Magic To Master is reborn as a web 3 MMORPG and enters early access this month.

The last we heard from Magic to Master was that developer Laniatus was preparing to take Gameforge to court over the latter’s copyright lawsuit that canceled the Asian MMORPG’s Kickstarter campaign.

The DMCA complaint alleges that Laniatus, which employed several former Gameforge developers, used stolen assets from Gameforge Metin 2. It’s unclear whether the two parties were able to resolve the issue, but Gameforge claims Laniatus never filed a lawsuit.

That was in July 2023. Laniatus is back to announce that Magic to Master is now a full-fledged blockchain game with both Web 2 and Web 3 versions. The first MMORPG to offer a crossover between Web 2 and Web 3. The announcement comes hot on the heels of a publishing and distribution deal with MetaEngine later this month.

MetaEngine was founded by former Idea Fabrik Chairman Alex Shalash and is a game engine and software stack designed specifically for use by MMO, Web 3, and Metaverse developers. Laniatus has also partnered with Web 3 and blockchain platform Gaimin.

The partnership announcement marks the early access launch of Magic to Master sometime this month. However, Laniatus points out that the game’s release “is dependent on MetaEngine and its affiliates,” who appear to have different roadmaps for the game, as revealed by one of the MMORPG’s lead developers.

The studio has not yet provided detailed information on how Web 3 integration will work or what will happen to the Steam version, as Magic to Master is a true blockchain game. But it’s probably safe to say that it will be removed from the platform. Due to Valve’s strict no-blockchain policy, it is expected to be released soon.

It’s worth noting that Magic to Master has raised a few red flags since it first appeared on Kickstarter. This includes fake testimonials on crowdfunding pages that Laniatus blamed on freelancers adding them as placeholders but forgetting to remove them. The Kickstarter page also promoted an NFT pet system that the studio claims is an acronym for “Necessary Feature Tree.”

In any case, the studio promised to announce a final release date by the end of this week.