Former World of Warcraft and League of Legends MMO developer is working on another new fantasy MMORPG
Greg ‘Ghostcrawler’ Street left Riot Games earlier this year after close to a decade at the studio
Greg ‘Ghostcrawler’ Street, the influential developer with credits on both World of Warcraft and League of Legends - including the MOBA’s unreleased MMO - is working on a new MMORPG under his own studio.
Street unveiled new studio Fantastic Pixel Castle and its upcoming “epic new MMO”, currently codenamed Ghost, ahead of a fuller livestream planned for November 8th that will apparently share more about the studio and its game.
Fantastic Pixel Castle describe Ghost as being a “modernised fantasy MMORPG” that will be built around playing with friends and building communities as a focus. The online game will be split into private and public ‘shards’, allowing players to choose who to play with as they build bases, collect resources and affect their own shard in ways that will persist between sessions. Shards can also offer PvP between players and guilds.
The game’s original fantasy world is set in the wake of a forgotten apocalyptic event, with its inhabitants - the players - needing to rebuild their civilisation by travelling to different shards of the universe. The game’s story will be told over a series of seasons, with the actions of players said to influence the evolution of the setting as it progresses.
Despite the fantasy setting - which will include familiar weapons such as crossbows and axes, as well as elements of magic - Fantastic Pixel Castle said that Ghost wouldn’t include other tropes of the genre, such as orcs or elves. Classes will similarly span familiar offerings of tanks, healers and DPS, but with some “weird” roles said to be in the mix too.
Street was lead systems designer for World of WarCraft for five years until 2013, when he joined Riot Games as lead game designer, later becoming an executive producer on the studio’s planned League of Legends MMO. He left Riot earlier this year due to a “combo of personal and professional considerations”, assuring League of Legends fans that “the MMO is in good hands”.
Street is joined at Fantastic Pixel Castle by a team including fellow World of Warcraft and League of Legends alumni, as well as devs with experience on other MMOs such as Guild Wars 2.
Putting the game out will be publisher NetEase, who previously handled World of Warcraft in China on behalf of Blizzard until the two companies parted ways in 2022 after 14 years of working together. I’m sure having its own MMO is plenty appealing for NetEase, which have also acquired Quantic Dream and No More Heroes devs Grasshopper in recent years. The company have also backed new studio Nagoshi Studio, founded by the eponymous ex-Sega honcho behind Yakuza and Super Monkey Ball.
Street was clear that Ghost is still early in development, saying “don’t expect to see gameplay footage” at next week’s reveal. Still, the game has quite the list of talent attached already, with Fantastic Pixel Castle currently looking to staff up further as the MMO comes together. Street added that they would “show the game early and often to the community and make sure we are on the right track to incorporate constant feedback”.