Multiplayer Rebels 2024 - presented by Hathora

The gaming industry is already an awesome and close-knit community - where people always seem to be excited to cheer their peers on and even help each other out. We’re excited to be a part of a growing trend of games software tools to have bigger launches and achieve greater scale. At Hathora, we strongly believe that collaborative multiplayer development is key to empowering smaller teams to build bigger multiplayer games.

We wanted to kick-off GDC 2024 by highlighting some of the most exciting upcoming multiplayer games being actively developed. Exposure to a broad audience for smaller teams is a crucial but sometimes overwhelming part of launching a multiplayer game. Since we already help many studios prepare and launch their games, we thought it was fitting to highlight upcoming multiplayer games too. Each of these featured studios are building multiplayer games in their own unique way. Whether it’s expanding a game genre in a new direction, building an amazing community early, or attacking multiplayer design from a new angle; these studios all embody what we hope to see more of!

We’re excited to host a special reception for these studios this week and if you’ll be in SF during GDC, you should track down our truck that will be driving around showcasing these studios - you’ll get a sneak peak at these upcoming multiplayer games!

Without further ado, let's introduce the inaugural Multiplayer Rebels!

Meet the Rebels

Lightforge Games

Story-driven games are usually well-crafted but incredibly confined, Lightforge will completely turn that assumption upside down with their upcoming game.

Project O.R.C.S. is a collaborative storytelling RPG that allots immense freedom and creativity to its players. Not only can players handcraft detailed scenes, but every d20 roll can impact anything from emotions to surroundings to abilities.

→ Join Lightforge's Discord to get into their next playtest!

Loftia

Not every MMO needs to be about killing monsters to level up - Loftia is taking “cozy, solarpunk, MMO” to the max, just a single glimpse at one of their game screenshots fills you with warmth and comfort.

You can farm, craft, explore, socialize, and build the home of your dreams in a world that cherishes sustainability and community.

→ Loftia’s team has already built a massive community around their cozy vibes, join Loftia’s Discord to be a part of it!

Talofa

Pokemon GO attempted to add some fitness to gaming, but let's be honest, who didn’t resort to catching Pokemon while riding in a slow-moving vehicle?

Talofa is building Run Legends, a unique app that adds gaming to fitness. It’s completely free to play and is a great way to make fitness a lot more fun.

→ Talofa recently raised $6.3m to take Run Legends to the next level, download their mobile app today and give it a try yourself!

Bash.gg

For a lot of people, browser games bring up memories of quirky flash games from their youth. Bash.gg instead is out to prove that browser gaming can keep up with many of the most popular games today.

Bash.gg is the fastest growing browser gaming platform with an impressive selection of multiplayer games including Minecraft, shooters, MOBAs, and RPGs.

→ They’ll be launching their newest game, Sunnyvale, directly as a new Discord Activity!

Mountaintop

Mountaintop is building the next evolution of competitive shooters, bringing a fresh look and feel to a genre they love. Be prepared to be blown away by innovative new gameplay mechanics.

They recently raised $30m with some influential investors like Shroud, tarik, iiTzTimmy, and Zedd.

→ Sign up to playtest at https://www.mountaintop.gg/playtest!

Internet.game

The team behind Internet Game is building a unique, community-driven gaming platform to make sure your next game night is a blast. They have team-building games, competitive party games, and unique icebreakers.

We love that they are bringing innovative multiplayer development to new places - workplaces, casual hangouts, and remote game nights.

→ Join Internet Game’s waitlist to get early access!

Sprocket Games

Sprocket is building a survival, open world, crafting game designed to create endless shared adventures that build a lifetime of stories and friendships worth remembering.

They are looking to bring together people from all across the globe, whether you’re playing with friends down the block or across the International Date Line.

→ Their game is still very much under wraps, so join their mailing list to get notified as soon as they announce their game (we’re very excited ourselves).

Pahdo Labs

Pahdo Labs is the team behind Halcyon Zero. They are dedicated to creating a social world built around a fresh new anime-inspired IP that will delight players for years.

They are looking to create one of the first anime games to fully embrace user-generated content, and they recently raised $15m to help achieve that goal.

→ Signup here to get early access to their upcoming demo!

Omni Creator Products (OCP)

OCP is working hard to blur the lines between play and creation by making creation accessible, intuitive, and magical. We can’t wait to see how they change the way gamers think about playing and creating games.

They have 2 exciting projects: Project Frontier, an exciting collaborative sandbox RPG, and Creator Labs, which allows users to freely create games and build upon existing games.

→ Join their Discord here to follow their inspiring journey and to get into their next playtest.

Frost Giant Studios

Frost Giant Studios is an experienced team that is looking to reignite the RTS genre with their upcoming game, Stormgate. They are well suited for the task as their team is built up of countless ex-Blizzard veterans that worked on the popular Starcraft and Warcraft titles.

They are doing some really cool things to expand the RTS genre like adding PvE and competitive 3v3 modes to their game, while still working hard to take RTS eSports to the next level.

→ Frost Giant is inviting their players to join their mission as investors!

Unleashed Games

Unleashed Games is a studio building a family-friendly, social multiplayer game, Project: HAVEN.

Their game is still a ways from releasing, but they are already live-streaming weekly playtests of their game on their Twitch channel. Building their game publicly so early is such a great way to help inspire more to build awesome multiplayer games.

→ Sign-up to be a playtester here!

Wildcard

Wildcard is a real-time, competitive multiplayer game that uniquely blends elements of CCG, MOBA, and third-person action games.

It’s such an ambitious undertaking to try and mix so many popular game types, but after seeing footage of their visually-stunning game and working with their talented team, we can’t wait to try it out ourselves.

→ Join in on the action as a playtester here!

Keep an eye out for our Rebels truck at GDC!