From the Kickstarter FAQ (http://crowfall.com/#/faq/54e9503e93fc8d634e4d690e):

How can you build an MMO for $800k?

The short answer is: you can’t. At least, not a game with the scope of Crowfall. Fortunately, that isn’t our plan.

We are limiting our scope of Crowfall in two major ways: first, we’re starting with the core module of the game, not the entire vision of the game, and second, we opted to make a game based primarily on player-interaction instead of linear questing– which is THE major cost for most MMOs.

Additionally, to make the game as efficiently as possible, we are leveraging trusted technology (like Unity, PhysX, and cloud computing) rather than building everything ourselves. The payoff from this has been enormous.

Lastly, we’ve already raised some money and -- as we said in the video -- we will raise more if we need to. We would prefer to be only answerable to you, our players – but one way or the other, we’re going to get this game made.

ArtCraft took a minority investment round of $2.3 million last year. We will likely sell the rights to Crowfall in foreign territories (especially restricted markets, like China, where we can't ship the game, anyway) to add to our development budget. If that isn't enough, we can always take more minority investment if we need to.

The Kickstarter deliverable (the core module) can be accomplished with our capital and the crowdfunding money -- providing we are successful in meeting our Kickstarter funding goal.

Every kickstarter is, to some degree, a leap of faith. You are betting on the vision, and on the creators. The founders of ArtCraft have invested heavily in his project, and we know that we can make it happen. We’ve built a lot of these games. This isn't our first rodeo. We asked for $800,000 not because that is "everything we need," but because that is "everything we need, from you" for the core module.