The Blood of Dawnwalker, the debut game from Polish studio Rebel Wolves, cost around $40 million to develop. According to Bloomberg, that was the amount NetEase provided after the team presented a working prototype of the game.
Game designer Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, who previously worked as one of the leading developers on The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Cyberpunk 2077, began working on an early version of the game with a small team back in 2022. Tomaszkiewicz personally funded the first year of development while the team worked on a prototype and searched for a partner.
Once the prototype was ready, Rebel Wolves managed to secure deals with NetEase and Bandai Namco. NetEase later funded the game's development and acquired a 26% stake in the studio.
With a budget of $40 million, The Blood of Dawnwalker falls closer to the AA category rather than the large scale AAA space. For comparison, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II reportedly had a similar development budget, while Marvel’s Wolverine is said to have cost roughly six times as much.
Despite its relatively modest budget, The Blood of Dawnwalker has achieved solid results following its launch. The game sold more than 1 million copies within a few days, while its Steam concurrent player peak reached 78,188.
Tomaszkiewicz also revealed that his initial goal was to prevent Rebel Wolves from growing too large. However, the studio expanded as its ambitions increased. It had around 90 employees in 2024, while its current team has grown to approximately 160 people.
«We decided that the size of the team we have right now is the most fitting for our needs. It’s still letting me know everyone. I can speak with everyone every day. I still feel like a creator and not a manager, which is the place I want to be», — Tomaszkiewicz said.
The Blood of Dawnwalker launched on September 3, 2026, for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. Rebel Wolves is already working on future projects set in the game's universe, while additional updates for its debut title are also in development, including New Game Plus.
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