CD Projekt S.A. (Polish: [ˌt͡sɛˈdɛ ˈprɔjɛkt]) is a Polish video game developer, publisher, and distributor based in Warsaw, founded in May 1994 by Marcin Iwiński and Michał Kiciński. Iwiński and Kiciński were video game retailers before they founded the company, which initially acted as a distributor of foreign video games for the domestic market. The department responsible for developing original games, CD Projekt Red (stylised as CD PROJEKT RED), best known for The Witcher series, was formed in 2002. In 2008, CD Projekt launched the digital distribution service Good Old Games, now known as GOG.com.
Company type | Public |
---|---|
ISIN | PLOPTTC00011 |
Industry | Video games |
Founded | May 1994 |
Founders |
|
Headquarters | , Poland |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people |
|
Products | |
Revenue | 1.23 billion zł (2023)[1] |
469 million zł (2023)[1] | |
481.1 million zł (2023)[1] | |
Total assets | 2.61 billion zł (2023)[1] |
Total equity | 2.40 billion zł (2023)[1] |
Owner |
|
Number of employees | 1134 (entire company)[a][3] 615 (CD Projekt RED only)[b][4] |
Subsidiaries |
|
Website | cdprojekt.com |
The company began by translating major video-game releases into Polish, collaborating with Interplay Entertainment for two Baldur's Gate games. CD Projekt was working on the PC version of Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance when Interplay experienced financial difficulties. The game was cancelled and the company decided to reuse the code for their own video game. It became The Witcher, a video game based on the works of novelist Andrzej Sapkowski.
After the release of The Witcher, CD Projekt worked on a console port called The Witcher: White Wolf; however, development issues and increasing costs almost led the company to the brink of bankruptcy. CD Projekt later released The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings in 2011 and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt in 2015, with the latter winning various Game of the Year awards. In 2020, the company released Cyberpunk 2077, a role-playing game based on the Cyberpunk 2020 tabletop game system for which it opened a new division in Wrocław.
A video game distribution service, GOG.com, was established by CD Projekt in 2008 to help players find old games. Its mission is to offer games free of digital rights management (DRM) to players and its service was expanded in 2012 to cover new AAA and independent games.
In 2009, CD Projekt's then-parent company, CDP Investment, announced its plans to merge with Optimus S.A. in a deal intended to reorganise CD Projekt as a publicly traded company. The merger was closed in December 2010 with Optimus as the legal surviving entity; Optimus became the current incarnation of CD Projekt S.A. in July 2011.[6] By September 2017, it was the largest publicly traded video game company in Poland, worth about US$2.3 billion,[7] and by May 2020, had reached a valuation of US$8.1 billion, making it the largest video game company in Europe.[8] In March 2018, the company joined WIG20, an index of the 20 largest companies on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.[9]
History
editFounding
editCD Projekt was founded in May 1994 by Marcin Iwiński and Michał Kiciński.[10] According to Iwiński, although he enjoyed playing video games as a child they were scarce in the Polish People's Republic (which experienced political unrest, martial law, and goods shortages during the 1980s). Marcin Iwiński, in high school, was selling cracked copies of Western video games at a Warsaw marketplace (stalls on the stress with many such products were popular in the newly established and aggressively privatised Third Polish Republic of the 1990s).[11] In high school, Iwiński met Kiciński, who became his business partner; at that time, Kiciński was also selling video games.[12]
Wanting to conduct business legitimately, Iwiński and Kiciński began importing games from US retailers and were the first importers of CD-ROM games.[13] After Poland's transition to a primarily market-based economy in the early 90s, they founded their own company. Iwiński and Kiciński founded CD Projekt in the second quarter of 1994. With only $2,000, they used a friend's flat as a rent-free office.[11][12]
Localization
editWhen CD Projekt was founded, their biggest challenge was overcoming video game piracy. The company was one of the first in Poland to localize games; according to Iwiński, most of their products were sold to "mom-and-pop shops". CD Projekt began partial localization for developers such as Seven Stars and Leryx-LongSoft in 1996, and full-scale localization a year later.[14] According to Iwiński, one of their first successful localization titles was for Ace Ventura; whereas previous localizations had only sold copies in the hundreds, Ace Ventura sold in the thousands, establishing the success of their localization approach.[15] With their methods affirmed, CD Projekt approached BioWare and Interplay Entertainment for the Polish localization of Baldur's Gate. They expected the title to become popular in Poland, and felt that no retailer would be able to translate the text from English to Polish. To increase the title's popularity in Poland, CD Projekt added items to the game's packaging and hired well-known Polish actors to voice its characters. Their first attempt was successful, with 18,000 units shipped on the game's release day (higher than the average shipments of other games at the time).[11][12]
The company continued to work with Interplay after the release of Baldur's Gate, collaborating on a PC port for the sequel Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance. To develop the port, CD Projekt hired Sebastian Zieliński (who had developed Mortyr 2093-1944) and Adam Badowski. Six months after development began, Interplay experienced financial problems and cancelled the PC version. CD Projekt continued to localize other games after Dark Alliance's cancellation, and received Business Gazelle awards in 2003 and 2004.[16]
CD Projekt Red
