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https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2022-02-16-witcher-3-game-director-launches-new-studio-rebel-wolves

Cyberpunk and Witcher 3 game director launches new studio Rebel Wolves

New outfit made up of former CD Projekt staff working on new dark fantasy RPG

Former CD Projekt executive Konrad Tomaszkiewicz has unveiled a brand new studio, Rebel Wolves.

The team is made up of industry talent with experience spanning several titles, including The Witcher series, Cyberpunk 2077, Thronebreaker and Shadow Warrior 2.

Tomaszkiewicz spent 17 years at CD Projekt, most notably serving as game director on The Witcher 3, and head of production/secondary game director on Cyberpunk 2077.

Rebel Wolves is working on its debut game, which as Tomaszkiewicz tells GamesIndustry.biz, aims to become "the holy grail of computer RPGs."

"We're proud of our past achievements, but we're hungry for more," Tomaszkiewicz says. "We want to experiment, push the envelope, discover new ways for telling stories in the video game medium. We felt that starting a new company, where we call all the shots, will give us the freedom to take the necessary risks to fulfil these ambitions."

Tomaszkiewicz says that the team had been thinking about starting a new studio for a while, but felt as though they needed to fully establish its vision.

"What will our game try to achieve, what will set it apart? How will Rebel Wolves be different from other studios, what will make it a place people will want to work at?" He asks.

The studio has a simple philosophy; the team comes first. It wants to stay small and agile, as a place where "experienced game developers can reignite their passion."

"In order to create great games, you need to collect talented, motivated people, and give them the room to grow, experiment and think creatively," Tomaszkiewicz says.

https://cdn.gamer-network.net/2022/articles/2022-02-16-10-57/Rebel_Wolves_Teaser_Key_Art.png

Given the scope of CD Projekt's recent output and its experience with RPGs, it could be seen as the perfect place to realise ambitions like the ones Rebel Wolves have outlined. However, Tomaszkiewicz feels that going independent is the best way for the studio to chase its dreams.

"We're proud of the games we helped to create there and we're deeply grateful for all the opportunities it has given us," he says. "CD Projekt works with established IPs, and we wanted to create our own universe, tailor it to our needs and preferences. Also, we want to work on smaller games, in a smaller team, where it's easier to maintain a coherent vision."

Rebel Wolves' goals for its debut project are well-defined too. The team shares joint expertise in single-story, narrative-focused games, and that's the genre it's aiming for.

"We want to recreate the feeling of a pen and paper RPG session, where your options seem limitless, where the world reacts to your choices, where every decision matters."

Even with a solid core team, Tomaszkiewicz sees recruiting further talent as a minor hurdle.

"Experienced developers are sought after by all the major studios, it's a very competitive landscape. So we're extremely happy and proud that we've already managed to sign on some of the best artists, coders and designers in the industry," he tells us.

"We can't compete with the top dogs when it comes to size or recognition, but we can provide something just as alluring: an environment where developers can think big, follow their dreams and feel ownership over their work. Of course, there's still plenty of challenges ahead of us, but we're confident that with the team of talented veterans we have already gathered, nothing will stop us."

Hiring talent from pre-established veteran circles can also create challenges when it comes to diversifying a team. This is a concern for Tomaszkiewicz, and he recognises that the team has a way to go with diversity. He also encourages us to check up on the studio's promise to improve.

"The core of the team are people we knew and worked with before, and while this team has many strengths, it needs to be more diverse," he acknowledges. "For now, our team is just over a dozen people, but we plan to grow to above 80 over the next few years.

"As we hire more developers, we want to make sure that we create a diverse company, with many different voices and perspectives."

While Rebel Wolves' development goals so far are well-established, the topic of building metaverses and leaning into NFTs looms indefinitely. Tomaszkiewicz's response to such trends is straightforward.

