Humble Beginnings, Shadowgun and a Promising Future: An Interview with Marek Rabas, CEO of Madfinger Games

When it comes to high-quality mobile titles, there are few companies more trustworthy than Madfinger Games. With their range of success over the years, from the cult hit Samurai: Way of the Warrior, to the upcoming high thrills shooter Shadowgun War Games, they deliver quality games that have grown in popularity as well as genre and art dynamics.

Shadow War Games is already building a tremendous amount of hype, particularly for the graphics and multiplayer games featured in the recently released beta. We talked with Madfinger CEO Marek Rabas, about the upcoming game release as well as how the company got started (hint: Silent Hill: Downpour helped).

ESTNN: It has been ten years since the release of Samurai: Way of the Warrior. What have been the biggest challenges and changes for you as Madfinger CEO over the past decade?

Rabas: The biggest challenge for me and probably for every other CEO/Founder is the growth of the company. You start with mostly just your friends and you don’t need almost any processes or pipelines. Everybody knows what to do and how to do it. Later, when the company is bigger (60+ people), you need to take care of it, because otherwise, it becomes chaotic and ineffective.

It’s very hard to do it, especially when you are the founder and it's your first company. Also during the last 10 years, a lot of things have changed on the market and you have to react to it.

ESTNN: What can fans and new players expect from Shadowgun War Games? The new footage looks incredible.

Rabas: Thank you very much, we are working really hard on this game. Long story short, Shadowgun War Games is a Hero based PvP shooter with incredible visual fidelity and very satisfying gameplay. When compared to Call of Duty Mobile, our approach is a little bit different. It’s more about team tactics, about Heroes and how the players play with them.

We have a lot of plans for future updates, including new maps, new modes and new Heroes. Our focus is on a fun and entertaining gameplay and also on the competitive elements of the game. We’re planning to release ranked matches, tournaments, leagues etc.

ESTNN: Growing up, what was your favorite video game?

Rabas: I was playing games since the early 90s. It’s very hard to name only one because during the last 30 years I have played so many games and I still love a lot of them. Some because of the story or because of the design, some because of multiplayer or because of their technical achievements. Currently, I want to finish Sekiro and I’m also playing Call of Duty Mobile.

Looking forward to the new Last of Us Part II, Ghost of Tsushima, Doom Eternal, Diablo IV, Cyberpunk 2077 etc.

ESTNN: Tell us how Madfinger began. How did the company get its start?

Rabas: I still remember it like it was today. We were working on a AAA console game Silent Hill: Downpour and we were reading success stories about mobile games and applications, so we decided to give it a shot. It wasn't a real business project, we just wanted to do games on our own without any influence from the publisher or any other guys. I was a programmer, the other two founders were artists and the fourth founder was doing all the sounds and music.

ESTNN: With the success of Monzo VR, can we expect any more virtual reality titles in the near future?

Rabas: No, we are now fully focusing on mobile games.

ESTNN: The graphics that Madfinger implements are fantastic. How much time does your team usually take to make sure a game is ready for release?

Rabas: We have a lot of guys here who were working on AAA games on PC and consoles and they are very experienced and know what to do. They know a lot of tricks to speed up development. On the other hand, it's definitely not easy and we have to work hard.

All our games, except Shadowgun Legends, were in development for less than a year. For example, Shadowgun War Games will be released after 10 months in development.

When you're coming up with a game, or your team has an idea for one, how do you choose which titles to move forward with?

Currently, we are prototyping our concepts and then we decide if it’s worth to continue and spend our energy on them. There is always one main rule above all the others – we have to love that concept.

ESTNN: What does the future hold for Madfinger Games? Where do you hope to be ten years from now?

Rabas: We want to bring new games to the players during the next few years. We have another two titles and they look very promising. Our goal is to entertain other people, give them a way to de-stress after the demands of everyday life and do something that they enjoy just for the sake of enjoying it. I really hope that we will continue with it as long as possible.