Gaming Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic Funded by Former NetEase Exec Who Doesn’t Believe in Compromising Art for Success David Carcasole • at EDT Add on Google GreaterThan Group is the company backing multiple new projects, like Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic. If you were asked to name some highlight announcements from The Game Awards 2025, you might call out reveals like Larian's new Divinity game, ACE Combat 8, or Mega Man: Dual Override. But what was arguably the biggest reveal of the night, was Star Wars: Fate of The Old Republic, a new single-player RPG from former BioWare developers and legendary director Casey Hudson. Though we still have a long time to wait before we can play the game ourselves, a new report from Bloomberg revealed a few new details around how the game came to be, and what we can expect from Hudson and his new team at Arcanaut Studios. Arguably, the most significant reveal from the report is the company funding Hudson's new Star Wars endeavour, which is GreaterThan Group (GTG). Founded by former NetEase executive Simon Zhu, GTG was born out of Zhu's experiences working with many of NetEase's partners prior to the company's decision to cut funding from several of its Western partners. Related Story Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic Will Launch Before 2030, Promises Casey HudsonZhu's bet, according to the report, is that the cuts NetEase made went too far, and that overall, the cuts and the direction of the video game industry towards tech like Generative AI (GenAI) are going a little overboard. "You can have player satisfaction. You can have commercial success. You can have the achievement of art. You don't need to compromise or sacrifice one thing for the other. Let's give the best creator the opportunity to work on a dream project. Everyone wins." We are GreaterThan Group (GTG), a new model of game company founded by industry veteran Simon Zhu. Our vision is: Unleash the potential.The industry has become increasingly complex, often at the expense of the creative process. GTG is stripping away the distractions to provide…— GREATERTHAN GROUP (GTG) (@GreaterThanGRP) Hudson's team at Arcanaut Studios isn't the only new studio getting funding from GTG. Bullet Farm, the studio founded by former Call of Duty: Black Ops lead David Vonderhaar, has also followed Zhu with GTG. There's also MAGship, a company led by Masato Sakai, in GTG's portfolio. As for new details on Star Wars: Fate of The Old Republic, Hudson made a few that speak to how the game will be made, like how the studio won't use any GenAI tools simply because Hudson doesn't believe in their creative value. "I just find AI to be creatively soulless. It's hard to imagine where it's actually helpful in the process. I'm just really unimpressed with it," Hudson said. Hudson also added that he and Arcanaut's leadership will look to avoid a situation where the development team is in the hundreds as a way to keep costs down. Hudson also shared an opinion that will seemingly inform what kind of single-player RPG Star Wars: Fate of The Old Republic will be, which is that it won't be an incredibly long game. "Bigger isn't necessarily better," Hudson said. "If I'm excited about a game and then I find out that it's 200 hours long - even if I have no ambition to actually finish it - I wonder, if I put 20 hours in, will I even be out of act one? A lot of players just want to play something and finish it." It'll be interesting to see where GTG goes next, especially if the first phase of Zhu's plan with GTG is as successful as they hope. The bet is that creators like Hudson, Vonderhaar, and Sakai know what they're doing, and that there's a way to find success without compromising the work. "It's not about commercial success alone. It's about making a good case that we can make good money and provide good entertainment to people in a decent and honest way." About the : David has been writing about videogames, technology, and culture since 2020, with a focus on reporting daily news across multiple publications, including GameDaily.Biz, GameSkinny, and PlayStation Universe before joining in 2025. David started contributing as Canada/US for 's gaming section in 2025. Besides being up-to-date on the industry's movements, he loves interviewing developers, reviewing games, and writing intricate essays about the symbolism and layered meanings to be found in rich narratives as he's done for publications like GamesIndustry.Biz, LostInCult, and others. Outside of games he loves movies, music, theatre, his hometown, and his family, though not necessarily in that order. Follow on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds. 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