Poetic

What Poetic does

Poetic (legal entity: poetic s.r.o.) is an independent Slovak game studio founded in 2015 by Andrej Vojtas and headquartered in Humenné, Slovakia. The studio develops Sacred Fire, a psychological role-playing game set in a world where Rome has crossed the Wall and the player must rally tribes to reach Dunadd. Its core differentiator is an emotion-influenced mechanical layer: Fear and Anger modify every dice roll, players spend Willpower Points to stabilize emotions and boost success, and an Insight system unlocks understanding of enemies and weaknesses. Combat is turn-based and supports lethal, nonlethal, stealth/assassination, and diplomatic resolution paths, while character creation draws on real-life personality traits and a leadership/ally influence system.

The studio operates with a small team: founder Andrej Vojtas serves as designer, writer, coder, and artist, supported by contracted contributors including Jennie Kong (writer), Matus Koprda (tools programmer), Sean Beeson (music composer), Anirban Tubay (location artist), and Doug Cockle (voice acting). Sacred Fire entered Early Access on Steam and GoG on October 18, 2021, with development progressing through Act 2 (expansion released 2023) and Act 3 (writing completed and localization underway as of February 2024, with content roughly twice the size of Act 2). Planned full-release localizations cover German, French, Russian, Chinese, Spanish, Italian, and Slovak.

The business model is a one-time license sale per copy of Sacred Fire through Steam and GoG, supplemented by Slovak Arts Council public arts funding. Marketing is community-led via the Firestarters Guild email newsletter, blog updates, and organic social (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Discord), amplified by named industry endorsements from figures associated with Baldur's Gate 3, Disco Elysium, The Witcher, Age of Decadence, and Banner Saga. The target customer is global narrative-RPG enthusiasts seeking character-driven, psychology-themed experiences with meaningful choice. No revenue figures, headcount growth, or unit sales are publicly disclosed.

Name

Poetic

Legal name

poetic s.r.o.

Website

https://poeticstudio.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Poetic is an independent Slovak game studio founded in 2015 by Andrej Vojtas, developing Sacred Fire, a psychological role-playing game featuring emotion-influenced dice mechanics distributed via Steam and GoG since October 2021.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Humenné

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. Game Sales: One-time purchase of Sacred Fire game through digital distribution platforms Steam and GoG. Early Access version released October 18, 2021, with full release planned with additional content including Act 3 and multiple localizations.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Poetic is an independent game studio that develops and publishes Sacred Fire, a psychological role-playing video game for PC. In Sacred Fire, players control a survivor fleeing Rome and manage emotions such as fear and anger that influence every dice roll, using willpower points to boost chances in turn-based combat, diplomatic, and stealth scenarios. The game is sold as a one-time digital purchase on Steam and GoG, with an Early Access version released on October 18, 2021, and full release planned with Act 3 content and additional language localizations.

Product overview

Poetic is an AI company that has developed GPT-5.2, a language model. According to available sources, the company has achieved a significant milestone in AI development with a model that surpasses average human performance on the ARC AGI benchmark. The product portfolio appears to center on foundation models with advanced reasoning capabilities. Note: A separate entity also operating under the name 'Poetic' is a Slovak game studio (Poetic s.r.o.) that developed the Sacred Fire RPG, which is unrelated to the AI company's products.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Sacred Fire: A Role-Playing Game A psychological role-playing video game for PC in which players control a survivor on the run from Rome, manage emotions such as fear and anger that influence every dice roll, and spend willpower points to boost chances in turn-based combat, diplomacy, and stealth scenarios. Players create characters with real-life personality traits and beliefs, pursue varied conflict resolution paths (lethal, nonlethal, diplomatic, stealth/assassination), and rise as a leader by winning trust, respect, and influence over group decisions. Targeted at individual PC gaming consumers who enjoy narrative-driven RPGs with psychological depth, including fans of Baldur's Gate, Disco Elysium, The Witcher, Age of Decadence, and Banner Saga.

Quantifiable outcome

• Act 3 contains almost twice as much content as Act 2

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability3 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Doug CockleminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerProfessional voice actor known for The Witcher series. Provided voiceover work for Sacred Fire trailers and in-game content, lending professional voice acting credibility to the project.
• Steam (Valve)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorPrimary digital distribution platform for Sacred Fire. Game released on Steam in Early Access on October 18, 2021 with demo available and wishlist functionality.
• GoG (Good Old Games)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorCD Projekt's digital distribution platform offering DRM-free games. Sacred Fire released simultaneously with Steam version on October 18, 2021.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• Iron Tower Studio: Small, founder-led indie studio behind Age of Decadence — a turn-based, narrative-driven isometric RPG. Closely comparable to Poetic on team size, single-product focus, narrative depth, and choice-driven mechanics.
• Spiderweb Software: Long-running solo/small-team indie RPG developer behind the Avernum and Avadon series. Directly comparable in scale, distribution model (Steam/GoG), and focus on old-school narrative RPGs with deep character systems.
• Harebrained Schemes: Indie narrative-RPG studio behind Shadowrun Returns and BattleTech. Comparable as a small-to-mid studio specializing in choice-driven, story-rich tactical RPGs sold through Steam and GoG.
• ZA/UM: Developer of Disco Elysium — a narrative-driven psychological RPG celebrated for character interiority. Most directly comparable to Poetic in psychological depth, narrative focus, and quotable endorsement on Sacred Fire's website.
• Stoic Studio: Small indie studio behind The Banner Saga trilogy — narrative-driven tactical RPGs with hand-drawn art. Comparable team size and narrative-RPG positioning.
• Owlcat Games: Indie studio behind Pathfinder: Kingmaker and Wrath of the Righteous — choice-heavy, story-rich isometric RPGs. Comparable in narrative depth and genre, with a slightly larger team and publisher backing.
• InXile Entertainment: Developer of Wasteland and Torment: Tides of Numenera — narrative-driven RPGs with deep choice systems. Comparable focus on story-led RPGs distributed via Steam and GoG.
• Beamdog: Indie studio specializing in classic and modern CRPG remasters/new entries (Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale). Comparable indie scale and PC-first distribution via Steam and GoG.

Broad incumbents

• Larian Studios: Developer of Baldur's Gate 3 and Divinity series — large, established narrative-RPG studio whose lead Swen Vincke publicly endorsed Sacred Fire. Functions as a benchmark and aspirational comparable rather than a direct competitor.
• Obsidian Entertainment: Veteran narrative-RPG developer (Pillars of Eternity, Pentiment, The Outer Worlds). Comparable in focus on choice-driven RPGs but operates at much larger scale with publisher support.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/PoeticStudio
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UC9-anlOnurMbPwj21qxEHUA
• Facebookfacebook.com/sacredfiregame

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Poetic