Gaming dev veteran Greg Street, famously known by the alias “Ghostcrawler”, is leading a new game studio in Austin, Texas to create a AAA MMO under the project codename Ghost.
Street previously worked at Blizzard Entertainment as the Lead Systems Designer on World of Warcraft from 2008-2013 and as Lead Game Designer on League of Legends from 2014-2018, eventually taking the mantle of Head of Creative Development at RIOT Games.
In May 2023, Street collaborated with Brian Holina, another former Blizzard employee who served as a Lead Combat Designer, to establish their own independent game studio.
This new studio, known as Fantastic Pixel Castle, is creating an MMO set in a “new fantasy universe” with gorgeous work-in-progress art. It’s being financed by Chinese gaming giant NetEase who has also been swallowing up other major talent in the industry in recent years like SEGA’s Toshihiro Nagoshi (Yakuza, Super Monkey Ball).
The team that Street is part of is composed of legendary designers and artists who have worked on hallmark franchises like Fortnite, Guild Wars 2, League of Legends, Overwatch, and Valorant.
Fantastic Pixel Castle is a “remote-first” studio that is actively hiring. Although Street has acknowledged from personal experience that MMOs are “one of the most challenging genres”, he believes that the studio is setting itself up for success with its infrastructure and by having open discussions with fans.
Street said, “we are a fully remote studio, allowing us to hire the best game developers, and we plan to stay small, so that we can iterate on our design quickly…We also want to show the game early and often to the community and make sure we are on the right track to incorporate constant feedback. This is possible because NetEase Games is a strategic partner that understands our vision, and gives us the creative autonomy, resources, and support to be successful.”
Regardless of projects over the past 10+ years that have surfaced, including those from ex-Blizzard developers, World of Warcraft remains the all-time grand champion of the genre, having dominated the MMO space since its initial release in November 2004.