DreamWorld hits Steam Early Access after years of delays and controversy

DreamWorld is now on Steam Early Access. The Kickstarter-backed sandbox MMO launched on March 10, matching the date the studio had promised, even after years of rocky development and a lot of skepticism around whether it would actually make it.

This is technically the game’s second Early Access release. DreamWorld had already been available in an earlier form through a direct download in 2022, but this marks its Steam debut. In the game’s official post, developer Dreamworld Realities describes the launch as the result of four years of work.

DreamWorld pitches itself as an “infinite” open-world sandbox MMO built around player creation. The big hook is a shared seamless world that the studio says can support thousands of players, along with generative AI tools that let users create 3D models from text prompts. From what’s currently available, the focus seems to be much more on building and creation than traditional MMO structure.

Early player response on Steam has been mixed. Reviews mention performance problems and complaints about large chunks of land already being claimed, though some players have been positive about the building tools and the procedurally generated world.

Player numbers have also been pretty modest so far. According to SteamDB, DreamWorld reached an all-time peak of 56 concurrent players on Steam, and its recent 24-hour peak was 23.