Crowdfunded MMO ‘TitanReach’ cancelled, developer vanishes after fraud accusations

nme.com:

TitanReach, an MMO that raised around £147,231 via crowdfunding, has been cancelled, and the developer has closed down social media channels after being accused of fraud.As reported by PC Gamer, TitanReach was meant to be a “Runescape-like” MMO that relied upon crowdfunded cash to continue development.Developer Square Root raised around £147,231 from fans, however it apparently wasn’t enough – and the game’s lead developer, going by Unravel, said the game was cancelled in August 2021.However, by September of that year Unravel said that funds for TitanReach had been provided by an anonymous investor, and the MMO would continue to be developed.That’s until February 2022, when the game once again ceased development.

Unravel claimed in Discord that the funds they were provided by an investor had run out, and said “this ride has not been easy.”Unravel also started talking at length about their plans for NFT integration in the game, something that obviously did not pan out.More details have emerged via YouTuber KiraTV, who has claimed that Unravel had their funding pulled from the anonymous investor due to misappropriating funds.

This alleged misappropriation supposedly involved losing around £110,000 in a bad cryptocurrency investment and a Tesla. As to the identity of the mysterious investor, KiraTV claims that it was Andre Cronje, a cryptocurrency software developer.KiraTV also claimed that while investigating the shutdown of TitanReach, Unravel reportedly offered him a bribe to stop looking into the reason for the pulled funding.Since this has come to light, Square Root has gone silent – the community Discord has been closed, along with the MMO’s website and social media accounts.