editEnthusiasm for game distribution ebbed, and CD Projekt's founders wondered if the company should continue as a distributor or a game developer after Dark Alliance's cancellation. With the game cancelled and its code owned by CD Projekt, the company planned to use them to develop their first original game.[11][12] They intended to develop a game series based on Andrzej Sapkowski's Wiedźmin books (which were popular in Poland) and the author accepted the company's development proposal. The franchise rights had been sold to Metropolis Software in 1997 and a playable version of the first chapter was made, but then left abandoned.[17] CD Projekt acquired the rights to the Wiedźmin franchise in 2002. According to Iwiński, he and Kiciński had no idea how to develop a video game at that time.[12]
CD Projekt Red created a demo in a year. "It was a piece of crap," chuckles Adam Badowski. "We tried to convince Marcin and Michal not to go on the first business trip with the demo, but they decided..." to show it to a dozen publishers all around Europe on the most expensive and powerful laptop money could buy, Iwiński fills in. "After two weeks of meetings, we get two emails saying, in a very nice British way, 'It's not so good'. So pretty much: 'Boys, go home'. We were shattered. We were like, 'Oh my god we suck'".
— CD Projekt co-founder Marcin Iwiński, on publisher rejection of the Witcher demo[12]
To develop the game, the company formed a video-game development studio (CD Projekt Red Sp. z o.o., headed by Sebastian Zieliński) in Łódź in 2002. The studio made a demonstration game, which Adam Badowski called "a piece of crap" in retrospect. The demo was a role-playing game with a top-down perspective, similar to Dark Alliance and Diablo, and used the game engine which powered Mortyr.[18] Iwiński and Kiciński pitched the demo to a number of publishers, without success. The Łódź office closed and the staff, except for Zieliński, moved to the Warsaw headquarters.[12]
Zieliński left the company, and Kiciński headed the project. Although the game's development continued, the demo was abandoned. According to CD Projekt, the development team had different ideas for the game and lacked overall direction; as a result, it was returned to the drawing board in 2003.[19][20] The team, unfamiliar with video-game development, spent nearly two years organising production.[13] They received assistance from BioWare, who helped promote the game at the 2004 Electronic Entertainment Expo by offering CD Projekt space in their booth next to Jade Empire. BioWare also licensed their Aurora game engine to the company.[21]
The game's budget exceeded expectations. The original 15-person development team expanded to about 100, at a cost of 20 million złoty. According to Iwiński, content was removed from the game for budgetary reasons but the characters' personalities were retained; however, there was difficulty in translating the game's Polish text into English.[22] Atari agreed to publish the game.[23] After five years of development,[13] the game brought Wiedźmin to an international audience, and so the company adopted the English name, The Witcher, coined by Adrian Chmielarz.[c][17] The Witcher was released in 2007 to generally positive reviews.[24]
Sales were satisfactory, and the development of sequels began almost immediately after The Witcher's release. The team began the design work for The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, and experimented with consoles to develop a new engine for The Witcher 3. Their development was halted when the team began work on The Witcher: White Wolf, a console version of The Witcher.[12] Although they collaborated with French studio Widescreen Games for the console port, it entered development limbo. Widescreen demanded more manpower, money and time to develop the title, complaining that they were not being paid;[25] according to Iwiński, CD Projekt paid them more than their own staff members. The team cancelled the project, suspending its development.[26] Unhappy with the decision, Atari demanded that CD Projekt repay them for funding the console port development and Iwiński agreed that Atari would be the North American publisher of the sequel of The Witcher 2.[12] CD Projekt acquired Metropolis Software in 2008.[27]
The dispute over White Wolf was costly; the company faced bankruptcy,[28] with the financial crisis of 2007–08 as a contributing factor.[12] To stay afloat, the team decided to focus on The Witcher 2 with the Witcher 3 engine. When the engine (known as Red Engine) was finished, the game could be ported to other consoles.[29] To develop The Witcher 2, the company suspended development of Metropolis' first-person shooter, titled They.[30] After three-and-a-half years of development, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings was released in 2011 to critical praise[12] and sales of more than 1.7 million copies.[31]
After The Witcher 2, CD Projekt wanted to develop an open-world game of a quality similar to their other games, and the company wanted to add features to avoid criticism that it was Witcher 2.5. They wanted to push the game's graphics boundaries, releasing it only for the PC and eighth-generation consoles. This triggered debate on the team, some of whom wanted to release the game for older consoles to maximise profit.[12] The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt took three-and-a-half years to develop[13] and cost over $81 million.[12][32] A report alleged that the team had to crunch extensively for a year in order to meet release date deadlines.[33] After multiple delays, it was released in May 2015 to critical praise.[34] Wild Hunt was commercially successful, selling six million copies in its first six weeks and giving the studio a profit of 236 million złoty ($62.5 million) in the first half of 2015.[35][36] The team released 16 free content downloads and two paid expansions, Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine.[37] The team decided that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt would be the final game in the series with Geralt.[31][38] Regarding the future of the Witcher series, Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, game director of The Witcher 3, stated in May 2016 that he hoped to continue working with the series sometime in the future, but had nothing planned at the time.[39] As of 2017, the series had sold over 33 million copies.[40] A spin-off of the series, Gwent: The Witcher Card Game, based on the popular card game in The Witcher 3, was released in 2018.[41]
