Greg Street, who quit working on the League of Legends MMO to do 'something new,' has revealed that the new thing is another MMO

pcgamer.com:

Former Riot Games vice president Greg Street was heading up development of the studio's long-awaited League of Legends MMO when he announced earlier this year that he was leaving the company, saying that «it's time for something new.» Apparently that «something new» is a new MMO, as he revealed today that he's launched a new studio with Netease called Fantastic Pixel Castle, and that its first project will be a big-budget MMO.

«MMOs are arguably one of the most challenging genres of games to make, but we have some big advantages,» Street said in the announcement. «We are a fully remote studio, allowing us to hire the best game developers, and we plan to stay small, so that we can iterate on our design quickly. „We also want to show the game early and often to the community and make sure we are on the right track to incorporate constant feedback.“

Street does have considerable experience in the field: Prior to joining Riot in 2013, he served as lead systems designer on Blizzard's World of Warcraft MMO. Joining him at Fantastic Pixel Castle are veteran developers „with a passion for the MMO genre and decades of experience“ on games including World of Warcraft, League of Legends, Guild Wars 2, Fortnite, Overwatch, and Valorant.

As for why he walked away from an MMO at a big-name studio with a lucrative franchise, only to start working on a different MMO with a brand-new team, we're left to speculate. But I suspect a hint can be found in Street's comment on Netease, which he described as a company „that understands our vision, and gives us the creative autonomy, resources and support to be successful.“ The League of Legends brand has real cachet, but I imagine it's also very limiting in some ways: It's tough to be really