Mateusz Kanik, Cyberpunk 2077 Game Director and Co-Game Director of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, has teamed up with The Witcher and Cyberpunk 2077 executive producers Jędrzej Mróz and Marcin Jefimow to launch a new game studio Blank, Warsaw, Poland.
Blank is the second major studio to be founded this year by former CDPR creators, after Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, director of The Witcher 3 and head of Cyberpunk 2077 production, left to form a new studio, Rebel Wolves, with investment from NetEase.
Mateusz Kanik joined CDPR in 2006 and left in 2022 to serve at CDPR for 15 years. Initially co-designed The Witcher 1 and the cancelled console port The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf. He then served as the lead game designer for The Witcher 2. From 2013 to 2016, Kanik was also Game Director for Cyberpunk 2077 and was subsequently promoted to Design Director for CDPR.
The newly formed Blank also brings together a number of experienced developers:
Michal Dobrowolski (CD Projekt Red), Design Director
Artur Ganszyniec (CD Projekt Red, 11 Bit Studios), Director of Narrative
Grzegorz Przybyś (Division 48 Studio, Artificer), Art Director
Marcin Jefimow, co-founder and executive producer of Blank, said: "Our game development philosophy comes from our own stories and experiences. We wanted to create a space where we could honor our history, but also be fun and open to fresh inspiration as we collaborate creatively. We're already off to a great start on a budding new project and we can't wait to share it with players and work with new team members. ”
Blank Studios currently has 10 team members, but they hope to expand to nearly 60 to support the development of their as-yet-yet-unannounced projects.
While Blank hasn't officially announced their first project yet, its website hints at something. According to this concept art on the website, Blank's first game will take place between or after some kind of apocalypse, but not in an open world and focused on a linear narrative.
"Right now, we're working on a role-driven story set in an apocalyptic setting — with one or two twists. We've used to create large, super complex games with open worlds. That's why we focus on simpler goals – uniqueness, emotion, quality and sophistication. We put all of our passion and dedication into our craft and we eagerly look forward to letting everyone play with the compelling story we're making. Rest assured that we will share more details in due course. ”