The success of The Witcher 3 enabled CD Projekt to expand. In March 2016, the company announced that they had another role-playing game in development, and that the title is scheduled to be released in the period of 2017 to 2021. They also announced plans for expansion, where the Red division will expand two-fold.[42] It also listed itself at Warsaw Stock Exchange, riding on the success of The Witcher 3[citation needed]. In March 2018, the opening of a new studio in Wrocław was announced. Acquired from a studio called Strange New Things, it is headed by former Techland COO Paweł Zawodny and composed of other ex-Techland, IO Interactive, and CD Projekt Red employees.[43] In August 2018, CD Projekt established Spokko, a development studio focused on mobile gaming.[44] The Witcher 3's success as well as CD Projekt RED's customer-friendly policies during that period enabled the studio to earn a lot of goodwill within the gaming community. However, the studio's working conditions were questioned after disgruntled employees flooded the company's profile at Glassdoor with negative reviews. Iwinski later responded by saying that the studio's approach to making games "is not for everyone".[45]
Following the successful release of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Cyberpunk 2077, the studio's next title, became one of the most anticipated video games of all time.[46] It is an open-world role-playing game based on the Cyberpunk 2020 tabletop system created by Mike Pondsmith. The game was initially introduced in May 2012.[47] The hype for the title, alongside the release of The Witcher TV series on Netflix, enabled CD Projekt to become the most valuable video game company in Europe in May 2020, surpassing Ubisoft.[48] The game suffered multiple delays, with the team stressing that they would not release the game until it was ready.[49] While management introduced a "non-obligatory crunch" model for the team to lessen the effects of game development on their personal lives,[50] management broke their promise and forced all developers to crunch and work six days a week.[51] The game was released in December 2020. The PC version received generally positive reviews and became one of the biggest video game launches for PC. The development cost was fully recouped based on pre-order sales alone.[52] However, the console versions were plagued with technical issues and software bugs, with some players reporting that these versions were unplayable. The studio was accused of hiding the poor state of the console versions from its customers during the game's marketing. On 18 December 2020 the game was removed from the PlayStation online store.[53] Kiciński acknowledged that the company's approach to marketing the console versions eroded players' trust in the studio, and promised to release patches for the game.[54]
In early February 2021, CD Projekt Red was hit by a ransomware attack, with the attackers able to acquire the source code to several of the studio's games, including Gwent, The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 as well as administrative files.[55] The attackers demanded CD Projekt Red pay them a large sum of money within a few days under threat of leaking or selling the stolen code and files. CD Projekt refused to negotiate with the attackers, stating to the press that "We will not give in to the demands or negotiate with the actor", affirming no personal information was obtained in the attack and that they were working with law enforcement to track down the attackers.[56][57] Security analysts saw the code being auctioned on the dark web for a minimum price of US$1 million, and subsequently closed later with the attackers stating they had received an offer that satisfied them.[58] Within a week of these auctions, the code was being shared online via social media, and CD Projekt began using DMCA takedown notices to remove postings of its code.[59]
In March 2021, CD Projekt Red acquired Vancouver, Canada-based Digital Scapes Studios and rebranded the studio as CD Projekt Red Vancouver.[60] In May, it was reported that Tomaszkiewicz had resigned from studio following workplace bullying allegations.[61] In October 2021, CD Projekt Red acquired Boston-based independent studio The Molasses Flood, the developer of The Flame in the Flood.[62]
On 6 October 2022, CD Projekt announced a slew of new projects that were in the works. These included a sequel to Cyberpunk 2077, codenamed Orion, and several new titles in The Witcher series. These included a new trilogy of games, the first of which is codenamed Polaris, a standalone game known as Canis Majoris (later confirmed to be a remake of the first Witcher game[63]), and a single-player/multiplayer hybrid game from The Molasses Flood.[64]
In December, it was announced that active development on Gwent would end after 2023. Instead of shutting down completely, the game would be controlled by the community, allowing players to determine matters like balance decisions.[65] 30 members of the Gwent development team were laid off in June 2023.[66] The game's final update was released in October 2023.[67]
On 20 March 2023, CD Projekt announced its intentions to write-off funds allocated to the development of Project Sirius, and that work would need to be restarted from scratch.[68][69] That May, 29 employees of The Molasses Flood were laid off once changes were made to Project Sirius.[70] In July 2023, CD Projekt CEO Adam Kiciński announced that they would be laying off around 100 workers—9% of its total workforce—from CD Projekt RED.[71][72]
REDengine
editREDengine is a game engine developed by CD Projekt Red exclusively for their nonlinear role-playing video games.[73] It is the replacement of the Aurora Engine CD Projekt Red had previously licensed from BioWare for the development of The Witcher.[74]
REDengine is portable across 32- and 64-bit software platforms and runs under Windows.[73] REDengine was first used in The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings for Windows.[75] REDengine 2, an updated version of REDengine used in The Witcher 2,[73] also runs under Xbox 360[76] and both OS X[77] and Linux, however these ports were made using a compatibility layer similar to Wine called eON. REDengine 3 was designed exclusively for a 64-bit software platform, and also runs under PlayStation 4,[78] Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.