"It's very simple. We won't have them in our games. Ever."
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Well, good luck to them. Not sure I would want Cyberpunk on my resume, or in fact associated with me whatsoever. Will be interesting to see what they come out with. Where will they be selling or is it too early to tell? The debut sounds interesting.
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Swedrami: snip
Looking foward to this. If they bring up something with The Witcher series choice based campaings it will be awesome.
Market is tired of all this generic action rpgs with bloated numbers and infinite grind. We need more companies making good games.
Could be the humble beginnings of a real alternative to both CD Projekt RED as well as the Witcher franchise, considering what one already has become (from claiming: "We are Rebels" but not really adhering to that credo anymore) and the other probably will be turned into with future installments (as in moving away from its Slavic/European roots and giving it the Netflix/The Rings of Power-treatment to "reflect what the world actually looks like").
I hope I'm wrong about the latter but as recent developments have shown no franchise or IP seems to be safe from being mocked, twisted and ultimately ruined these days.
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I thought a lot of wither staff had left before?
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§pec†re: I thought a lot of witcher staff had left before?
There have always been people leaving inbetween the last and the next Witcher, the drop-off in staff probably was a little more noticeable with Cyberpunk 2077.
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A brand new studio working on crpg, hoping to make "the holy grail of computer RPGs".

I mean... good luck to you guys, but talk about setting your sights high. I think CRPGs are the most difficult games to design, and to make the best one ever...
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§pec†re: I thought a lot of wither staff had left before?
Yeah, I read that much of the Witcher 3 talent got poached by US studios and are now on work visas over there, mostly due to the fact that CDP RED had bad working conditions (forced crunch etc) and Polish wages being much lower. It certainly explains why CP 2077 turned out as it did.
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MadalinStroe: A brand new studio working on crpg, hoping to make "the holy grail of computer RPGs".

I mean... good luck to you guys, but talk about setting your sights high. I think CRPGs are the most difficult games to design, and to make the best one ever...
Yeah, this kind of talk never turns out well.
They should just do their best and let the product speak for itself

If it turns out well, let us be delighted, instead of disappointed that it isn't the greatest thing ever.
Post edited February 19, 2022 by Plumb
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MadalinStroe: A brand new studio working on crpg, hoping to make "the holy grail of computer RPGs".
"the holy grail of computer RPGs", except that you know it'll be a single character (no party) action/shooter RPG where you play as a preset character (ie Geralt of Rivia) whom you can't change gender, name, race, class etc. CRPG my ass
Post edited February 19, 2022 by Crosmando
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67h8GyNgEmA

Always good to see new studios spring up to make games. More competition is good and its talent that makes great games.

See Clover Studios/Platinum Games. Amazing lineup of Okami, viewtiful joe, Bayonetta, Nier, and more.
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Swedrami: aims to become "the holy grail of computer RPGs."
That's hilarious!

It reminds me of when CDPR made statements to the effect of it expects that the Cyberpunk 2077 game will become the standard of the generation in terms of being the pinnacle of all RPGs and also all computer games.

And then they ended up actually making a trash game instead.

The statements quoted in the OP are just meaningless hot air fluff until if & when the devs actually deliver upon their rosy words, which all likelihood is, they won't be able to.

Every RPG-making dev would love to make "the holy grail" of RPGs. But warm wishes and good intentions are very hard to translate into actual reality, and rarely ever do so to the degree that the PR hype alleges that they would have.
Post edited February 19, 2022 by Ancient-Red-Dragon
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Swedrami: aims to become "the holy grail of computer RPGs."
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Ancient-Red-Dragon: That's hilarious!
Why is this hilarious? Its fine, even encouraged for any company to aim big. Make the best RPG, make the best movie, make the best x. Will they achieve that goal? No because "best" is subjective but its still good that they still try. They may fall short of the goal of "holy grail of computer RPGs" but if they land in the stars, its hopefully going to be a good game.

Far better than EA whose objective is just to harness creativity and technology to create games to engage and entertain players. Although they've talked about "gamers first" in the past, Im pretty sure they define "gamers" as shareholders.
woops
Post edited February 20, 2022 by Plumb
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Ancient-Red-Dragon: That's hilarious!
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Tokyo_Bunny_8990: Why is this hilarious? Its fine, even encouraged for any company to aim big. Make the best RPG, make the best movie, make the best x. Will they achieve that goal? No because "best" is subjective but its still good that they still try. They may fall short of the goal of "holy grail of computer RPGs" but if they land in the stars, its hopefully going to be a good game.

Far better than EA whose objective is just to harness creativity and technology to create games to engage and entertain players. Although they've talked about "gamers first" in the past, Im pretty sure they define "gamers" as shareholders.
They're aiming too high for a debut. They're building expectations. And that was the fault of Cyberpunk2077 in the first place: they're repeating the error. And for CP2k77 it was still more human/reasonable, since they had come from the accolades of Witcher3
Post edited February 20, 2022 by marcob