Untamed Isles Goes On "Hiatus" After Gambling Kickstarter Funds On Crypto, Devs Claim They Can't Even Refund Backers

Untamed Isles, the Pokemon-styled MMO by Phat Loot Studios based in New Zealand, came to a screeching halt in production yesterday after the devs basically gambled away Kickstarter funds on cryptocurrency. The project will be on "hiatus" since they've dried out resources, so much so that they can't even refund backers who believed in the gameplay and didn't care for the crypto elements.

The bizarre part of this announcement is the game was going to come out on October 6, and that reveal date was told to backers literally two weeks ago. Between then and today, Phat Loot Studios must have been involved in some shady business to be so far in the hole.

So far that the studio can't refund its initial backers because their "cash reserves [are] empty." As you might expect, backers were very upset and disappointed in the studio. One user referenced the Kickstarter page saying, "under the 'risks' tab, you say you'll issue full refunds in case the game doesn't launch. Better pay up."

As for Phat Loot Studios' hiatus announcement on Steam, they started their sad sob story about how ambitious Untamed Isles was and development costs, explaining the "economic landscape has changed dramatically" for cryptocurrency and was their primary source of income.

They claim Untamed Isles remains "game-first, crypto-second in design" and has "great game design that could stand on its own two feet," but chose to gamble away backer funds after getting a taste of "positive interest" from the crypto market. For however long, the devs will "have to hibernate development" on Untamed Isles, screwing over those who had an interest in the project and funded its development.

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