REDengine 2 utilized middleware such as Havok for physics, Scaleform GFx for the user interface, and FMOD for audio.[79] The engine was used for the Xbox 360 port of The Witcher 2.[80]
REDengine 3 was designed to run exclusively on a 64-bit software platform. CD Projekt Red created REDengine 3 for the purpose of developing open world[73] video game environments, such as those of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. It introduces improvements to facial and other animations.[73] Lighting effects no longer suffer from reduced contrast ratio.[73] REDengine 3 also supports volumetric effects enabling advanced rendering of clouds, mist, fog, smoke, and other particle effects.[81] There is also support for high-resolution textures and mapping, as well as dynamic physics and an advanced dialogue lip-syncing system. However, due to limitations on texture streaming, the use of high-resolution textures may not always be the case.[citation needed]
REDengine 3 has a flexible renderer prepared for deferred or forward+ rendering pipelines.[73] The result is a wide array of cinematic effects, including depth-of-view, color grading and lens flares associated with multiple lighting.[73] The terrain system in REDengine 3 uses tessellation and layers varying material, which can then be easily blended.[73]
Cyberpunk 2077 used REDengine 4, which supported ray-traced global illumination and other effects.[82][83] In March 2022, CD Projekt announced a partnership with Epic Games after retiring REDengine to use Unreal Engine 5.[84][85][86]
Game distribution
editIn 2008, the company introduced Good Old Games, a distribution service with a digital rights management-free strategy.[14] GOG.com aims to help players find "good old games", preserving old games. To do so, the team needed to unravel licensing issues for defunct developers or negotiate with publishers for distribution rights. To recover old code for conversion to modern platforms, they had to use retail versions or second-hand games.[87] CD Projekt partnered with small developers and large publishers, including Activision, Electronic Arts and Ubisoft, to broaden the service's portfolio of games to triple-A and independent video games.[88]
Despite suspicions that it was a "doomed project", according to managing director Guillaume Rambourg, it has expanded since its introduction.[89] As of June 2015[update], GOG.com sold 690,000 units[90] of CD Projekt Red's game The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt redeemed through the service, more than the second largest digital seller Steam (approx. 580,000 units[91]) and all other PC digital distribution services combined.[92] As of 8 July 2019, every third Cyberpunk 2077 digital pre-order was sold on GOG.com.[93] Income from GOG.com (known internally as CD Projekt Blue) accrues to CD Projekt Red.[12]
Subsidiaries
editName | Location | Founded | Acquired | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
GOG.com | Warsaw | 2008 | — | Video game distribution platform | |
CD Projekt Red | CD Projekt Red Warsaw | 2002 | — | ||
CD Projekt Red Wrocław | Wrocław | 2018 | — | ||
CD Projekt Red Kraków | Kraków | 2013 | — | ||
CD Projekt Red North America[94] | CD Projekt Red Vancouver | Vancouver | 2012 | 2021 | Formerly Digital Scapes Studios[60] |
CD Projekt Red Boston | Boston | 2022 | — | ||
The Molasses Flood | 2014 | 2021 |
Former subsidiaries
editName | Location | Founded | Acquired | Closed/Divested | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Metropolis Software | Warsaw | 1992 | 2008 | 2009 | Closed |
CDP.pl | 2012 | 2014 | Sold to the management, filed for bankruptcy in 2020 | ||
Spokko | 2018 | 2022 | Merged into CD Projekt Red[95] |
Games developed
editYear | Title | Platform(s) | Developer(s) | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
2007 | The Witcher | Windows, macOS | CD Projekt Red | Enhanced Edition released in 2008 |
2011 | The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings | Windows, Linux, macOS, Xbox 360 | Enhanced Edition released in 2012 | |
2014 | The Witcher Adventure Game | Android, iOS, macOS, Windows | CD Projekt Red Can Explode[96] |
— |
2015 | The Witcher Battle Arena | Android, iOS | CD Projekt Red Fuero Games[97] |
— |
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S | CD Projekt Red | — | |
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Hearts of Stone | Expansion pack to The Witcher 3 | |||
2016 | The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Blood and Wine | |||
2018 | Gwent: The Witcher Card Game | PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox One, iOS, Android | Spin-off of a card game featured in The Witcher 3 | |
Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales | Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, iOS, Android | Standalone single-player game originally planned to be included in Gwent as Gwent: Thronebreaker[98] | ||
2020 | Cyberpunk 2077 | PlayStation 4, Stadia, Windows, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, macOS | — | |
2021 | The Witcher: Monster Slayer | Android, iOS | Spokko[99][100] | — |
2022 | Gwent: Rogue Mage | Windows, Android, iOS | CD Projekt Red | Standalone single-player expansion to Gwent[101] |
Roach Race | Android, iOS | CD Projekt Red Crunching Koalas |
Also released as an arcade minigame in Cyberpunk 2077 via DLC | |
2023 | Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty | PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox Series X/S | CD Projekt Red | Expansion pack to Cyberpunk 2077[102] |
TBA | The Witcher Remake | TBA | Fool's Theory | Remake of The Witcher (2007), developed using Unreal Engine 5[103] |
Project Hadar | CD Projekt Red | CD Projekt's first original IP | ||
Project Orion | CD Projekt Red North America | Sequel to Cyberpunk 2077[104] | ||
Project Polaris | CD Projekt Red | First game in a new trilogy set in The Witcher universe, developed using Unreal Engine 5[105] | ||
Project Sirius | The Molasses Flood CD Projekt Red North America |
New game set in The Witcher universe featuring multiplayer[106] |
Business views
editThe moment we start becoming conservative [and] stop taking creative risks and business risks, and stop being true to what we're doing, that's when we should worry. And I am not worried. Our values and our care for what we are doing and – hopefully what gamers would agree with – care for gamers is what drives this company forward. It's my personal horror to become a faceless behemoth of game development or publishing or whatnot. As long as I am here I will be fighting for this not to happen.
— CD Projekt Red founder Marcin Iwiński, on maintaining independence[107]
The company claims to focus on certain aspects and features of a game at a time, in order to ensure quality.[108] The company focuses on the development of role-playing games, with the team working on established franchises with a fan base and introducing lesser-known franchises to a wide audience.[109] The studio has been praised for prioritising quest design over the size of the game world in its open-world games.[110]
CD Projekt Red opposes the inclusion of digital-rights-management technology in video games and software. The company believes that DRM is ineffective in halting software piracy, based on data from sales of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. CD Projekt Red found that their initial release (which included DRM technology) was pirated over 4.5 million times; their DRM-free re-release was pirated far less.[111] The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Cyberpunk 2077 were released without DRM technology.[112] The team believes that free downloadable content should be an industry standard. The company demonstrated this by releasing several free DLC for Wild Hunt.[113]
According to Studio Head Adam Badowski, CD Projekt Red avoided becoming a subsidiary of another company in order to preserve their financial and creative freedom and ownership of their projects.[114] In 2015, Electronic Arts was rumoured to be attempting to acquire CD Projekt, but this was denied by Iwiński who said that maintaining the company's independence was something he would be fighting for.[107] Financial details on development, marketing and release costs are freely published, citing being "open in communication" as one of the company's core values.[115]
The company used to follow Rockstar Games' business model, where the company works on a single project with a large team and avoids working on multiple projects at the same time.[116] In March 2021, they changed their strategy. From 2022 onward, they will work on multiple AAA games in parallel.[117]
Controversy
editIn December 2021, CD Projekt agreed to pay $1.85 million while negotiating to settle a class-action lawsuit over the problematic release of Cyberpunk 2077, a game which had several technical issues that many users experienced.[118][119][120]
References
edit- ^ Total number of people employed by the entire company, including all subsidiaries, as of 3 September 2024.
- ^ Number includes only CD Projekt RED employees as of 31 December 2023.
- ^ Chmielarz's claim to the term "Witcher" is disputed by Sapkowski in the latter's 2005 book-interview (see The Witcher § The name "Witcher")
- ^ a b c d e "Financial summary report". CD Projekt. 30 June 2024. Retrieved 3 September 2024.
