For those unaware of what Untamed Isles is, it’s a monster taming MMO that was funded on Kickstarter which has drawn comparisons to the popular franchise, Pokemon. It did very well to with people donating enough for them to pass their goal with 420% over what they were initially asking for.

As recently as August 1st, developer Phat Loot Studios had planned on Untamed Isles launching on October 6th later this year. However merely 10 days after that, they posted on Steam that the game would be going ‘on hiatus’.

The reason for this essential delay is simple: the recent collapse of the crypto market. Putting it in more official terms, the developers have run into financial issues when it comes to development after their big gamble on crypto investing.

“We leaned into the crypto market and expanded rapidly off the back of the positive interest. When the crash came, we ended up heavily exposed with too short of a runway. The game remains game-first, crypto-second in design, but crypto funds have become, and remain, essential in getting us to the release.” They say in their blog post.

While there aren’t specific details on the money that went into their crypto, therefore there’s no knowledge of how much was lost for the company. Context for the crypto market as a whole does not paint a positive picture. Bitcoin is down from a peak of over $67,000 to 23,370 as of this writing.

It’s unknown when development for the game will begin again or when it will release. Though Phat Loot Studios is confident they will be able to get Untamed Isles out to the public in the future and thank their community for their support.