Zakazane is a brand new Polish sport studio filled with sport veterans, and it has raised a $1 million pre-seed funding.

The founders for Warsaw, Poland-based Zakazane got here from greater Jap European sport corporations together with CD Projekt Pink (maker of Cyberpunk 2077), 11bit Studios (This Battle of Mine), and GOG.com.

The funding is sufficient to kickstart the event of the debut sport, an immersive single-player Outdated West role-playing sport that delves into the complexities of justice. The Video games Fund led the funding within the startup.

The corporate truly began in 2022. Jan Bartkowicz, recognized for his work as a author and artistic director on acclaimed titles reminiscent of The Witcher 2, Shadow Warrior, and Cyberpunk 2077 Edgerunners, joined forces with Piotr Chomiak, a seasoned sport animator with 23 years of expertise. He had labored at studios together with CD Projekt Pink, Flying Wild Hog, and 11 bit Studios.

Radosław Gwarek, former technical designer at 11 bit Studios, recognized for his contributions to This Battle of Mine and Frostpunk, accomplished the core founding crew of Zakazane. The corporate was capable of give you a demo comparatively shortly and it confirmed up at Gamescom 2022 with the demo. That helped it each with recruiting and fundraising, Bartkowicz mentioned.

Since securing the preliminary pre-seed funding, Zakazane has expanded its crew to 16 members, mentioned Bartkowicz, in an interview with GamesBeat. Notable additions embody Adam Kozłowski, the studio’s artwork director, who brings 20 years of expertise engaged on tasks reminiscent of The Witcher, Beat Cop, and Shadow Warrior 2. Marta Adamska, previously head of enterprise growth at GOG.COM, has joined because the director of enterprise growth.

“That is what I actually like about us turning into unbiased and operating a small firm, which is that we have now the facility to unravel the issues,” Adamski mentioned. “So that is positively thrilling. We additionally get to affect who we’re how we deal with our individuals how our staff really feel. It’s so totally different as a result of it’s a lot extra intimate. In company buildings the place you’ve 200 different individuals, you don’t have any concept who simply bought within the elevator with you.”

Triple I video games

The crew members got here from quite a lot of studios, and most are senior individuals. They’re persons are obsessive about doing content material inside bigger studios. The founders weren’t so within the politics on the increased ranges of the massive corporations. A lot of the crew is coming into the workplace to work in Warsaw.

“We weren’t actually certain about desirous to pursue careers in huge corporations anymore, simply given that, at a sure degree, you simply should cope with a whole lot of different stuff aside from making the sport,” mentioned Bartkowicz. “We wish to make an organization that’s pushed by the truth that we’re making a sport and strips away what I’d name political stuff. We’re people who find themselves actually content material pushed.”

The crew desires to make which can be deep and have mature themes, with a whole lot of give attention to morality. Adamski mentioned in an interview with GamesBeat that she thinks of them as having “triple i” high quality, the place “i” refers to unbiased. That’s, it’s a small indie studio with a whole lot of give attention to getting the standard proper. It’s not more likely to be a full-price $60 sport.

“We wish to create tasks with a definite, unapologetic identification,” Bartkowicz mentioned. “Video games for mature audiences who wish to be left with a way of marvel.”

Zakazane is at the moment centered on creating a single-player journey RPG set of their distinctive interpretation of the Outdated West. Gamers will assume the position of a sheriff in a mountain city, tasked with uncovering a thriller that threatens to divide the local people. The sport goals to empower gamers by permitting them to form the way forward for the city and affect the storylines of its residents, whereas additionally presenting them with morally ambiguous decisions.

“I’m an actual huge fan of like story pushed video games,” Bartkowicz mentioned. “I positively have a delicate spot for older BioWare video games. That influences me so much. They’re extra like system-driven video games. It has a robust narrative nevertheless it’s not like an interactive film or something like that. It’s a correct sport with fight and exploration and all these programs.”

The profitable growth of a compelling idea and a minimal viable product (MVP) enabled Zakazane to safe the pre-seed funding from The Video games Fund.

“One of many fascinating points on this transition is that you just maintain your ambition excessive since you’re used to it,” Bartkowicz mentioned.

On the similar time, the person staff may be efficient at doing their jobs as they’ve the facility to perform what they assume must be carried out.

This funding spherical will facilitate the creation of a playable vertical slice, showcasing the sport’s core mechanics, visible type, and pacing, and provoke full-scale manufacturing fundraising.

“We spend money on probably the most gifted sport builders, and Zakazane is an excellent firm led by a visionary founding crew pushed by a ardour for video video games and storytelling,” mentioned Ilya Eremeev, managing associate of The Video games Fund, in an announcement. “We imagine in full artistic freedom and independence for our companions and are dedicated to supporting the corporate and serving to them notice their imaginative and prescient for this distinctive sport and past.”

The corporate is engaged on a vertical slice that might be carried out by the tip of the 12 months, Bartkowicz mentioned.

They could develop the crew to about 40 individuals. However that may possible require a brand new spherical of funding. The purpose is to launch a PC launch first within the second half of 2026, Adamski mentioned. It’s a top-down isometric RPG, like a superb Western film however with about 30 to 40 hours of gameplay, she mentioned. It is going to take a mixture of veterans and younger individuals to drag that off.

“We imagine that’s going to be wholesome to have skilled individuals working facet by facet with individuals who simply are junior and have a ardour for excellence,” Bartkowicz mentioned.

They need people who find themselves assertive and are dedicated to engaged on that they totally perceive.

The corporate doesn’t essentially have a transparent concept how the newest AI developments are going to have an effect on the corporate. AI has been helpful for conceptual work for artists, nevertheless it’s much less clear how AI impacts storytelling. However there are many veterans who’re aware of AI tech inside the corporate.