Game development is expensive. Creating an MMORPG takes quite a lot of time and money. This is especially true when your game is as ambitious as one like Chronicles of Elyria. Elyria is so ambitious, in fact, that Soulbound Studios has announced that the funds raised during its Kickstarter will not cover the entirety of its development. Instead, the company estimates that it will need approximately $3 million more to finish the game.

The need for extra funds is explained as follows.

So, back in May we launched a Kickstarter to raise $900,000. That money continues to be used as our seed funding for the development of Chronicles of Elyria. For those unfamiliar with a seed round, that's when you raise enough money to put together a prototype for further investment rounds, such as a Series A. To entrepreneurs, and to those outside the gaming industry, a strategy of using the money earned in each round of funding to reach the next one is perfectly normal. But in games, especially with crowdfunding, it can make backers nervous to hear that a game isn't fully funded yet. Heck, it makes us a little nervous. That being said, the $900,000 we raised during Kickstarter isn't enough to finish Chronicles of Elyria. The reality is that Soulbound Studios is going to require another $2 Million more than that to get anywhere near completion. And with server hosting fees, QA work, etc., it would really be better if that was up around $3M instead.

The team has "strategies in place to help raise the additional money," but it is noted that any pledges made through Elyria's store "[help] reduce that amount and also [provide] a bit of cushion between now and our next funding round." As it is put in the announcement, "every dollar pledged in [the] online store takes away some of the stress."

You can find the full announcement, which contains a host of information about the online store, here.

Not everyone took this bit of news lightly. Some comments over at the game's Kickstarter page displayed outrage at this announcement.

Some comments from various Kickstarter backers:

See all Kickstarter comments here.

Not everyone was upset though. Many backers seemed to trust the developers to find the funding they needed. Soulbound Studios stated in a forum post that they communicated elsewhere that the Kickstarter goal was NOT enough to actually fund the game, but they admit that they did not make this apparent on the actual Kickstarter.

Edit (by Omer) 09/27 7PM: Added screenshots of comments from various upset backers.