People need refreshment. At some point we need to create a second IP.
From a Warsaw studio that has yet to ship its first game, Rebel Wolves CEO Konrad Tomaszkiewicz is already thinking beyond debut — not in sequels, but in the sustained rhythm of multiple creative worlds. Drawing on seventeen years at CD Project Red, where he helped steward both The Witcher and Cyberpunk 2077, he has come to understand that creative longevity requires rotation, not repetition. The studio's multi-IP ambition is less a business strategy than a philosophy: that the people who make games must themselves be kept alive to the possibility of something new.
- Rebel Wolves hasn't launched a single game yet, but its CEO is already architecting a multi-franchise future — a bold posture that raises the stakes of their September debut considerably.
- The threat isn't competition from outside, but the slow erosion of creative energy within — the burnout that comes from building the same world, iteration after iteration, with no horizon beyond it.
- Tomaszkiewicz is borrowing a proven playbook: alternate between Dawnwalker and entirely new IP projects, giving teams permission to think differently and build without the weight of an established universe's expectations.
- The Blood of Dawnwalker launches September 3, and the entire multi-IP vision hinges on what those first weeks reveal — success buys the runway; failure collapses the architecture before it's built.
- If the model holds, Rebel Wolves positions itself not as a one-game studio riding a single franchise, but as a long-term competitor in premium RPG development — the kind of studio that can sustain both ambition and morale across decades.
Konrad Tomaszkiewicz is mapping a future that extends far beyond Rebel Wolves' first game. The Blood of Dawnwalker arrives in September, but the studio's CEO isn't thinking in sequels — he's thinking in franchises, plural.
His model is borrowed from Blizzard: build Warcraft, then build StarCraft, let both thrive in parallel. For Rebel Wolves, that means one game from the Dawnwalker universe, then a pivot to something new, then back again. The rotation isn't a luxury — it's structural, baked into how he intends to keep his team engaged and creatively alive.
Tomaszkiewicz spent seventeen years at CD Project Red, guiding The Witcher trilogy and then serving as design director on Cyberpunk 2077. Three and a half years on that single project taught him something about the weight of an unchanging vision. When he left to found Rebel Wolves, he carried those lessons with him. The trap he wants to avoid is the sequel that feels obligatory — the iteration that lacks genuine novelty. A new IP, launched at the right moment, gives everyone permission to think differently.
The strategy reflects a particular confidence: that Rebel Wolves can build the kind of studio architecture where teams move between projects without losing momentum or institutional knowledge. It's the model CDPR proved was possible. Tomaszkiewicz learned it firsthand. Now he's building a studio around it.
But everything depends on what happens in September. The long-term vision — the rotation, the second IP, the decades of parallel franchises — only unfolds if Dawnwalker lands. That Tomaszkiewicz is already thinking past launch isn't hubris. It's the mark of someone who has learned how to build for the long term.
Konrad Tomaszkiewicz sits in the Warsaw headquarters of Rebel Wolves, a studio that hasn't yet shipped its first game, already mapping out a future that extends far beyond it. The Blood of Dawnwalker launches in September, but the studio's CEO and co-founder isn't thinking in terms of sequels alone. He's thinking in terms of franchises—plural.
When asked whether he imagined spending the next two decades devoted entirely to Dawnwalker, or whether he wanted to branch into other corners of the RPG space, Tomaszkiewicz didn't hesitate. He pointed to Blizzard's playbook: the company built Warcraft into a juggernaut, but it didn't stop there. StarCraft arrived as something entirely different, and both franchises thrived in parallel. "People need refreshment," he said. The logic is straightforward. A studio can't sustain momentum—or sanity—by making the same game over and over, even if the details shift.
His vision for Rebel Wolves follows that template. One game from the Dawnwalker universe, then a pivot to something new, then back again. The rotation isn't a luxury; it's a structural choice, baked into how he thinks about keeping his team engaged and creatively alive. Tomaszkiewicz has spent enough time in the industry to know what burnout looks like. He worked at CD Project Red for seventeen years, shepherding The Witcher trilogy from 2004 through 2018, then moving into the role of design director for Cyberpunk 2077. Three and a half years on that project taught him something about the weight of a single vision, the exhaustion of iterating on the same world. When he left to start Rebel Wolves, he carried those lessons with him.
During our conversation at the studio, he articulated what drives this thinking. The frustration of working on projects that are "the same but different"—the sequels that feel obligatory, the iterations that lack genuine novelty—that's the trap he wants to avoid. His team comes first, he emphasized. The studio's foundation isn't just about making cool games, though that matters. It's about creating an environment where people actually want to show up, where the work itself feels fresh and purposeful. A new IP, launched at the right moment, becomes a tool for that renewal. It gives everyone permission to think differently, to build something that doesn't carry the weight of an established world's expectations.
The strategy reflects a particular kind of confidence. Rebel Wolves is betting that it can sustain multiple franchises, that it can build the kind of studio architecture that allows teams to move between projects without losing momentum or institutional knowledge. It's the model that worked for CD Project Red, the company that proved you could have both The Witcher and Cyberpunk, two entirely different universes, both commanding attention and resources and creative energy. Tomaszkiewicz learned that lesson firsthand. Now he's building a studio around it.
Before any of that unfolds, there's The Blood of Dawnwalker. The game arrives on September 3, and everything else—the second IP, the rotation, the long-term vision—depends on what happens in those first weeks. But Tomaszkiewicz isn't waiting for launch to think about what comes next. That's the mark of someone who's learned how to build for the long term.
Citações Notáveis
People need refreshment. At some point we need to create a second IP.— Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, Rebel Wolves CEO
The team comes first. We want to work with the people we have as long as it's possible.— Konrad Tomaszkiewicz
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why does a studio that hasn't shipped anything yet need to think about a second IP?
Because the people who run it have seen what happens when you don't. Tomaszkiewicz spent seventeen years at one company, watching the same universe get revisited again and again. You can burn out a team that way, even if the games are good.
But isn't that risky? Splitting focus before you've proven you can make one game work?
It's not really splitting focus right now—it's planning. The Blood of Dawnwalker launches in September. But he's thinking about the rhythm after that, about how to keep people engaged five years from now, ten years from now.
So it's about retention? Keeping talented people from leaving?
Partly that. But it's also about the quality of the work itself. He said people need refreshment. If you're making the same game over and over, even with new stories, something dies in the process. A new IP is a way to resurrect that.
Blizzard did this with Warcraft and StarCraft. Did it work?
Both franchises became massive. But that was a different era, different scale. The question for Rebel Wolves is whether a smaller studio can pull off that kind of rotation without losing coherence.
What's the real test here?
September 3. If Dawnwalker lands well, if the team feels good about it, then the second IP becomes possible. If it doesn't, the whole strategy collapses. Everything else is contingent on that first game working.