After the cancellation of the MMORPG project Ghost, lead developer Greg “Ghostcrawler” Street explains why the project was shut down and what problems the industry is currently facing.
What caused Ghost to fail? Essentially, we already know this: Publisher NetEase pulled the funding. The team at Fantastic Pixel Castle was unable to find a new investor afterward. The big question behind this is, of course: Why?
In an interview with 80.lv, industry veteran and studio head Greg “Ghostcrawler” Street (Age of Empires, World of Warcraft, League of Legends) explains that it wasn’t due to the quality of the MMORPG.
When asked how discussions with investors usually go, the developer revealed:
Usually, it starts with an introduction or a “cold call.” Investors want a brief pitch deck. They look at the team’s resume, the passion, and a strong “gameplay hook.” Worldbuilding, art style, or technical innovations are less interesting to them unless they directly support this hook.
After the pitch, they often want to play the game. Our game was already playable on Steam, so playtests were easy to arrange. Most discussions didn’t fail because of the game itself, but because the management didn’t approve any deals. We constantly heard: “We love the game, but we’re currently not writing checks.”
Greg Street in an interview with 80.lv
A Burned Genre
Why is financing so difficult? Greg Street currently sees one main reason for this: the massive investment bubble during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the interview, he says
The year 2025 has many great games, but there is an investment problem. COVID raised unrealistic expectations, many companies hired too many staff, interest rates made borrowing difficult, and development costs in the U.S. and Western Europe have become extremely high compared to regions like Eastern Europe or Asia. As the waves of layoffs began, fear spread, and no one wanted to be the first to take a major risk.
Greg Street in an interview with 80.lv
Street adds that “Ghost” as a project was built on a solid foundation. The team was relatively small with around 40 employees. He had only hired experienced developers at the senior level, who had many years of experience. And there was a playable prototype. In other years, this would have been a comparatively attractive investment.
Furthermore, venture capitalists (VCs) have realized in recent years that their desire for quick returns is incompatible with game development, Street continues.
Many large funds are completely avoiding games now. Those who are still interested often only offer small amounts that are insufficient for the scale of the project we were building.
Greg Street in an interview with 80.lv
The situation is exacerbated in this specific case because the MMORPG genre has had a bad reputation among many potential publishers and investors for years now. Many expensive projects have failed miserably in the years after WoW. In other genres, service models can now be implemented with much lower risk and cost.
Is there still hope for “Ghost”? The developer states that he has carefully archived everything related to the MMORPG. He believes that publishers may realize in two years that their portfolio is empty and they urgently need new projects: “Then they might go on a shopping spree – and every indie studio that survives until then will be in a strong position.”
Street also believes that game development with 500-person teams will not be the future. Game development is likely to become more decentralized, with smaller internal teams and extensive outsourcing – similar to what has already been done in Hollywood for film productions. You can find out which online role-playing games you can look forward to in the coming months here: MMORPGs 2026 – The 8 most promising online role-playing games set to be released next year
