Star Wars: Rebellion designer founds new ‘innovative design’ board game studio Unexpected Games

The designer of Star Wars: Rebellion and Mansions of Madness has left Fantasy Flight Games after 14 years to start up his own game studio.

Corey Konieczka had been at Fantasy Flight since 2005, leading and contributing to designs including Eldritch Horror, Battlestar Galactica, Imperial Assault and the latest edition of Twilight Imperium. He recently posted a retrospective of his time at the publisher, spanning his early days working on World of Warcraft: The Board Game through to 2018's ambitious – if flawed – 'unique board game' Discover: Lands Unknown and this year's sci-fi sandbox Star Wars: Outer Rim.

Konieczka’s new studio Unexpected Games is a brand new venture, sitting alongside Fantasy Flight in the wider Asmodee umbrella, and described as being a studio focused on “innovative design” and “idea incubation”.

“Our goal is to create games that are novel, fun, and accessible,” the designer said. “We hope to surprise people and create experiences that they’ve never had before.”

The first game from Unexpected is currently in development, with a planned release date of 2020. In Konieczka’s words, it’ll be “a multi-layered experience that tells a story in a unique way”. Further details are yet to be announced.