Another NetEase Games studio is shutting down
Fantastic Pixel Castle was founded in 2023 by a Warcraft veteran to create a fantasy MMO
Another NetEase Games studio is set to close, as the fallout of the Chinese publisher’s alleged withdrawal from its international operations continues.
Former World of Warcraft and League of Legends designer, Greg Street, announced on Monday that his studio, Fantastic Pixel Castle, will close this month, barring a last-minute rescue from any potential investors.
Fantastic Pixel Castle was founded in 2023 to create “a modernized fantasy MMORPG”, codenamed Ghost.
“Fantastic Pixel Castle will close its doors on Nov 17,” Street wrote on LinkedIn. “While there is still a chance we can secure funding after that date, it will depend on how much of the team remains.
“While we’d love to make our game, our first priority is to help our developers find employment, whether that’s at indie studio Fantastic Pixel Castle 2.0, or at many of the other fine (and hopefully stable) game and tech companies out there.”
The news comes weeks after the studio head shared news that NetEase had ended its relationship with FPC and was helping it find a new publisher for its game.
If it closes, the studio will be the latest casualty of NetEase’s alleged decision to scale back its international investments, which has seemingly led to studio closures and reportedly puts those remaining at risk.
Earlier this year, NetEase denied its cuts were part of a broad scaling back of its international game development. However, Game File sources claimed the publisher was indeed significantly scaling back, and is actively shopping around its non-Chinese studios.
In September, MMO veteran Rich Vogel confirmed that his studio T-Minus Zero Entertainment had shut down by NetEase. In January, it was confirmed that the publisher had split from Vancouver-based Worlds Untold, the studio it founded with Mass Effect writer Mac Walters in 2023, as well as Seattle-based Jar of Sparks, the studio founded in 2022 by Xbox veteran Jerry Hook.
Ouka Studio, the Tokyo-based developer behind Square Enix’s Visions of Mana, was also closed last year.
NetEase’s studio roster also includes Japan-based developers like Like A Dragon designer Toshihiro Nagoshi, and Resident Evil producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi, as well as Suda 51’s Grasshopper Manufacture.
In the West, NetEase owns Detroit studio Quantic Dream, and new studios from Call of Duty designer David Vonderhaar, Control’s lead designer, and more.
