Bitcraft Online, the high-risk survival and crafting MMORPG from Clockwork Labs, is going to shake up the genre with a surprise twist: after its early access launch, the game will be open-sourced.
In a procedurally generated world, Bitcraft enables the player to build towns, create economies, and build complex societies all around the community. Clockwork Labs is going one step further now and offering the player access to the game’s underlying code.
“You’ll be able to browse the codebase, modify it, host your own servers, and experiment with mechanics—or just explore how an MMORPG works behind the scenes,” the developers shared in a recent blog post.
A Long-Awaited Launch
Bitcraft development has consumed over seven years, and early access release is planned for June 20, 2025. Open-source release will happen eventually after early access on Steam is released, following the game achieving a stable status.
“Our highest priority is a clean and successful early access launch,” said Clockwork Labs. “Only once we’re happy with the state of the game will we begin the open-sourcing process.”
Why Go Open Source?
Clockwork Labs describes why it’s all about sharing back with the community and fostering innovation for developers.
“We believe Bitcraft’s source code can serve as a template for building MMOs, and an example of how to leverage SpacetimeDB, our backend technology. It’s a win for our tech and the dev community too.”
A Sandbox Survival MMO with Creative Freedom
In its most basic form, Bitcraft is an old-school survival game. People will begin from nothing, progressing through building, crafting, farming, trading, and exploration skills. Bitcraft is unique in that it has a massive, editable world and player-focused advancement.
“Anything in the world can be edited—ranging from cutting down trees and laying roads to constructing buildings and cities,” the team explained. “Since it’s an MMO, players can also build societies, economies, and relationships.”
This vision, exciting as it is, is accompanied by enormous technical challenges.
“Creating a scalable, editable, persistent world is one of the hardest problems in server-side backend development,” they admitted.
Pricing and Future Development
Bitcraft will cost $30 in early access. The complete version, however, will be free-to-play at official launch—although that still could be years away.
So far, the reveal trailer has created a lot of buzz, boasting such aspects as mining, blacksmithing, fishing, terraforming, and town-building, amassing more than 100,000 Steam wishlists.
A New Kind of MMO
With its unique combination of survival gameplay and cozy, community-focused gameplay, Bitcraft aims to welcome a broad range of players.
“We’ve always envisioned Bitcraft as a true survival game—with all the genre’s core features—while also offering a more relaxed and social experience for those who want to enjoy the game without constant danger,” said the developers.
Between open-source accessibility, genre-blending gameplay, and community-driven design, Bitcraft is shaping up to be one of the most innovative MMOs on the horizon.