- ^ CD PROJEKT S. A. (13 November 2023). "Shareholders". CD PROJEKT. Warszawa, Poland. Retrieved 27 December 2023.
- ^ CD Projekt Fact Sheet (PDF) (Report). CD Projekt. 3 September 2024. Retrieved 8 November 2024.
- ^ Consolidated Financial Statement of the CD PROJEKT Group for 2023 (PDF) (Report). CD Projekt. Retrieved 3 September 2024.
- ^ "CD Projekt Red launches a new studio to support Cyberpunk 2077". PC Gamer. 20 March 2018. Archived from the original on 10 April 2018. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
- ^ "History".
- ^ Wawro, Alex (6 September 2017). "CD Projekt Red now worth over $2 billion". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on 25 October 2017. Retrieved 28 November 2017.
- ^ Ivan, Tom (20 May 2020). "CD Projekt is now Europe's most valuable game company ahead of Ubisoft". Video Games Chronicle. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
- ^ "Games developer CD Projekt to replace IT firm Asseco in Warsaw's..." Reuters. 1 March 2018. Archived from the original on 27 December 2018. Retrieved 27 December 2018 – via www.reuters.com.
- ^ "» History". CD Projekt. Archived from the original on 17 June 2004. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
- ^ a b c d Pitts, Russ (16 July 2014). "How The Team Behind The Witcher Conquered Poland". Polygon. Archived from the original on 24 November 2015. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Purchese, Robert (17 May 2015). "Seeing Red: The story of CD Projekt". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 8 January 2020. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
- ^ a b c d Crapple, Craig (10 June 2015). "The wild road to The Witcher 3". Develop. Archived from the original on 9 May 2016. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
- ^ a b Mark J. P. Wolf (15 May 2015). Video Games Around the World. MIT Press. p. 416. ISBN 978-0-262-52716-3.
- ^ Wawro, Alex (2 October 2017). "Hear how CD Projekt Red built its business on the back of Ace Ventura". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on 3 October 2017. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
- ^ "CDP.pl / CD Projekt". Gry-Online. Archived from the original on 2 March 2012. Retrieved 21 October 2010.
- ^ a b Purchese, Robert (19 May 2015). "The Witcher game that never was". Eurogamer. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
- ^ Klepek, Patrick (22 May 2015). "The Witcher Was Almost A Diablo Clone". Kotaku. Archived from the original on 16 November 2015. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
- ^ Blake, Vikki (26 May 2015). "The Witcher Was Nearly A Diablo Inspired Top-down ARPG". IGN. Archived from the original on 26 November 2015. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
- ^ LaBella, Anthony (22 May 2015). "The Witcher Originally Developed as a Point-and-Click RPG". Game Revolution. Archived from the original on 10 September 2015. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
- ^ Fogel, Stefanie (27 September 2011). "The Witcher 2 vs. Dragon Age II". GameZone. Archived from the original on 29 February 2016. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
- ^ Meer, Alec (26 March 2008). "RPS Interview: CD Projekt on The Witcher". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Archived from the original on 30 October 2015. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
- ^ Ransom-Wiley, James (5 February 2007). "Atari to publish The Witcher". Joystiq. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
- ^ "The Witcher for PC reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on 5 November 2015. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
- ^ Martin, Matt (29 April 2009). "Financial dispute puts The Witcher games on hold". Gameindustry.biz. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
- ^ Vandell, Perry (9 November 2013). "The Witcher 2 almost didn't happen". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on 6 September 2015. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
- ^ "Metropolis Joins CD Projekt Group". IGN. 18 February 2009. Archived from the original on 11 December 2017. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
- ^ Derocher, Joshua (11 August 2015). "CD Projekt almost failed before The Witcher 2". Destructoid. Archived from the original on 12 September 2015. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
- ^ Leadbetter, Richard (18 May 2012). "The Making of The Witcher 2". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 1 October 2015. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
- ^ Nunneley, Stephany (28 January 2012). "CD Projekt puts FPS "They" on hold to work on Witcher 2". VG247. Archived from the original on 21 September 2015. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
- ^ a b Davis, Matthew (15 October 2015). "'We're ready to move on': CD Projekt Red on The Witcher, Hearts of Stone and Cyberpunk 2077". MCV. Archived from the original on 18 October 2015. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
- ^ Makuch, Eddie (9 September 2015). "This is How Much The Witcher 3 Cost to Make". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 11 June 2017. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
- ^ Crossley, Rob (9 October 2014). "Witcher 3 Studio Responds to Crunch Accusations". GameSpot. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
- ^ Crossley, Rob (8 December 2014). "The Witcher 3 Delayed Again". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 12 November 2015. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
- ^ Kerr, Chris (9 September 2015). "Video: CD Projekt's budget breakdown of The Witcher 3". Gamasutra. UBM plc. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
- ^ Purchese, Robert (26 August 2015). "The Witcher 3 sells 6m copies in six weeks". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 26 August 2015. Retrieved 27 August 2015.
