by CEO Chris Rowan
Hello everyone,
Earlier this week we announced our new funding, and it sounds like you are as excited about it as we are. More funding means more team members making more content, and faster development toward launch.
We aren’t quite ready to share all the details yet, as we are still filling roles and adjusting the schedule, but one detail we are excited to share is the introduction of our new Project Manager, David “Nephele” Beach.
Our long-term community members may recognize David as the dedicated crafting enthusiast and part-time designer who has been fighting to make Pantheon's crafting as good as it can be. What you may not know is that David served in several senior project and program management roles at a little company called Microsoft for almost two decades.
THE RIGHT FIT
Appointing a Project Manager who has already been in the trenches with the team for years is a huge advantage, as their existing relationships and deeply intimate project knowledge means they can get right to work. David’s past with the team and his even longer history as a community member reflect his dedication and passion for the project. And frankly, given his credentials and the results we’ve already seen, I can’t think of someone more fit for this role.
WHAT A DEDICATED PM MEANS FOR PANTHEON
So, what does a Project Manager actually do for us?
A game of this scale is a massive web of moving parts and dependencies, with creative and technical teams that must all move in sync. The PM is the central hub for all of it. David’s role is to collaboratively build the master plan with the team leads, identify risks, manage the schedule and resources, and ensure that every single department is communicating effectively.
For the game, the company and you, the community, this role is the engine for an accelerated drive toward the 1.0 release of Pantheon based on predictability and clarity.
This move to specialized roles is crucial. A dedicated PM's entire focus is results through efficiency, structure, and communication. On a small team, it's natural for people to wear multiple hats, and our team has done heroic work doing just that. But as we staff up and drive hard for a 1.0 release, this specialization is what allows the rest of the team, our artists, designers, worldbuilders, lore writers, and programmers, to focus 100% on what they do best: building the world, creating the classes, and making the game you're all waiting for.
Think about it like the relationship between a talented band and a great music producer. The most legendary albums are often the synergy of massive, unhinged talent from the band, guided by the supportive organization, structure, and, when needed, tough love from the producer. Think The Beatles and George Martin, or Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones. It’s that partnership between raw creativity and disciplined execution that makes and delivers magic.
As we get all these new processes integrated, you should begin to see the effects. When our internal teams have better visibility and communication, there is less chance for confusion, which in turn helps us communicate more clearly and accurately with you.
We are all committed to building the best possible Pantheon, and this new role is a critical step in making sure we do it right and get it to you sooner. I'm thrilled to have David on board to help us get there.
But enough from me. The best person to talk about this role and his vision for it is Nephele himself…
HOW WE MOVE FORWARD WITH PANTHEON
by Nephele
Hi all. I feel a little sad that my secret identity has been unmasked, but I’m happy that I finally get to talk to you about what I’ve been working on in the background.
Before we begin talking about my role, let’s talk about Pantheon and the team. We feel very strongly about presenting a fully-fledged, holistic world. We don’t want Pantheon to feel shallow when it’s done. That extends to both our gameplay systems and our content. When it’s all said and done, we want you to be able to log in and feel like you’re in a fun place where you have choices in terms of where to go and what to do. Maybe you head off to explore a new area, or perhaps you dive back into that dungeon from last week to try and get a rare item. You could spend the day or even just a few hours hanging out and fishing with some friends. You could head out to tame that new mount, or you could attend an in-game play put on by some of your fellow players. You could even potentially start a new character, in a different part of the world entirely, and experience the game in an entirely new way, making new friends along that journey.
Building that world takes a lot of work, and more importantly, a lot of coordination. Coordination is an area where we have stumbled in the past, and when I first took on the PM role, I knew it was the first thing that we needed to address. There have been a few changes that we have made recently to help with that.
First – we took a hard look at what it takes to build a new zone or POI and how we can make that process happen on time without major delays or having to leave things out. I am happy to report that we now have a much more robust planning process, which helps us make sure that we have everything lined up when we need it. This prevents delays and allows us to focus on quality and getting the content out in a completed state.
Second – we sat down to revisit what we need to have in place for our 1.0 launch. There are absolutely some content and features we can add to the world after our launch, but there are some things that need to be there or that don’t make sense to bring in after the fact. We have realigned our internal roadmap around delivering these parts of the game and the world first.
As a result of that work, we have a plan in place that allows us to be more efficient and effective. For example, one of the big improvements we have made is in our art pipelines. In the past, we were not starting on creating new art assets early enough, and we would often end up trying to build out areas without having all the different props and NPCs needed for them. That led to delays and rework. In our new process, our goal is to have all the assets ready to go before the designers and worldbuilders ever touch the new area.
We have also made improvements in how we plan and schedule our content efforts. We want to have regular updates and content releases for all of you, but larger areas take more time for us to put together. So, while we devote most of the team to working on those larger areas (and give them the time they need to do them well), we’re also organizing our work to bring you smaller updates in between those big zone releases. Those smaller updates include revisiting some existing areas that need a touch-up, as well as some new goodies that aren’t in the world yet. Combined with our new funding, this means that as we push forward, we will be able to deliver more content (with better quality) faster than we have in the past.
Finally, we recognize that content is only one part of the equation. We have many gameplay systems that need to be implemented and updated. However, those systems are all intended to work together and trying to implement them piecemeal results in a poor experience for our players. It also makes it very hard to balance our content and itemization effectively. We have adopted a new approach when it comes to our systems work that should result in a much more full and cohesive gameplay experience for all of you in our upcoming releases.
Right now, the team is working on a few things:
- Finishing up the Wildbloods for our release later this month.
- Wrapping up work and beginning quality testing for the initial release of our Mounts and Taming systems next month.
- Building out the environments for Badia de Cara and lining up all the different props and NPCs that we will need to populate the area.
- Refining detailed planning documents for our next three major zones and the next five-six smaller content areas that we plan to deliver.
- Preparing for a major gameplay update and some big additions to our character progression systems for both adventuring and crafting/gathering.
We have a lot that we are working on lining up for the first part of 2026, and I am planning to publish a roadmap update for all of you that will help explain those plans in more detail.
One last thing – a huge part of what has kept us going over the years has been the passion and enthusiasm of our community. We want Pantheon to be an MMORPG that many of you can enjoy for a very long time, and we are committed to that goal. We won’t always be able to do everything that everyone wants, but your feedback has been and will continue to be extremely important as we go forward, and we hope you will be excited by some of what we have in store for 2026.