Former Cyberpunk and Witcher developers forge new studio

Former CD Projekt Red and 11 Bit Studios developers have formed a new studio called Blank based in Warsaw.

The studio is developing a character-driven story set during an apocalypse with twists.

Stating the team has had its fill of "huge, super complicated games with open worlds," and it is focusing on simpler goals such as uniqueness, emotions, quality, and refinement.

The studio is made up of co-founders Mateusz Kanik (game director), Jedrzej Mroz (executive producer), Marcin Jefimow (executive producer), and Mikolaj Marchewka (managing director).

Michal Dobrowolski is the design director, Artur Ganszyniec is the narrative director, and Grzegorz Przybys is the art director.

"After working for years in an increasingly conservative industry, we're ready to make bold, impactful projects that share our unique creativity and values," said Kanik.

"Where the industry champions a dictatorship of the creative individual, we want to give ownership to the team. Where the industry leans on crunch culture, we prefer work-life balance. Where the industry says bigger is better, we're setting our sights on highly polished games with a focus on emotion, story, and craftsmanship."

"Our game development philosophy comes from our own stories and experiences," said Jefimow. "With Blank, we want to build a space where we can honor our histories and be playful and open to brand new inspirations as we collaborate creatively.

"We've already got a head start on a budding new project that we can't wait to share with players and craft with new team members."

The studio is "eagerly looking forward" to sharing what it is working on and will do so when the time is right. Until then, you can check out some teaser art for it above.

The studio currently has 10 team members, but it is looking to expand to almost 60 people to support development of the unannounced project.