Illuvium: Overworld - A New Dawn

Introduction

I want to begin by acknowledging the peculiar position Illuvium finds itself in at this moment. We remain a leader in GameFi, backed by an IP that’s second to none in the Web3 gaming space. Yet, if you asked some of our most enthusiastic supporters what direction we’re heading next, they might struggle to answer clearly. I aim to reassure players, community members, investors, and everyone else following our journey that we recognise our missteps and are taking concrete steps to address them. Over the coming months, we will demonstrate how we’re refining our ecosystem to become the fun, vibrant experience it was always meant to be. We believe the entire Web3 gaming landscape will move forward with us when Illuvium's games live up to their full potential. As someone helping to guide our course, I promise that we understand the work ahead and are fully committed to getting it right.

Arena and Streamlined Development

One of our biggest challenges has been juggling multiple games and applications simultaneously. While we now plan to focus on one core game at a time, it’s essential to recognise that we already have live products that need ongoing maintenance and improvement. To address this, we’re reorganising our internal teams to compartmentalise responsibilities better, ensuring that each product receives the attention it deserves without compromising efficiency. For the past two months, we’ve poured significant effort into Arena, and we’ll continue refining it into next year—introducing crucial quality-of-life improvements and major new features. Our immediate goal is to elevate Arena to the level of top-tier auto battlers by the second quarter of next year. With Arena set on a solid foundation, we’ll be well-positioned to tackle our broader ambitions as we move through 2025 and beyond.

Heeding Feedback on Gameplay and Monetisation

Looking back, it’s clear that the content creators, industry veterans, investors and council members who voiced concerns about our gameplay and monetisation were right. They recognised early on that we needed to improve the player experience and refine our approach to generating revenue. We’ve learned from their insights and are committed to heeding their advice as we move forward.

Rethinking Our Monetisation Approach

Our second major challenge lay in our monetisation approach—particularly the heavy reliance on frequent microtransactions and an economic model with only limited, imperfect safeguards. We initially believed that strong, sustained demand would naturally outpace the supply of in-game assets from Zero. While our reasoning had a logical foundation, the reality was that the gameplay and overall content weren’t compelling enough to support these assumptions. When demand fell short, asset values declined. We did have measures in place—like adjusting fuel output or fixing travel prices—but both options negatively impacted certain player groups and required council approval, making them difficult and slow to implement.

In retrospect, we needed more core content at no cost, fewer microtransactions, and a more flexible set of contingency tools that could stabilise asset values without undercutting promises or penalising specific parts of the community.

This experience should serve as a warning to other emerging projects. Going forward, we’re committed to creating a more player-friendly model. We’ll focus on making more content free, bundling payments into more seamless transactions, and ensuring the entire system feels fair and rewarding. Doing so will bring balance back to the economy and rebuild trust in our community.

Balancing Art and Gameplay

We’ve relied heavily on our art team’s incredible talents, and their work has consistently elevated Illuvium’s identity. However, we recognise that prioritising visuals over gameplay created unnecessary hurdles. This is why we changed our tact earlier this year with gameplay mechanics that are thoroughly tested and genuinely fun. We then challenge our artists to bring those experiences to life as beautifully as possible.

This balanced approach serves two key purposes. First, it streamlines development, freeing us from design constraints around aesthetics. Second, it ensures that our visuals enhance, rather than limit, the replayability and overall enjoyment of the game. Art remains vital to Illuvium’s appeal in this new paradigm—now working perfectly with gameplay.

Yet, none of these points should come as a surprise. The community already knows we’re focusing on Arena—refining gameplay before art, zeroing in on one title at a time, fixing our monetisation model, and preparing to launch a robust competitive scene backed by a revamped reward system. So why do we need a lengthy blog post? Why does uncertainty persist if all this is supposedly clear?

The answer can be summed up in one word: Overworld. What, exactly, are we going to do with Overworld?

Evolving Overworld into an MMO Lite

Our flagship title—our greatest investment of time and resources—is our top priority in 2025. Overworld holds the potential to welcome millions of new players from around the globe. To make that a reality, it needs to evolve into what it was always meant to be: an MMO. More specifically, a creature-capturing MMO that stands apart from anything else in the space. Imagine an expansive MMO world where your ranger, Illuvials, and drones grow in power and complexity as you play. Over time, you gain access to new abilities and equipment, discover hidden areas, and learn unique combat strategies. Raids against towering Leviathans demand true teamwork: coordinate with other players, form groups with complementary affinities and classes, and share rare loot as you conquer massive challenges.

