Fantasy Flight Games Founder Christian Petersen Creates New Game Studio, Purchases KeyForge from Asmodee

Asmodee has sold the KeyForge card game and intellectual property rights to a new company managed by Christian Petersen, the founder of Fantasy Flight Games. The dormant card game will now be owned by Ghost Galaxy Inc., a new company founded by Petersen that is developing a "next generation software engine" for developing procedurally generated card games similar to the system that generated KeyForge's decks. Ghost Galaxy has also brought on several of the original principals involved with KeyForge's first run at Fantasy Flight Games. Ghost Galaxy says it will announce news about the future of KeyForge in the coming weeks. 

KeyForge was designed by Magic: The Gathering creator Richard Garfield and was seen as an evolution of the collectible card game concept. Instead of purchasing card packs to make a deck, KeyForge players purchased a randomly generated unique pre-made deck to use in the game. Each deck contained cards from three factions, and players could only use cards from one faction on each turn. Each KeyForge deck was unique, with new expansions adding new mechanics and new deck combinations. The goal of KeyForge was to forge three keys, with players trying to collect amber either by mining it on their own or stealing it from their opponent. 

Unfortunately, KeyForge went on an indefinite hiatus in 2021 due to unspecified issues with the underlying algorithm that generated new decks for the game. Fantasy Flight vowed that KeyForge would return eventually, but it had stayed silent about the game up until today's sale. 

Garfield endorsed the sale of KeyForge to Ghost Galaxy, saying in a statement "I have enjoyed working with Fantasy Flight and Asmodee, they really put their heart into Keyforge and did an amazing job bringing it to life. It has been disappointing that events conspired to shut it down for so long. It is a delight to see the game now go to a new steward, Ghost Galaxy, and, in fact, the very first person I pitched it to – Christian Petersen. We have similar visions for what is possible for Keyforge, and I think we will be able to do great things!"