CreativeForge Games

CreativeForge Games S.A. is a Polish video game developer based in Warsaw. Founded in 2011 by Jakub Rozenek and Łukasz Żarnowiecki, the company developed the games Ancient Space, Hard West, and Phantom Doctrine, with Hard West 2 and Aircraft Carrier Survival in development. CreativeForge is listed on the NewConnect stock exchange with 47.81% owned by the publisher PlayWay.

CreativeForge Games S.A.
TypePublic
NewConnect: CFG
ISINPLCRFRG00016
IndustryVideo games
Founded21 November 2011 (2011-11-21)
Founders
  • Jakub Rozenek
  • Łukasz Żarnowiecki
Headquarters
Warsaw
,
Poland
Key people
Piotr Karbowski (CEO)
ProductsHard West, Phantom Doctrine
OwnerPlayWay (47.81%)
Number of employees
≈11 (2019)
Websitecreativeforge.pl

History

CreativeForge Games was founded in Warsaw on 21 November 2011 by Jakub Rozenek and Łukasz Żarnowiecki under an investment agreement with the publisher PlayWay.[1][2] The studio's debut game was Ancient Space, a real-time strategy game published by Paradox Interactive in September 2014.[1][3] PlayWay bought out Rozenek's shares in CreativeForge in December 2014.[2] A second game, the Western-themed turn-based tactics game Hard West, was crowdfunded through the website Kickstarter; the campaign ended in September 2014 with CA$94,000 out of CA$70,000 raised.[4] The game was released by Gambitious Digital Entertainment in November 2015.[5][6]

CreativeForge continued working with Gambitious (later renamed Good Shepherd Entertainment) on its Phantom Doctrine, a turn-based tactics game set in an alternate history 1983 Cold War setting that was released in August 2018.[7][8] Within three months, the game had sold 100,000 copies.[9] However, the game was met with a poor critical reception and had a low sales performance, as a result of which Żarnowiecki resigned as chief executive officer (CEO) of the company and was interim-replaced by former lead designer Kacper Szymczak in October 2018.[10][11] Szymczak subsequently resigned himself and left the company in January 2019 because he felt as though the role of CEO was more of a puppet for the company's shareholders.[3][11] Additionally, 29 of CreativeForge's previously 40 staff left the company.[3][11] In light of the announcement of these resignations, CreativeForge's share value on the NewConnect stock exchange fell by roughly 12%.[3] At the time, PlayWay owned 47.81% of these shares.[3] Piotr Karbowski assumed the role of CEO in February.[10] Some former CreativeForge employees established the studio Artificer, which was majority-acquired by Good Shepherd in April 2019.[12]

As of February 2019, CreativeForge is working on two games: Hard West 2 is in development by an external team, with CreativeForge issuing the licence and publishing the game in exchange for 50% of its sales revenue, while Aircraft Carrier Survival is being developed internally, having finished pre-production.[13]

Games
Year Title Platform(s) Publisher(s)
2014 Ancient Space macOS, Microsoft Windows Paradox Interactive
2015 Hard West Linux, macOS, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch Gambitious Digital Entertainment
2018 Phantom Doctrine Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One Good Shepherd Entertainment
2021 Postal: Brain Damaged Microsoft Windows Running with Scissors
TBA Hard West 2 TBA CreativeForge Games
Aircraft Carrier Survival TBA

References
  1. Orbech (24 September 2014). "Ancient Space – polska strategia kosmiczna już w sprzedaży" [Ancient Space – Polish space strategy already on sale]. Gry Online (in Polish).
  2. "CreativeForge Games Spółka Akcyjna z siedzibą w Warszawie – Dokument Informacyjny" [CreativeForge Games Spółka Akcyjna with its registered office in Warsaw – Information Document] (PDF). NewConnect (in Polish). 17 May 2018.
  3. Vergil (31 January 2019). "Twórcy gry Phantom Doctrine w tarapatach – pracownicy odchodzą z CreativeForge Games [aktualizacja]" [Developers of Phantom Doctrine in trouble – employees leave CreativeForge Games [update]]. Gry Online (in Polish).
  4. Góral (7 September 2014). "Hard West – zbiórka pieniędzy na polski western zakończona" [Hard West – fundraising for Polish western is over]. Gry Online (in Polish).
  5. Góral (18 November 2015). "Hard West – polski western zadebiutuje dziś na PC-tach" [Hard West – Polish western will debut today on PCs]. Gry Online (in Polish).
  6. Porter, Matt (30 July 2015). "Tactical Western Hard West Coming to PC". IGN.
  7. LeClair, Kyle (22 August 2017). "Good Shepherd Reveals Turn-Based Espionage Game Phantom Doctrine". Hardcore Gamer.
  8. Werner, Adrian (15 August 2018). "Phantom Doctrine – pierwsze recenzje polskiej turówki" [Phantom Doctrine – the first reviews of the Polish turnout]. Gry Online (in Polish).
  9. Entelarmer (14 November 2018). "Phantom Doctrine sprzedane w 100 tys. kopii. Twórcy robią nową grę" [Phantom Doctrine sold in 100,000 copies. The creators are making a new game]. Gry Online (in Polish).
  10. Costa, Richard (6 March 2019). "Phantom Doctrine Core Team Departs As CreativeForge Games Appoints New CEO". TechRaptor.
  11. Halliday, Fergus (6 March 2019). "Weaker-than-expected sales have thrown Phantom Doctrine dev CreativeForge into disarray". PC World Australia.
  12. Handrahan, Matthew (10 April 2019). "Good Shepherd buys majority stake in Artificer". GamesIndustry.biz.
  13. Werner, Adrian (22 February 2019). "Hard West 2 i Aircraft Carrier Survival w planach CreativeForge Games" [Hard West 2 and Aircraft Carrier Survival in the plans of CreativeForge Games]. Gry Online (in Polish).
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