Dawngate Revival Kickstarter Looks To Complete EA's Cancelled MOBA

Remember Dawngate? It was a MOBA developed by Waystone Games and published by Electronic Arts that was cancelled all the way back in 2014. Even back then -- or more accurately, a year before then, in 2013 -- we thought that it was "late to the party" when it came to trying to get a MOBA to market, and EA apparently agreed.

That hasn't stopped some devoted fans from still wanting to see fully launch, and they might still get that chance, a decade after its initial demise. A Kickstarter called "Dawngate: The Revival Project" seeks to raise enough funds "to purchase the license from EA" and "develop the game so that we return to how it was prior to shutting down." There's no indication that EA wants to sell the IP, but this fundraiser at least offered that if it didn't meet its funding goal, all money would be returned to its backers -- unlike that other thing from a couple of years ago.

There's no worry of that happening, however. When I first learned about this project late last night, it had brought in $20,000 of its $50,000 goal. That number now stands at over $70,000 and still has 59 days to completion. The organization behind the Kickstarter, Studio Wayfinder, is run by Todd Wolven of Moscow, Idaho -- not exactly a hotbed for video game development -- and describes itself as "a group of dedicated, passionate individuals spread across the globe working remotely in tandem to bring back the MOBA game, Dawngate."

You can check out Wolven's LinkedIn page here, where he describes himself as an "Experienced Chief Executive Officer with a demonstrated history of working in the information technology and financial services industry" and CEO of NeoTitan Industries, an external IT consulting firm. My gut tells me that, unlike in that other situation, Wolven's and Wayfinder's intentions are good, but I'm still a little skeptical about their ability to bring all their plans to fruition. If you choose to donate, feel free, but don't be too shocked if things don't turn out like you'd hoped.

Also, there's no word on whether the new version of the game will be free-to-play or not, but since the original was, we thought we'd give the heads-up on this project for anyone who might be interested.

Wayfinder has an estimated listed date of October 2024 for the launch of Dawngate, so even if things do turn out well, it will still be a while before the game sees the light of day -- a full 10 years since its initial demise. That's a long time to wait, even for dedicated fans, but the interest -- and money -- seem to be there, so we'll see what happens.