Star Atlas development pushes forward despite token price action

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Star Atlas, an ambitious sci-fi interplanetary MMORPG, has made strides toward its full launch since its white paper released back in 2021.

Right now, there’s a web-based game known as SAGE (Star Atlas Golden Era) that’s available until the full, immersive 3D main game launches.

In a broader crypto market where quick hype cycles can dominate narratives, it can be difficult for a game with a longer development timeline to retain interest — and stay financially afloat.

Michael Wagner, CEO and co-founder of Star Atlas, tells me they’re doing just fine.

“It’s been a wild couple of years, but this year it’s looking strong for us,” Wagner said in an interview with Blockworks at GDC. “Things have recovered quite well post-FTX.”

Last month, Star Atlas released a substantial patch adding things like Galia mode, which offers single-player space exploration without any loading screens.

“There’s not really anything going on there yet. They are just barren planets. But you can experience the diversity in the biome,” Wagner explained. “[But] what’s really cool about this is we’re starting to showcase the seamlessness of navigation through Star Atlas.”

I jumped into this mode. Here are a few screenshots from my exploration:

The graphics in general look amazing overall, and flying through space was pretty smooth. You can definitely feel the physics of how gravity changes in this game. I tried out two different ships and encountered some glitches trying to get out of one of them after landing on a planet. Not sure if it was my fault or an issue with the game, but hiccups are normal with in-development games.

Aside from Galia mode, there’s also Fleet Command, where you can manage ships from a macro viewpoint. They’re also adding mining within Galia mode, but without the crypto rewards at first.

There will also be a team deathmatch arena shooter mode, plus an extraction shooter and zone-based gameplay, all within the main game client.

Star Atlas will also have a built-in Solana wallet and in-game NFTs.

“We’re kind of a blend between multiple games,” Wagner said, citing Star Citizen, No Man’s Sky, and Eve Online. “What we really like about Eve is [for] one, they have a quite sophisticated economy in-game, and I think that’s really a critical component of what we’re building. It’s part of the value proposition of Web3 is you can engage in this game, you can carve out a niche for yourself, and you can produce real income while you’re playing.”

But Wagner also admitted that the financial side of things won’t always be up only.

“We’re largely correlated with crypto markets. I mean, if you look at our token charts, they’re not looking great either. But that’s not to say we’re not considering the full utility of the token through the game economy itself,” he explained.

Source: Atlas price over time

The ATLAS token is down over 99% from its all-time high, and the project’s DAO token POLIS has endured a similar fate thus far.

Wagner doesn’t buy into the narrative from some game devs that just making a “fun game” instead of focusing on a game’s economy should be the main strategy in blockchain gaming, though.

“I’ve pushed back pretty heavily on that,” he said, arguing that having a real financial model behind a game is one of the main reasons to even use crypto in the first place. Obviously, he wants Star Atlas to look good and have entertaining game loops, but the game economy is a major focus.

In-game snaps from others:

Still, it’s worth mentioning that Star Atlas’s sky-high ambitions may not be fully achieved.

During the interview, Wagner cited Star Citizen as a comparable project. Star Citizen’s long-running sci-fi gaming project (note: not a crypto one) has drawn an array of detractors who’ve criticized the game’s decade-plus development timeline and sales of expensive ship models.

It’s hard not to see echoes here, especially given Star Atlas’ ambitious — and lengthy — list of promises to players.