Overview
- Studio head Greg Street said the company will shut down on November 17 unless a last-minute investor steps in, with any revival dependent on how much of the team remains.
- NetEase ended its first-party relationship and pulled funding in October, and the weeks-long search for a new publisher or financing did not yield backing in time.
- Fantastic Pixel Castle had been developing Project Ghost, a class-based fantasy MMORPG built around Red and Blue Shards that split large-scale play and friend-focused private sessions.
- Street emphasized that helping employees find new roles is the immediate priority as operations wind down, even as outreach to potential backers continues.
- The closure is being framed as part of NetEase’s reassessment of international studios and a broader contraction in funding for large-scale online games, with peer studio T-Minus Zero pursuing an independent relaunch.