- ^ Krupa, Daniel (7 April 2015). "2 Massive Expansion Announced For The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt". IGN. Archived from the original on 3 November 2015. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
- ^ Makuch, Eddie (6 February 2013). "Witcher 3 may not be final Witcher game". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 12 January 2016. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
- ^ Purchese, Robert (10 May 2016). "No new content for The Witcher 3 after Blood and Wine comes out". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 17 May 2016. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
- ^ "Witcher Series Sells Over 33 Million Copies in 10 Years; Witcher 3 2017 PC Sales Equal PS4/XO Sales". Wccftech. 23 March 2018. Archived from the original on 3 July 2018. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
- ^ Summer, Nick (13 June 2016). "Gwent from 'Witcher 3' is now its own digital card game". Engadget. AOL. Archived from the original on 13 June 2016. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
- ^ Purchese, Robert (11 March 2016). "It's been a great year for Witcher 3 dev CD Projekt. Now what?". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 11 March 2016. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
- ^ Chalk, Andy (21 March 2018). "CD Projekt Red launches a new studio to support Cyberpunk 2077". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on 10 April 2018. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
- ^ Kerr, Chris (20 August 2018). "The Witcher creator CD Projekt has opened a new mobile studio". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on 20 August 2018. Retrieved 20 August 2018.
- ^ Purchese, Robert (16 October 2017). "CD Projekt Red: "This approach to making games is not for everyone"". Eurogamer. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
- ^ Fahey, Rob (11 December 2020). "Cyberpunk 2077 launches with some real dystopia in tow". Gameindustry.biz. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
- ^ Crawley, Dan (17 November 2014). "Cyberpunk 2077 is CD Projekt Red's 'Fight Club' — it won't talk about it". VentureBeat. Archived from the original on 17 November 2015. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
- ^ Williams, Hayley (21 May 2020). "CD Projekt Surpasses Ubisoft To Become Europe's Most Valuable Game Company". GameSpot. Retrieved 21 December 2010.
- ^ Avard, Alex (18 June 2020). "Cyberpunk 2077 delayed again: "We won't ship something which is not ready"". gamesradar. Retrieved 20 June 2020.
- ^ Chalk, Andy (14 June 2019). "CD Projekt boss re-commits to 'non-obligatory crunch' on Cyberpunk 2077". PC Gamer. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
- ^ Lives, Taylor (29 September 2020). "Cyberpunk 2077 dev breaks promise, will force employees to work six days a week". The Verge. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
- ^ Bailey, Dustin (11 December 2020). "Cyberpunk 2077 was profitable for CD Projekt before it even launched". PCGamesN. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
- ^ Hern, Alex (14 December 2020). "Cyberpunk 2077 developers offer refunds after bug-ridden launch". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
- ^ Barker, Sammy (16 December 2020). "Cost of Fixing Cyberpunk 2077 Irrelevant, Says CD Projekt RED". Push Square. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
- ^ "CDProject Hacked, GWENT Source Code Leaked". EIP Gaming. 10 February 2021. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
- ^ Criddle, Cristina (9 February 2021). "Cyberpunk 2077 makers CD Projekt hit by ransomware hack". BBC News. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
- ^ Schreier, Jason (25 February 2021). "CD Projekt Ransomware Hack Severely Disrupts Work on Cyberpunk Updates". Bloomberg. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
- ^ Orland, Kyle (12 February 2021). "CD Projekt Red source code reportedly sells for millions in dark Web auction". Ars Technica. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
- ^ Franceschi-Bicchierai, Lorenzo (19 February 2021). "CD Projekt Red Uses DMCA to Take Down Tweets Sharing Stolen Game Code". Vice. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
- ^ a b Makuch, Eddie (30 March 2021). "Cyberpunk 2077 Dev Acquires Co-Developer Digital Scapes To Create Its First Canadian Studio". GameSpot. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
- ^ Winslow, Jeremy (4 May 2021). "The Witcher 3 Director Leaves CDPR Following "Workplace Bullying" Allegations". GameSpot. Retrieved 4 May 2021.
- ^ Makuch, Eddie (22 October 2021). "CD Projekt Announces "Ambitious" Game Coming From Newly Acquired Studio". GameSpot. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
- ^ LeBlanc, Wesley. "CD Projekt Red Reveals Codename Canis Majoris Is A Remake Of The First Witcher Game". Game Informer. Archived from the original on 26 October 2022. Retrieved 3 March 2024.
