Former League of Legends MMO executive producer is opening a new studio

Greg Street, the former executive producer of the in-development League of Legends MMO, is planning on opening his own studio following his departure from Riot Games last month.

The details:

• Street announced on his personal Twitter account that he is opening a new studio after relocating from California to Texas and that the unnamed studio will operate entirely remotely. He went on to say that the events of the COVID-19 pandemic prompted him to consider the efficiency of online remote working and working from home, which allowed him to stay close to loved ones after a family tragedy. He stated that the studio intends to hire developers with little to no experience in the future, but is currently looking for senior-level staff to get things up and running and that those with credentials should contact him via LinkedIn or Twitter if interested.
• The studio will start with an ambitious project, intending to create an MMO or "something very MMO-like" with the assistance of an unnamed strategic partner. Street's experience in the genre began in 2008 when he was hired by Blizzard Entertainment as a lead systems designer on World of Warcraft after working as a designer for Ensemble Studios on Age of Empires. He left Riot Games in March due to "a combo of personal and professional considerations," after working for the company for a decade as a lead game designer on League of Legends before becoming Head of Creative Development.
• Although Street has decided to keep the studio and project quiet for the time being, he claims that the game's players will be "the judge" of whether the studio "wins or loses," with plans to share information about the MMO "early and often." During the beta phase of World of Warcraft's Wrath of the Lich King expansion, Street became known for communicating with the game's playerbase through the official forums, receiving and relaying feedback on game balance and other issues, and it appears that he intends to incorporate this openness with the community into the new title. We're likely to hear more once everything has been worked out behind the scenes and development has begun.

More recent games industry news:

• Electronic Arts (EA) announced an internal restructuring plan that will result in the layoff of 6% of its workforce. The publisher maintains that it is still "operating from a position of strength" and that the restructuring will allow it to focus on "strategic priorities" in the future.
• Amazon has laid off over 100 people in its gaming division, including employees from Amazon Games San Diego, the Game Growth team, and Prime Gaming. This is just the latest wave of Amazon job cuts dating back to November 2022, with tens of thousands of employees laid off, with Twitch included in the 9,000 job cuts in March.