What an Amazing Time to Be a Game Developer

At Phantom Gamelabs, we started about 4 years ago with a simple idea: pour all our knowhow into social ARPGs. Build on experience, best practices, and a product-first mindset. And we did that. But while we were building, the world moved on.

AI agents, AI-assisted coding, and automation are shifting how games are made & marketed. It raises uncomfortable but necessary question: Are we too late? It also underlines a broader shift in our thinking from AI to how we design and build experiences.

Instead of long product cycles built on gameplay iterations, it increasingly makes sense to experiment with small bits first and fast. Prototyping multiple directions, like gameplay, visuals, tone or creatives. Btw. there is a great discussion on this topic by NY Times & Gameanalytics, take a listen. It’s about adapting, testing, and staying aligned with a clear north star metric.

At Phantom, we put the game to the store asap and let the market signal what resonates. And pivot early if needed, double down on what works.

We understood that we don’t need to go fully AI-native to benefit. AI-assisted ideation, development, and marketing already give our team real leverage, especially in a crowded market where attracting players is hard.

At the same time, it is good to remind us all, the core hasn’t changed. When we think about ARPGs, we don’t just think about character progression and loot tables. We think about shared experiences, ways of playing together, showing progression, creating moments worth talking about.

We can see the change in players, too. New generations are more used to hybrid genres, live experiences, and snack sized experiences that respect their time. A social ARPG today doesn’t need to fit into a rigid box. That’s what makes this moment so interesting.

In early 2026, we started exploring a wide range of directions within ARPG: different visual styles, gameplay approaches, and drawing inspiration from emerging market trends. We are on the path of finding fun.