Fallout 76's Jeff Gardiner founds new studio, Something Wicked Games

At Gamescom 2022, former Fallout developer Jeff Gardiner announced his new studio, Something Wicked Games. 

The new developer's debut title will be Wyrdsong, an "occult fantasy RPG" set in a fictional version of Middle Age Portugal. The game is currently in pre-Alpha, and developed using Unreal Engine 5.

Gardiner worked at Bethesda for 16 years, serving as a project lead for the shared world Fallout 76. Before that, he would serve as a producer on expansions for Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion followed by Fallout 3 and Fallout 4. He departed the company in late 2021 to found Something Wicked with Charles Staples and Ekram Rashid, and serve as its CEO. 

In a press release, Gardiner described Wyrdsong as "my dream game for some time now [...] Our goal with Something Wicked Games is to utilize our independence and creative autonomy to create the next evolution of open world RPGs." 

Something Wicked's current 12-person staff includes co-founder and design director Charles Staples. Staples worked at Obsidian Entertainment for 15 years, serving as a design director on 2018's The Outer Worlds.