Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, who steered CD Projekt through the creation of The Witcher 3, has become an unlikely evangelist for Pearl Abyss' Crimson Desert, praising it as exactly the kind of bold, unconventional game the industry desperately needs.
Speaking with The Game Business, Tomaszkiewicz, now heading his own studio Rebel Wolves, contrasted Crimson Desert and Sandfall Interactive's Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 against what he sees as the creative stagnation plaguing modern triple-A development. The problem, he explained, is that too many studio executives prioritize profit over artistic vision, an approach that stifles originality at the highest budget levels.
"The problem in this industry sometimes is that people opening companies are thinking about how to make money," Tomaszkiewicz said. "This is a really cold approach for the games. You cannot create art like this."
Both games represent a departure from the safe formulas that dominate AAA releases, Tomaszkiewicz argued. They remind him of the 1990s, when gaming felt genuinely unpredictable, when players booted up their 286 PCs or Ataris without knowing what to expect. That spirit of experimentation, he said, is what inspired him to leave CD Projekt and establish Rebel Wolves in the first place.
"They are not a copy of other AAA games, but delivering something quite fresh," he said of Crimson Desert and Clair Obscur. "I'm really glad of it because I'm starting to feel like I did in the 1990s when every game was different. Every game was some unknown."
The commercial success of both titles vindicates the risk-taking approach. Crimson Desert has sold 4 million copies, while Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has surpassed 5 million and captured the majority of 2025 Game of the Year awards. Tomaszkiewicz is banking on similar momentum for The Blood of Dawnwalker, another single-player fantasy open-world adventure that his studio is developing.
Tomaszkiewicz's endorsement reflects a broader shift in how leading industry figures view creativity and commerce. Though The Witcher 3 itself is a commercial and critical juggernaut, his evolution from AAA studio executive to independent developer underscores growing frustration with the increasingly formulaic nature of massive-budget releases. For Crimson Desert and Clair Obscur to win his praise suggests these games have struck a balance between ambitious scope and genuine artistic risk that many of their contemporaries miss.
Author Emily Chen: "When a Witcher 3 director is this openly enthusiastic about games that break the mold, it's a signal that players and creators alike are hungry for something beyond the predictable AAA template."
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