Former senior Bethesda staff Jeff Gardiner has announced the formation of a new studio called Something Wicked Games alongside the studio's first project, occult fantasy RPG Wyrdsong.
Gardiner left Bethesda in August 2021 after working as a senior producer on The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, lead producer on Fallout 4 and project lead on Fallout 76. He co-founded this new studio with technical director Ekram Rashid and director of design Charles Staples, the latter of whom previously led design on Fallout: New Vegas and served as design director of The Outer Worlds. The rest of the team includes veteran designers from the Fallout series and Dragon Age: Inquisition.
Wyrdsong will be set in medieval Portugal and focus on the Catholic chivalric order the Knights Templar. The game aims to make players question the nature of reality, and will incorporate significant and consequential player choices. Release is still years away.
Something Wicked has received $13.2 million in seed funding from NetEase, with employees spread across North America. Gardiner told The Washington Post he aims to hit 30 employees by year two, and to max out at 70 employees.
This article was originally published on dbltap as Former Bethesda Lead Founds New Studio Something Wicked.
