Solana-based MMO video game 'Star Atlas' aiming to launch this year

The release of Star Atlas, a Solana-based massively multiplayer online video game, could arrive by year's end, according to Michael Wagner, CEO and co-founder of ATMTA, the developer behind the gaming project.

“Getting the core mechanics of an MMO online and released by the end of the year, that's our goal right now,” Wagner recently told The Block, couching his prediction in the fact that committing to game release dates can be tricky. 

While the Star Atlas gaming project has been in the works since 2020, and a 2D browser game is currently available, ATMTA aims to release Season 0 of a AAA-level video game as soon as possible, said Wagner.

If ATMTA can pull off launching an AAA-style title, it would mark a much-needed step forward for the company, especially given what Wagner calls a "tepid" web3 gaming market. "The sentiment out there is pretty bad," he added. "There is a certain level of attrition going on right now where people are kind of giving up on it."

So far, the most successful web3 games have been simplistic titles like "Axie Infinity" or the Telegram-based clicker titles that briefly caught fire last year.

“We have a sizable audience and community, although our daily active numbers, I don't think are fully representative,” Wagner said, revealing that the current "Star Atlas Golden Era," or SAGE Labs' browser game, launched in 2023 , only attracts about 1,500 daily active users. “The long-term goal is not to focus on that specific product line, but really to get that AAA game out.”

According to DappRadar , Star Atlas user numbers, as measured by daily active wallets, peaked at about 20,000 in 2022 and have since fallen to below 2,000 per day.

The proposed "Star Atlas" universe is meant to be an open-world, intergalactic role-playing game in which players team up in factions and trade in-game assets like space vessels and crew. The AAA game ATMTA hopes to release this year is being built using Unreal Engine 5 to deliver "cinematic quality video game visuals."

An early-access, test version of Star Atlas is available on Epic Games Store. In terms of community, the gaming ecosystem's Discord has over 177,000 members.

Hit hard by 2022, FTX

The developers behind Star Atlas have, at times, had a tough road to hoe — including having its cash runway cut in half in 2022 after FTX’s collapse. At the time, Wagner took to social media to explain that ATMTA had a “material cash exposure” on deposit at FTX, making it hard for the company to access capital generated from digital asset sales. Wagner said in his interview with The Block that, at the time, the company had about $15 million trapped on FTX. "As was the case for most people, it was absolutely brutal for us on multiple fronts," he added.

ATMTA restructured in order to slash overhead, including reducing headcount from a high of 235 employees to a staff of about 100, said Wagner. The CEO said thankfully, they continued to generate revenue and felt "proud" ATMTA has never had to raise money from a venture capital firm.

The gaming ecosystem's main ATLAS token currently trades at a fraction of what it did when it peaked at $0.23 during the 2021 bull run, its market cap soaring to over $500 million, according to CoinGecko. Now, the market cap of ATLAS is closer to $24 million — with minimal trading volume.

Despite the massive decline in ATLAS' market value, token and digital asset sales have enabled ATMTA to stay afloat, said Wagner. The CEO said ATMTA has, over the years, generated a "collective value" of more than $220 million from all of its different revenue streams.

“In terms of revenues, we probably are the most successful web3 game studio that exists today,” said Wagner. “And I think even benchmarking, as against any traditional company, the ability to generate [over $220 million dollars] in revenue from the ground up with no venture capital over four years is really impressive.”

While Wagner remains optimistic, it's clear that without launching a high-quality MMO soon, the chances of the "Star Atlas" ecosystem surviving are likely slim.

In an effort to bolster the "Star Atlas" universe from a technological perspective, ATMTA said it made a strategic equity investment in Shaga, a firm billed as an "innovative decentralized cloud gaming platform."

"Shaga introduces a fresh approach to cloud gaming by utilizing existing gaming PCs as Shaga Nodes, enabling players to contribute to infrastructure and transforming local communities into virtual arcades," according to a blog post published Wednesday . "This decentralized model minimizes reliance on distant servers, offering low-latency gameplay."