Revision 12

Studio History

Rebel Wolves was founded in February 2022 in Warsaw, Poland. The studio was created by Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, who directed The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and led production on Cyberpunk 2077 at CD Projekt Red. He left CDPR in May 2021 and spent the following months assembling a team of veterans.

The studio has grown to over 150 employees, close to 160 once administrative staff are counted. NetEase holds a minority stake; the majority of ownership belongs to Tomaszkiewicz and other co-founders. Bandai Namco Entertainment publishes.

Growth Arc

"When we started Rebel Wolves in 2022, there were just 15 of us. Now we're over 150 developers strong." That quote from Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, the CEO and game director, captures the studio's growth in three years. The founding team of 15 veterans in February 2022 had a clear vision: ship a single dark-fantasy action RPG at a smaller scale than the AAA studios most of them had come from. By the May 2026 press cycle the studio had crossed 150 employees, and the most-current public figure puts the team near 160 once administrative staff are counted.

The scaling did not change the studio's core pitch. Tomaszkiewicz has been explicit that 150-plus is still a fraction of the headcount his former employer carries, and the team has framed the smaller size as the reason tight creative control over the project is possible. The 50-to-70-hour playthrough target and the 30-day time-pressure structure both sit downstream of that headcount choice.

Key People

Design Philosophy

Tomaszkiewicz has described the vision as getting "a few steps closer to pen-and-paper RPGs" where a gamemaster evolves the story based on player actions. The game has no main quest. Just one goal and optional content. "It's more similar to the old Fallout, where you have a clear goal and everything is optional, you decide."

The game was originally scoped to be roughly the size of The Witcher 3's Blood and Wine DLC but "became bigger" during development. The team has committed to a 2026 release.

CD Projekt Red Connection

The overlap with CDPR is hard to ignore. Tomaszkiewicz directed what many consider one of the best RPGs ever made. But Rebel Wolves is a much smaller studio, where CDPR has nearly 800 employees, Rebel Wolves has a fraction of that. The team has noted their smaller size allows tighter creative control.

Production Milestones

Rebel Wolves announced on July 15, 2026 that the game had gone gold, leaving roughly seven weeks between certification and the September 3 launch. Five days earlier the studio had reported passing two million wishlists. The studio also confirmed a playable booth at gamescom 2026 in late August, its last major public showing before release.

Multi-Game Plan

The studio has said since forming that The Blood of Dawnwalker was designed as the first chapter of a longer Dawnwalker Saga rather than a standalone project. Tomaszkiewicz has described planning several games up front so that story hooks could be seeded deliberately in the first one, and narrative director Jakub Szamalek has said attentive players will find breadcrumbs pointing at the wider arc. Each entry is intended to stand on its own, with no cliffhangers and no time travel.

Marketing

Rebel Wolves published a sixteen-part promotional lore series called The Secret History of Vale Sangora throughout 2025, written in-character by the chronicler Albertus Taurinus. They also released four Community Bulletin Boards between November 2025 and February 2026, each covering a different aspect of the game (the Vrakhiri, Svartrau, music, and Coen's abilities). A community Q&A in January 2026 answered player questions directly.

Music

The soundtrack is composed by Nikola Kolodziejczyk (lead), Piotr Musial, and Mikolai Stroinski. The main theme was performed by the AUKSO Chamber Orchestra of Tychy and debuted in the January 2026 launch year trailer.

Studio Size at Launch

Headcount has climbed steadily across the project. The studio was described as roughly 150 developers in early 2026, near 160 once administrative staff were included, and around 170 people by the time press went hands-on in July 2026. The team confirmed the game had gone gold on July 15, 2026, closing out development on its debut title a little under four and a half years after the studio was founded.