Wir erinnern uns: Im Juni letzten Jahres startete der Kickstarter zum Spiel RAW. Die Entwickler waren komplett unbekannt, das Projekt ambitioniert, die Zweifel groß und letztendlich hat Kickstarter kurz vor Schluss den Stecker gezogen. In meinen Gesprächen mit den beiden Community-Manger*innen Markus und Daria während und nach der Kampagne wurde mir stets beteuert, das Projekt sei echt und man sei interessiert daran, es auf jeden Fall umzusetzen. Nur: Gesehen hat man davon nie etwas. Schon während der Kampagne waren Informationen eher rar gesät und auch danach ging die große Stille weiter: Trotz der Aussage, man plane nun eine Indiegogo Kampagne, passiert nie etwas – das führte selbst bei den Unterstützer*innen im offiziellen Discord immer mehr zu Frust. Der Frust wurde so groß, dass die Moderator*innen des Discords Ende Oktober mit der folgende Ankündigung Killerwhale Games die Pistole auf die Brust setzten:

»Howdy @everyone
PLEASE READ
THIS IS NOT A GAME UPDATE
PLEASE READ
We all have sat here for months now hoping for the eventual post from Artur, or anyone at “Killerwhale Games”, providing us proof we so desperately desire, simply to show us that this is not just another scam or quick cash grab that the roleplay community has come to know so very well.
At this point in time, as the Community Administration, we cannot give you any truth in this project. That’s what this is, not a game, a project. Maybe an actual game in development, maybe a potential scam. Either way it’s a project and the amount of time that has passed is too much for us to stand without providing the community with something.
We, as the Community Administration, know exactly the same amount of information that is made available to the wider community. Whilst we support this stand (to reduce leaks), the knowledge that is made available is minimal, and quite frankly it is unacceptable, especially due to the expectations that are imposed upon us from the higher management. We have seen no more since the – now deleted – character demonstration on the xx/xx/xx. We have devoted effort to build this community, to ensure its survival, and to allow the community to thrive. We’ve been given no reassurance and it’s frankly saddening that such a brilliant idea/project/thing is being halted due to the lack of communication from the developers towards the community.
This is a final call to the developers to release some information, to reassure us that our time is being put towards a worthy cause, that it will be worth it.
@everyone
That being said, there is an ungodly amount of talent within this discord and the subsequent communities that have grown from this initial project being announced. We ask you all to not necessarily still have faith in this development team, as much as we would like to, but ask you to have faith in us as the community administration. There are too many attempts to try and pry a quick buck out of our RolePlay Community and we need to take action. The voice of the community is strong and while this project has the high expectations we all wish for, it will be a long time before there is anything playable worth devoting our valued RP time.
Behind the scenes there has been little progression with KWG. As much as we have asked, day in… day out. We have gotten little to no word at all about the status of this project It has been continuous false hope statements with one excuse after another. Aside from their lack of participation with us, we can assure you there are other projects being worked on outside of this area, while not as in depth or on the scale as RAW, these projects offer everyone a place to call home while we search for the ultimate game.
Regardless of what you may feel about the above statement, whatever we do and have done is for the best interest of everyone in this community and that is why we have decided to remove the majority of information posted about the project until there is something definitive of putting out to you all. There will be a slight adjustment within the community to allow the promotion of your content and projects.
This is not just some bullshit smokescreen either to distract anyone. This is for the betterment of us all so lets do something while we wait for either nothing or something. Connect with your fellow gamers, seek out new avenues, join us in our own community events or even follow our small independent projects as we work up our own team to something of this scale.«

Die Pistole wirkte, denn nur einen Tag später tat sich tatsächlich was: Killerwhale Games machten den Discord kurzerhand dicht. Sie schlossen alle Channel bis auf #information und hinterließen dort nur noch die folgende Nachricht:

»Welcome to the official server of RAW
At the moment, preparations are underway to launch the company on IndieGoGo.com Due to the lack of information that we are ready to show you, it was decided to temporarily freeze the Discord. Server will be resumed as soon as we start IndieGoGo
We hope for your understanding and patience.«

Lange blieb diese Meldung nicht stehen, denn zum Ende des Jahres war auch diese verschwunden – somit besteht der Discord schon seit Monaten nur aus dem nun leeren #information Channel. Meine Versuche Killerwhale Games, insbesondere Daria, erneut zu kontaktieren und zur Lage zu befragen, liefen ins Leere.

Immerhin war die Webseite http://www.killerwhalegames.com/ weiterhin erreichbar, auch wenn sie genauso out-of-date war wie alle Social Media Auftritte von Killerwhale Games. Doch auch das ist nun vorbei, denn inzwischen bekommt man dort nicht mehr die Seite des Spiels zu sehen, sondern nur noch die Meldung, dass das Konto beim Hosting-Anbieter suspendiert wurde

Damit kann nun vermutlich endgültig davon ausgegangen werden, dass die Indiegogo-Kampagne nie mehr kommen wird und RAW vermutlich tatsächlich nie existiert hat – so wie es viele Kritiker*innen von Anfang an vermutet haben.