.png?disable=upscale&width=1200&height=630&fit=crop "Krafton, Flyquest, Arbitrum invest .5M on new MOBA")
With a studio as big (and controversial) as Blizzard and an MMORPG as long-running as World of Warcraft, it stands to reason that there would be plenty of developers and leads who would eventually strike out on their own. And indeed, we’ve seen this happen many times over the years to varying levels of success and failure.
Today we’ll be taking a look at 10 of the more notable projects from ex-World of Warcraft and ex-Blizzard devs and leads. Do you remember any of these? Are there a few you had no idea were happening? That’s the joy of this list’s gift of discovery!
Jeff Kaplan: The Legend of California
The latest project to be revealed is Jeff Kaplan’s The Legend of California, a multiplayer action survival title set in the Wild Wild West. The former Overwatch and World of Warcraft designer is over at studio Kintsugiyama, and his new game is slated to be published by Mike Morhaime’s Dreamhaven — a reunion of sorts of World of Warcraft best buds (or not, we don’t know how friendly they got at the office Christmas parties).
Greg Street: Project Ghost
Oh yeah, this one still stings, but we’ve got to include it. After his popular tenure on World of Warcraft, Greg “Ghostcrawler” Street jumped ship to Riot Games to head up that MMORPG project… and then jumped ship again to start his own studio and MMO, code-named Project Ghost. While the development of the game was promising, Ghost’s funding was abruptly cut, and, with no other solution available, Fantastic Pixel Castle had to close its doors.
Chris Kaleiki: Eldegarde
Popping up in 2024, Legacy: Steel and Sorcery — later retitled to Eldegarde — promised to be a fun “mini-MMO” that included elements of extraction RPGs. While it had a good run in beta, by the time it went into early access this year, few people showed up to play. So few, in fact, that Notorious Studios and Chris Keleiki gave up on the game six weeks after its EA launch. I’m afraid this won’t be the last time there’s a disappointing mention on this list, alas!
Jen Oneal, J Allen Brack, and John Donham: Magic Soup Games
When a trio of former Blizzard bigwigs collaborate on a new studio, you better believe that piques our interest. In this case, Jen Oneal, J Allen Brack, and John Donham announced in 2023 that they were creating Magic Soup Games “to cook up games that are good for your soul and make you feel great – just like a warm bowl of soup.” However, so far the outfit hasn’t announced the multiplayer game that was heavily hinted at being in development.
Mike Morhaime: Dreamhaven Studios
It shook us when Blizzard’s former president left the studio — but his reappearance at the head of a games publisher known as Dreamhaven gave us some hope. Mike Morhaime’s new outfit is pretty extensive, with two umbrella studios under it and other publishing deals in the works. So far, Dreamhaven’s studios have developed the multiplayer games Wildgate and Sunderfolk.
Glenn Rane: Project ORCS
Speaking of Dreamhaven, Lightforge was an early 2020s studio that teamed up with the former company as it pursued the development of a “social RPG” code-named Project ORCS. Unfortunately, despite the partnership, $15M in investment, and talented developers, the studio downsized itself right out of the market in 2024.
Rob Pardo: Arkheron
The former lead designer of World of Warcraft struck out on his own in 2016 to form Bonfire Studios in Irvine. The studi’s first game, Arkheron, was revealed earlier this year to be a hybrid ARPG PvP tower battler with a multiplayer aspect. This one’s in both development and testing, and so far, so good.
Tim Morten and Tim Campbell: Stormgate
The great hope of an RTS revival led by Starcraft and Warcraft devs looked pretty promising a few years ago when Frost Giant studios raised $25 million to make Stormgate. Unfortunately, the project underperformed badly at launch and sent the studio into a spiral of layoffs. But the game’s still around and getting updates as of March 2026, so that’s something.
Bill Roper and David Brevik: Hellgate London
Oh yeah, you knew we had to include this on the list! One of the earlier examples of high hype and an infamous crash-and-burn from former Blizzard vets, Flagship Studios burned through cash and pumped out two notable titles: Hellgate London and Mythos. Neither were able to keep the studio afloat, and it went under in 2008. Oddly enough, Hellgate keeps popping up here and there as ownership of the property keeps changing hands.
Ben Brode: Marvel Snap
Could the most successful game from a former Blizzard dev be a virtual card game? Marvel Snap roared into existence a few years ago with former Hearthstone lead Ben Brode helming the card battler. Thanks to an easy-to-pick-up format and the Marvel superhero IPs, this title’s done exceptionally well and continues to tie into Marvel TV and movie releases in real-time.
Everyone likes a good list, and we are no different! Perfect Ten takes an MMO topic and divvies it up into 10 delicious, entertaining, and often informative segments for your snacking pleasure. Got a good idea for a list? Email us at justin@massivelyop.com or eliot@massivelyop.com with the subject line “Perfect Ten.”Source link
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