Envision a system where synergy is essential. When you and your ally coordinate attacks or combine specific load-outs, your frontline units become sturdier, your attacks more potent, or your healing more effective. Like the classic MMO features—cooperative raids, guild-based progression, player-driven markets, meaningful crafting, and strategic resource management—these interconnected mechanics offer depth, replayability, and a genuine sense of community.

By pairing a creature-capturing core with the proven multiplayer and social elements that define the genre, Overworld aims to deliver an experience where gameplay is truly elevated by the people you play with.

Building on Our Existing Foundations

Before anyone gets the wrong idea, let’s be clear: this will be an MMO Lite—a streamlined, more accessible version of a traditional MMO that builds on our existing work rather than reinventing the wheel. Think of it as a core MMO experience without the sprawling complexity. At least not to start with. We won’t have endless zones to explore at launch, nor a thousand branching storylines. Instead, we’ll focus on essential gameplay loops, carefully curated regions, select enemy types, and fundamental progression systems. By doing this, we can develop more quickly and efficiently than if we were starting from scratch, all while ensuring the experience is polished, engaging, and fun. If you know me, you know I can be pretty bold, but throwing away everything we’ve built to create a massive MMO overnight would be madness. Instead, let’s take a closer look at the existing and in-progress elements that will form the backbone of this MMO Lite.

So, as you can see, many of the core components of an MMO Lite are already in place. That’s why we chose this path and did not take the decision lightly. Over the past two months, we opened the floor to every core contributor, asking them to submit a 5–6 page pitch for our next project. I even wrote one for a MOBA. However, as we reviewed all 17 proposals, it became clear that MMOs remain hugely popular, and we’d be leaving too much on the table if we started from scratch elsewhere. Ultimately, transforming the Overworld into an MMO Lite capitalises on what we’ve built and aligns perfectly with our long-term vision.

So, what’s next? While putting the finishing touches on Arena, our game design team will begin shaping the Overworld into the MMO Lite we’ve envisioned. Once Arena reaches the level of quality we’re aiming for; our entire team will shift its focus to fully realising this new Overworld. Before long, you’ll see one of our signature cinematics, giving you a first look at an immersive world where you team up with friends to take down colossal leviathans and claim rare loot.

Community-Driven Decisions and Adjustments

One question we’re still grappling with is how to handle the current version of Overworld. My initial idea is to temporarily close it in its current state—offering only automated drone runs for Illuvial acquisition—until we can reintroduce a fully realised experience. This approach ensures new players aren’t immediately exposed to an undercooked game and sets the stage for a much more impactful relaunch. By doing so, Arena could serve as our primary live product, driving engagement and revenue, while Beyond and Zero help bridge the gap and maintain momentum. In addition, upcoming changes—like the 3-to-1 fuel ratio, improvements in onboarding, and eventual mobile accessibility—will collectively make Illuvium far more approachable. Ultimately, I think this should be a community-driven decision. Your input will help us chart the best path forward, ensuring it’s positioned to meet its full potential when Overworld returns.

Ensuring Financial Stability

We’ve significantly reduced costs over the last few months, bringing our monthly burn down to approximately $900K. This includes tough decisions, such as the admins no longer taking a salary and reducing overall wages by an additional $85K. Still, we anticipate the need for more capital as we move forward, and we plan to seek funding around March next year. With 1,860,000 ILV tokens in the treasury and a compelling new direction for the project, we’re confident in securing the support needed to fully realise the MMO Lite vision. This capital infusion will give current and prospective investors greater confidence in our new path and ensure we have the runway to make it a reality.

A Shared Vision Forward

While we’re confident in our direction, let’s be clear—we’re not claiming to be infallible. We’ve accomplished a great deal, gathered an exceptionally talented team, and are forging ahead in partnership with our community. Our next steps involve refining the game’s economy to feel truly rewarding, ensuring that the gameplay is engaging and meaningful, delivering immersive social features that strengthen player connections, and finally presenting the Illuvium story in a way that brings the entire experience to life.

Looking Ahead: Cinematics and the Future Roadmap

We hope you enjoy this initial cinematic teaser, and rest assured the full cinematic is just around the corner, set to debut early in the new year.

I’m more excited than ever to move forward together.

Cheers,

Kieran