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Chaos Manufacturing - Version 9 vs Version 10
May 26, 2026, 09:27 AM
Added Origin Story, Funding and Independence, and Production Approach sections; clarified core team size
Jun 4, 2026, 08:52 PM
Removed duplicated Public-facing leadership paragraph in studio overview
11Chaos Manufacturing is the independent studio developing and self-publishing SOL Shogunate, which is the studio's debut project. Founded by veterans of major action and RPG productions and complemented by film post-production talent, the studio operates as both developer and publisher, so design, engineering, and storefront decisions all originate in-house rather than at an external label.22Studio Profile44FieldDetailStudio StatusIndependentRoles on SOL ShogunateDeveloper and publisher (self-published)Debut ProjectSOL ShogunateProject StatusIn active development, targeting a 2027 releaseMissionCombine combat, story, and music in harmonyFoundedEarly development reportedly underway around 2023 (approximate, see Unconfirmed Details)EngineUnreal Engine 566Leadership77A small core of named leaders sits at the head of the studio, mixing the two co-founders with senior leads who front the public dev-diary appearances. Each brings a different slice of the AAA action and RPG world into Chaos Manufacturing.99NameRoleBackgroundGuy CostantiniCEO and General ManagerPreviously Global Brand Director at CD Projekt Red, leading publishing and brand work on major action RPG releases.Nate EckmanCo-FounderFounding partner working alongside Costantini on company direction and the SOL Shogunate vision.Leszek SzczepanskiGame DirectorCareer credits across Metal Gear, Castlevania, Mortal Kombat, Killzone, and Horizon.Cindi KnaptonNarrative DirectorNarrative lead on SOL Shogunate, fronting the studio's public dev-diary appearances alongside the game director and shaping the world and story across the writing, art, and design departments.1111Veteran Pedigree1212Beyond the founders, the studio recruits across two distinct talent pools. Game development veterans on the team have shipped projects at Riot, Blizzard, CD Projekt Red, Guerrilla, Respawn, Treyarch, and ZeniMax, a pool that covers competitive online design, large-scale RPGs, narrative-led action RPGs, first-person shooters, and engine-heavy AAA development.1414The studio's core has been up to five people full-time, a number that fluctuates depending on where the project is in its go-to-market cycle. Around that core sits a constellation of fractional contributors across production, art, audio, narrative, marketing, and community. Public credits and dev-diary footage have surfaced around 16 named members from both pools combined. Public-facing leadership on SOL Shogunate has been led by Game Director Leszek Szczepanski and Narrative Director Cindi Knapton, who together fronted the first dev diary in April 2026 and have been the studio's main on-camera voices for setting and story. The founders have surfaced more often in trade interviews than in the dev-diary video itself.1616Public-facing leadership on SOL Shogunate has been led by Game Director Leszek Szczepanski and Narrative Director Cindi Knapton, who together fronted the first dev diary in April 2026 and have been the studio's main on-camera voices for setting and story. The founders have surfaced more often in trade interviews than in the dev-diary video itself.18-Origin Story2018The studio CEO has placed the origin of SOL Shogunate on a single piece of concept art by Aaron Nakahara, a stylized image of a samurai warrior with a burning light at the center of the face. That image gave the project its visual north star: a future samurai with an intentional aesthetic rooted in a specific reason, rather than a generic ninja-and-neon coat of paint over a sci-fi soldier. From there, the studio built out the alt-future setting, the lunar shogunate, and the gene-spliced protagonist around that founding image.2220Chaos Manufacturing was founded around two years before the December 2025 reveal, with Game Director Leszek Szczepanski and CEO Guy Costantini meeting and deciding to start the studio together. The team built the company on the premise that it would punch above its weight by being small, autonomous, and remote-by-default rather than tied to a single office.2422Five Studio Principles2624PrincipleWhat It Means in PracticeOriginal Stories FirstThe studio is built to develop new IP rather than licensed work or franchise sequels. SOL Shogunate is itself an original property.Flexible and TransparentNon-exclusive working arrangements and radical transparency with the team, letting collaborators balance project work with outside commitments.Bias Towards TrustInternal decision-making leans on giving team members the benefit of the doubt rather than heavy oversight gates.Always LearningContinuous learning is treated as a core habit rather than a perk, expected at every level including leadership.Play the Long GameThe studio frames itself for sustained output across multiple years, prioritizing reputation and craft over short-term release pressure.2826Mission2927The studio's headline mission for SOL Shogunate is to combine combat, story, and music in harmony. In practice, that shapes three decisions: combat is tuned for fluid, fast-paced exchanges rather than slow attrition; story sequences a personal revenge arc that opens onto a wider conspiracy; and the soundtrack scales with battle stakes, framing boss fights as interactive music videos rather than background score.3129Funding And Independence3331Chaos Manufacturing is self-funded through angel investors, with additional financing partners coming on board through 2026. The studio retains full creative control over SOL Shogunate and operates as both developer and publisher today, though the CEO has stated the studio is open to a publishing partner that retains the studio's creative control and brings something to the table the studio cannot do in-house.3533The funding model is structured so that the studio only grows as much as it needs to, with equity for everyone on the team in the early phase and profit sharing planned once equity stops mattering. The stated intent is to avoid the kind of forced growth that has hit larger studios when external money pressured a scale-up the project did not need.3735Science Consulting3937Aerospace engineer Taylore McClurg consults on the science layer, working with the team since early development. Her brief is to keep the lunar setting plausible where it can be: low gravity behaviour, the rationale for space elevators over rockets at the Moon, the long-term health cost of low-gravity life and how the elite offset it through exercise as a privilege, and the in-world reason that kinetic firearms are largely absent and the way of the sword carries the combat load.4139Production Approach4341The game's art is handcrafted. The studio's principal concept artist traveled across Japan taking reference photos to build the lunar cities and surface biomes on top of real-world inspiration, and Chaos Manufacturing's stated philosophy is to let artists choose the tools they work with rather than mandating a top-down toolchain. The CEO has framed this as a quality-of-craft decision and has left room for the toolchain to change later if new tools materially help the work.4543The development team is remote-by-default. The studio has stated it does not require contributors to move across the ocean for the role and tries to adapt the company's working pattern around the people on the team rather than the other way around. As of early 2026 the project was nearing the end of pre-production, with production estimated to run for about another one to two years toward the 2027 target window.4745Unconfirmed Details4947TopicPublic StatusStudio HeadquartersNot publicly disclosed. No confirmed city or country.Exact Founding YearNot officially announced. The around-2023 figure is a single-source estimate and should be treated as approximate.Full Team HeadcountAbout 16 names appear publicly. Total headcount including unannounced contributors is not confirmed.FinancingInvestor backing, publishing partnerships, and external funding arrangements have not been disclosed.Future ProjectsNone announced. SOL Shogunate is the only confirmed project on the studio's roadmap.5149This page will be updated as Chaos Manufacturing publicly confirms additional studio details, team members, and any work beyond SOL Shogunate.
