traditional premium cash shop to ensure a non-pay-to-win environment.

“As avid MMORPG players, we grew tired of static “theme-park” universes where we can engage with everything in the world, but never truly change or evolve it, much less own it and the items we’ve gathered within it.”, So Couch Studios founder Mark Phillipe Laursen says, explaining why his team is developing Ember Sword, before he continues:

“Most free-to-play MMORPGs monetize through pay-to-win mechanics and non-transferable cosmetics in an attempt to increase revenue by locking down the cash shop economy. With Ember Sword, we’re putting players in charge of evolving the world and its economy instead, because to us, creating an engaging and fair universe is much more important than heavily monetizing players – opting instead for an optional monthly subscription and marketplace fees”

Ember Sword draws inspiration from classics like Ultima Online and Runescape, with a classless combat system, open-world PVP, and a player-driven economy, and vows to create an engaging and persistent universe where the idea of a player-controlled world is taken one step further by letting players own an actual parcel of land in-game, much like Second Life.

“That’s part of what excites us the most; to see what the players will do with the world, how they will play, what sort of groups or factions will evolve, which areas will become popular, and how people will build them and evolve them. It’s fascinating to think about.”, So Couch Studios CMO Sune Blindkilde Thorsen said.

Key Features Announced

Cross-Platform: Accessible in a browser or through a desktop client at release, a mobile version is planned for later release.
Artist Workshop: Release your creativity by designing models, skins, and emotes, the best of which will appear in-game.
True Ownership and Control: With players evolving the world every day and truly owning their own cosmetic items, Ember Sword is run by the players.

Stay Tuned

For the latest news and updates, follow Ember Sword on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.
More information and assets can be found on their site at embersword.com.