Pixelberry vets form Candlelight Games with “heartfelt” narrative games on the way

• Former Pixelberry Games devs have founded a new studio, Candlelight Games
• The studio will develop narrative titles, with plans to reveal its first game “soon”

Stay Informed

Three former Pixelberry Games developers have founded a new studio in Candlelight Games, striving to create immersive, narrative titles.

The trio will leverage their experience from leading roles on Pixelberry’s Choices books, including Bloodbound, Blades of Light & Shadow, and America’s Most Eligible.

GamesIndustry.biz reported that much of Candlelight’s current team has moved from the creator of Choices to form what the co-founders called a “dream team of Pixelberry alums”.

Founder foundations

Candlelight co-founder and head of design Andrew Shvarts previously spent 12 years at Pixelberry, where he finished his tenure as creative director this March.

Megan Schwarz also departed this March, formerly the director of Pixelberry’s flagship Choices with almost 10 years’ experience on the studio’s writing team. Now a Candlelight co-founder, Schwarz is the new studio’s head of narrative.

Finally, Candlelight co-founder and CEO Royal McGraw has brought his own near-decade of experience from Pixelberry, where he was VP of new games development. McGraw departed Pixelberry in 2022 and moved to Fortis Games as director of product management, and has now reunited with his past colleagues under Candlelight.

Meaningful choices

Between the trio and their team, they hope to create games that “delight and excite”, continuing with narrative game design as was their forte at Pixelberry. They plan to announce Candlelight’s first game “soon”.

“I’m beyond thrilled to announce the official debut of Candlelight Games, a brand-new narrative game studio led by a team of absolutely incredible former Pixelberry employees! At Candlelight Games, our mission is to deliver heartfelt, character-centric narrative games with meaningful choices that truly resonate with players,” Shvarts posted on LinkedIn.

“We believe in the power of storytelling and are committed to creating immersive experiences that stay with you long after the credits roll. We’re hard at work on our first game, and I can’t wait to share more about our thrilling original fantasy world!”

The Candlelight founders’ departure from Pixelberry predates the latter’s acquisition by AI games developer Series Entertainment, which is expected to “bring to life” many fan requests in-game.