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Only a few months after it launched its early access, the team behind the blockchain-based game Ember Sword announced that the project is shutting down to due to lack of funding.

On the game’s official website, the developer team behind the Ethereum (ETH)-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game or MMORPG posted a statement to players and supporters of the game that it is shutting down the project after it was “unable to secure the funding” needed to develop the game further.

“We explored every possible way forward. But in today’s market — where even some of the most promising projects are shutting down — we couldn’t find a path to keep building,” wrote the team in a statement.

Ember Sword is the latest in a series of web3 games that have shut down operations this year, joining the ranks of Deadrop, Nyan Heroes, Tatsumeeko and many more.

Last December, the game had just launched its public early access after moving to the layer-2 network Mantle. It had previously jumped ship from the Polygon (POL) ecosystem to Immutable X. However, it will no longer continue with an official launch following its latest announcement.

Price chart for Ember Sword’s native token, EMBER, in the past few days, May 23, 2025 | Source: CoinGecko

“This isn’t the ending any of us wanted. But we wanted to sincerely thank you for being here, for believing in this vision, and for helping make Ember Sword something we’ll never forget,” the team stated.

At press time, the game’s native token EMBER has seen minimal price action, plummeting by 3% in the past 24 hours. Its current price stands at $0.00047. The token has plummeted more than 99% from its initial peak of $0.068. EMBER’s market cap sits at $80,657 market cap.

Back in 2021, the game generated social media buzz after it managed to attract $203 million in NFT land sales through 35,000 players.

The developer team consisted of prominent gaming veterans as advisors, including Rob Pardo, former chief creative officer at Blizzard Entertainment and lead designer of major gaming franchise World of Warcraft, as well as retired esports player Dennis “Thresh” Fong.

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Last week, Epic Games added a Darth Vader NPC to its battle royale game, Fortnite, as an AI-voiced character. Trained on the voice of James Earl Jones, who is the voice of Vader in the Star Wars movies and elsewhere, it didn’t take long for players to get this NPC Vader to say curse words and slurs, as reported by PC Gamer. Now, three days later, SAG-AFTRA has filed an unfair labor practice complaint with the National Labor Relations Board against Epic-owned signatory company, Llama Productions.

However, it’s not because Fortnite is using AI to give Vader a voice per se. According to the complaint filed today, SAG-AFTRA claims Epic replaced bargained union voice work with this AI without notice, thereby breaking terms and conditions supposedly agreed on by both SAG-AFTRA and Epic.

“Within the past six months, the Employer, by its agents and representatives, failed and refused to bargain in good faith with the union by making unilateral changes to terms and conditions of employment, without providing notice to the union or the opportunity to bargain, by utilizing AI-generated voices to replace bargaining unit work on the Interactive Program Fortnite,” the complaint against Llama Productions reads.

Disney

In a statement released following this filing, SAG-AFTRA says, “We celebrate the right of our members and their estates to control the use of their digital replicas and welcome the use of new technologies to allow new generations to share in the enjoyment of these legacies and renowned roles. However, we must protect our right to bargain terms and conditions around uses of voice that replace the work of our members, including those who previously did the work of matching Darth Vader’s iconic rhythm and tone in video games.”

The company says Llama Productions chose to replace human performers’ work with AI technology but did so “without providing any notice of their intent to do this and without bargaining with us over appropriate terms.” As such, SAG-AFTRA has filed an unfair labor practice complaint against the company with the NLRB.

Jones’ family is aware that an AI voice trained on him was added to Fortnite, as they released a statement confirming they collaborated with Epic to make this happen. They write, “James Earl felt that the voice of Darth Vader was inseparable from the story of Star Wars, and he always wanted fans of all ages to continue to experience it. We hope that this collaboration with Fortnite will allow both longtime fans of Darth Vader and newer generations to share in the excitement of this iconic character.”

Game Informer contacted Epic Games for comment and will update this story if it hears back.

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Ethereum-based game Ember Sword shuts down due to lack of funding

SAG-AFTRA Files Unfair Labor Practice Complaint Against Epic Games Due To A.I. Darth Vader