Lightforge Games
- Open roles
- 0
- Founded
- 2020
- Employees
- N/A
- Offices
- 0
About Lightforge Games
Lightforge Games was an American independent video game developer focused on social role-playing games, collaborative storytelling and player-created worlds. Founded in 2020 by developers with backgrounds at Epic Games and Blizzard Entertainment, the company operated as a fully distributed studio, recruiting talent across North America and Europe.
Its work centred on combining the open-ended storytelling of tabletop role-playing games with the creative building systems of digital sandbox games. Rather than treating players solely as participants in a predefined adventure, its flagship project sought to give them tools to create settings and shape shared stories.
Collaborative role-playing
The studio's debut project, Project O.R.C.S., took its name from Online Roleplaying with Collaborative Storytelling. The multiplayer RPG was designed for PC and consoles, drawing on tabletop experiences such as Dungeons & Dragons and sandbox creation mechanics associated with Minecraft. Its intended approach brought collaborative narrative play and world-building into the same game, seeking to reduce the separation between players and game creators.
Lightforge's development capabilities included game design, programming, narrative development, user-generated content systems and cross-platform architecture. Project O.R.C.S. remained unreleased and was the studio's only identified game project; the company produced no commercially released games.
Development halt and closure
In May 2024, Lightforge announced that it had been unable to secure the publisher or venture investment needed to complete production. It laid off most of its workforce, paused development and retained a temporary skeleton crew to wind down business affairs.
Project O.R.C.S. was subsequently cancelled and retired from Steam. The studio's website and community channels were deactivated, and operations fully ceased. Its history therefore centres on the development of an unreleased collaborative RPG rather than a catalogue of shipped titles.
More about Lightforge Games
Founders and historical leadership
The founding team included Matt Schembari, Chief Executive Officer; Dan Hertzka, Engineering Director; Nathan Fairbanks, Studio Director; Glenn Rane, Art Director; and Marc Hutcheson, Product Director. These are historical roles from the studio's operating period.
Production infrastructure and working practices
Project O.R.C.S. used Unreal Engine 5 with backend infrastructure powered by Pragma. The company described its workplace practices as emphasising psychological safety, non-linear workdays and radical internal transparency, including open-salary policies.
Financing milestones
Lightforge raised $20 million across two rounds between 2020 and 2022. Its $5 million seed round, announced in May 2021, included Galaxy Interactive, NetEase Games, Dreamhaven and Maveron. A $15 million Series A round in March 2022 was led by Bitkraft Ventures, with participation from Dune Ventures and 1UP Ventures.
Notable credits
1 creditOpen roles
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