“They’re all very successful individuals — gaming and tech entrepreneurs,” said Zhu without naming any of the investors, citing privacy concerns. His reasons for opening up his own holding company came down to the fact that quite a bit of money from the gaming industry has been disappearing, thanks to major tech companies and venture capitalist firms walking away from the medium in favor of investing in AI.

“Big tech walked away; the capital walked away,” Zhu said. “Now, they love AI investment.” Overall, however, he has expressed quite a bit of optimism, believing that art and commercial success can be achieved without sacrificing each other.

“You can have player satisfaction,” Zhu said. “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.”

Another studio being funded by GreaterThan Group is BulletFarm, which is working on a new shooter project. The studio is led by industry veteran David Vonderhaar, who has previously worked as a design director at Treyarch on games in the Call of Duty: Black Ops series. GreaterThan Group is also funding the Tokyo-based MAGship, led by Konami veteran Masato Sakai, who was also credited as playing a key role in making Yu-Gi-Oh! a global IP.

While the latter is focused more on other forms of media like anime, with BulletFarm, Vonderhaar has noted that he isn’t working on a new military shooter, and that his ambitions revolve around the idea of “if David Lynch made shooters.” He went on to say that “It’s not a Call of Duty killer.”

Considering Zhu’s previous role as president of global investments and partnerships at NetEase, his firm’s decision to fund BulletFarm is particularly noteworthy, since the studio was previously being funded by NetEase, which dropped its support for the project over the last few years.

Zhu has said that his interest in funding gaming projects largely comes down to the fact that revenue in the industry has started to go back up, and the consumer base has continued to be quite stable. “It’s not about commercial success alone,” he said. “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.”

Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic was officially unveiled back in December 2025 with a CG trailer. There has been no word on when the title will come out, but in a social media post, director Casey Hudson has promised that it will be out before the end of 2030.

The developer is working on a new first-person title in an original universe with co-op gameplay as the focus. It’s developed on Unreal Engine 5, and given how renowned the Black Ops series was for Zombies, this may be similar. BulletFarm’s creative director is another game design veteran, Chris Cowell, but there are currently several openings for key roles.

In a press release, Vonderhaar said, “Starting this new studio has given me a chance to step out of my comfort zone and try my hand at making something entirely new and different. This is a departure from the games I’ve worked on, but one that showcases my passion for rich characters, precise mechanics, more intimate storytelling, and plenty of action. NetEase has provided us with an incredible support structure to explore these new avenues and allow true freedom to begin building the concept and ideas for our game.”

Simon Zhu, president of global investments and partnerships at NetEase Games, added, “NetEase Games is fully dedicated to giving BulletFarm the resources and support required to build this new first-person experience. David’s leadership and the early collection of game development talent assembled at the studio are set to offer something truly unique for his existing fans along with a new audience.”

Vonderhaar joins the likes of Mass Effect lead writer Mac Walters (Worlds Untold), Control lead designer Paul Ehreth (Anchor Point Studios) and Yakuza series creator Toshihiro Nagoshi (Nagoshi Studio) in working with NetEase Games. Check out BulletFarm’s official website here and stay tuned for more updates.