Former EverQuest developer announces upcoming MMO Avalon, with a focus on players "building their dreams into reality

It’s been a good year for MMOs, and Avalon, a fully remote studio, has announced their own self-titled MMORPG. Jeffrey Butler, one of the original EverQuest producers, and Sean Pinnock, a games CEO who has worked on multiple successful games, have come together to unveil their upcoming multi-reality MMO idea. The developers have some huge dreams that they want to let players take part in.

The game's first look is set to arrive shortly, and it promises to be a unique experience among MMOs. Avalon is an MMO that boasts a player-centric and publisher-agnostic game experience, though little is known about it yet.

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Self-titled MMO Avalon coming from the minds of EverQuest developer Jeffrey Butler

This MMO boasts multiple connected realities (Image via Avalon)

Avalon is an upcoming MMO from Jeffrey Butler, who worked on the launch of EverQuest and its first expansions. As one of the hands involved in what is known as the grandfather of MMO games, he has some grand ideas about what players should experience with more modern technology.

Sean Pinnock, the CEO of Avalon, worked with Electronic Arts to help work on editor tools that would improve the Frostbite Engine, among other tasks. He also worked on Blacksea Odyssey between August 2014 and September 2016. In a recent press release, he spoke about the vision of the upcoming MMO:

“I’ve always had a clear vision of a limitless online world where players are equipped with the tools to not only create whatever they can dream, but also share the experiences across multiple connected realities."

“All of us nerds share this dream of an MMO that blurs the lines between the virtual and the real. When Jeff and I realized our shared vision, we knew we had to work together to create it. It’s too difficult for any one person or company to build, but we believe that by empowering our community alongside us, we can make something that fulfills the promise of the metaverse.”

Avalon plans to utilize AI technology, such as Didimo’s Popul8 to the character creation platform and Inworld’s AI-powered character engine, to let players create a wide assortment of characters. The first look for this MMORPG can be found on their YouTube channel as well.

Unfortunately, little is known about the game yet, but the developers boast that players will be able to interact with NPCs in ways no other MMO has been able to duplicate. Jeffrey Butler, who is the Chief Product Officer, stated in a press release that some of these ideas were ones he’s had since the days of EverQuest:

“We want to give AVALON players control over the way they play, where creating is just as rewarding as questing - something that I began planning for even as I worked on EverQuest. With the technology and tools we’re developing alongside our partners, we want to foster a community for our namesake game that is able to create their own content and benefit from it, and immerse themselves in content that others have made and shared.”

It’s been an exciting year for MMO announcements. From new studios opening up to games like World of Warcraft revealing huge, daring plans, fans of the genre are certainly not starved for things to do.

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Avalon does not have a concrete release date as of this writing. However, they do have some grand ideas in place about redesigning and reinventing the MMORPG genre. We’ll update you on this upcoming game when more information is revealed.