New concerns have emerged this week following a Bloomberg report highlighting financial pressures facing Mike Morhaime’s Dreamhaven and Greg “Ghostcrawler” Street’s Fantastic Pixel Castle.
The report cites an internal memo from Dreamhaven revealing underwhelming sales for its titles. The sci-fi extraction shooter Wildgate has sold 130,000 copies across platforms, while the cooperative tabletop-inspired RPG Sunderfolk moved just 62,000 units. These figures reportedly put Dreamhaven in a precarious position:
“Our monthly expenses are outpacing revenue,” Morhaime stated, emphasizing urgent cost-cutting measures while vowing, “we are committed to Dreamhaven surviving through this.”
In response, Wildgate published a developer update outlining changes like removing premium seasonal rewards, adding AI-match XP gains, and introducing a free trial. The game is also currently discounted by 34% on Steam.
Meanwhile, Fantastic Pixel Castle’s upcoming MMORPG Project Ghost faces its own challenges. Bloomberg’s sources claim NetEase, FPC’s primary investor, may withdraw funding as the studio seeks to reduce its purported $100M budget. NetEase disputed the budget figure in a statement but acknowledged standard practices for evaluating projects:
“[We] regularly assess the progress, viability, and potential success of all games and studios, making decisions based on business considerations.”
This aligns with NetEase’s recent pattern of scaling back Western investments. The company previously cut U.S. support for Marvel Rivals, withdrew funding from indie studio Jar of Sparks, and ended partnerships with Jeff Strain’s studios Crop Circle Games and Possibility Space—actions that sparked a $900M lawsuit from Strain alleging defamation.
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