Concept art for the Ghost project
Concept art for Ghost.

NetEase has announced plans to close Fantastic Pixel Castle, the studio it founded in 2023 and which is led by industry veteran Greg Street (formerly of Blizzard and Riot Games). The team had been developing a high‑budget MMORPG under the internal codename “Ghost.”

According to Video Games Chronicle, Street posted on LinkedIn on November 2, 2023, that Fantastic Pixel Castle will shut its doors on November 17, 2023, unless the studio secures fresh funding to continue development independently. The announcement made clear the studio’s priority is to support staff through the transition while exploring opportunities to keep the project alive.

Street emphasised that while the team would love to finish the game, the immediate focus is helping developers find new positions—either with a potential indie successor to the studio or elsewhere in the games and tech sectors.

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The announcement followed the studio’s separation from NetEase a few weeks earlier. A community blog post on Fantastic Pixel Castle’s website, published the same week, expressed cautious optimism about last‑minute funding efforts and said, “we still believe Ghost has a fighting chance.” Read the studio post.

The blog also explained the team’s current strategy: actively seeking investment while making the most of a playable demo already in hand and prioritising staff welfare during any business transition.

Additional Ghost concept art
Additional concept art from Ghost.

Though Ghost never received a formal public reveal, Fantastic Pixel Castle described it as a fantasy MMORPG that intentionally sidestepped familiar genre clichés. The game was set in the Shardlands and designed around alternating realms called Blue and Red Shards.

Blue Shards were intended for smaller, private sessions with friends, while Red Shards would provide the larger, traditional massively‑multiplayer encounters. The project was being built with chapter‑based storytelling, distinct character classes, and systems meant to make co‑op play straightforward—allowing friends to team up regardless of differing character levels or campaign progress.

Fantastic Pixel Castle is among several international teams affected as NetEase reconsiders its investment strategy for overseas studios—an industry shift that has put pressure on partnered developers to find new publishers or pause development. For broader context on NetEase’s recent projects, see the publisher’s June 20, 2025 reveal of its first AAA single‑player title, Blood Message.

Fantastic Pixel Castle — studio imagery.