- ^ Kennedy, Victoria (4 October 2022). "CD Projekt Red confirms Cyberpunk 2077 sequel, next Witcher trilogy and new IP". Eurogamer.net. Retrieved 3 March 2024.
- ^ Parrish, Ash (6 December 2022). "CD Projekt Red is ending Gwent support". The Verge. Retrieved 3 March 2024.
- ^ Kennedy, Victoria (1 June 2023). "Witcher developer laying off 30 staff as card game Gwent switches to community-run model". Eurogamer.net. Retrieved 3 March 2024.
- ^ Wales, Matt (18 October 2023). "Witcher spin-off Gwent's final update now here, bringing development to end". Eurogamer.net. Retrieved 3 March 2024.
- ^ "Current report no. 8/2023". CD PROJEKT. 20 March 2023. Retrieved 3 March 2024.
- ^ Phillips, Tom (21 March 2023). "The Witcher spin-off Project Sirius sounds like it's being rebooted from scratch". Eurogamer.net. Retrieved 3 March 2024.
- ^ Wales, Matt (15 May 2023). "The Witcher spin-off studio The Molasses Flood hit by layoffs after project reboot". Eurogamer.net. Retrieved 3 March 2024.
- ^ "CD PROJEKT RED Organizational Update". 26 July 2023. Archived from the original on 26 July 2023.
- ^ Ngan, Liv (26 July 2023). "CD Projekt Red announces third round of layoffs in three months". Eurogamer.net. Retrieved 3 March 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "CDPRED: "RED Engine 3 is a revolution in RPGs"". IGN. 1 February 2013. Archived from the original on 19 August 2019. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
- ^ "RedENGINE Game Development Engine - MYCPLUS - C and C++ Programming Resources". 15 April 2021. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
- ^ O'Connor, Alice (10 November 2010). "The Witcher 2 Dev Diary Introduces New Engine". Shacknews. Archived from the original on 12 April 2019. Retrieved 4 June 2011.
- ^ Peckham, Matt (25 March 2010). "The Witcher 2 Announced, 'Non-Linear' with 'Smoother' Combat". PCWorld. Archived from the original on 9 April 2012. Retrieved 4 June 2011.
- ^ "The Witcher 2 Is Coming To Mac". Forbes. 30 May 2012. Archived from the original on 29 December 2019. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
- ^ Yin-Poole, Wesley (21 February 2013). "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt confirmed for PlayStation 4 in 2014". Eurogamer.net. Archived from the original on 24 February 2013. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
- ^ Leadbetter, Richard (24 January 2016). "The Making of The Witcher 2". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 1 October 2015. Retrieved 7 June 2016.
- ^ Hinkle, David (1 February 2013). "CD Projekt Red introduces REDengine 3, latest iteration of in-house tech". Engadget. Archived from the original on 29 December 2019. Retrieved 7 June 2016.
- ^ "The amazing technology of The Witcher 3". PC Gamer. 18 May 2015. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
- ^ Morris, Tatiana (22 March 2017). "New Cyberpunk 2077 details suggest mid-2019 release". GameZone. Archived from the original on 23 June 2019. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
- ^ "Cyberpunk 2077 will support Nvidia RTX ray tracing at launch". PC Gamer. 11 June 2019. Archived from the original on 29 December 2019. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
- ^ "The Witcher - A New Saga Begins". 21 March 2022. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
- ^ "CD Projekt will swap REDengine for Unreal Engine 5 to create the next Witcher saga". Game Developer. 22 March 2022.
- ^ "After Cyberpunk 2077's Disastrous Launch, CDPR Is Ditching REDengine For Unreal". The Gamer. 9 September 2022.
- ^ Bennet, Tom (16 September 2015). "How GOG.com Save And Restore Classic Videogames". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Archived from the original on 16 October 2015. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
- ^ "Bigger. Fresher. Newer. See what's new on GOG.com". GOG.com. 27 March 2012. Archived from the original on 29 March 2012. Retrieved 5 April 2012.
- ^ Makuch, Eddie (8 September 2014). "GOG Celebrates Six Years of Advancing the "DRM-Free Movement"". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 4 September 2015. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
- ^ "News: GOG Galaxy home to over half of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt PC gamers". GOG.com. 12 June 2015. Archived from the original on 11 June 2015. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
- ^ "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt". Steam Spy. 11 June 2015. Archived from the original on 13 June 2015. Retrieved 11 June 2015.
- ^ Newhouse, Alex (11 June 2015). "More People Playing Witcher 3 on GOG than on Steam – CD Projekt's digital distribution service edges out Steam and all other PC platforms". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 11 June 2015. Retrieved 11 June 2015.
- ^ "#DidYouKnow — every third copy of the digital version of #Cyberpunk2077 for PC so far has been pre-ordered on @GOGcom!". 8 July 2019. Archived from the original on 9 July 2019. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
- ^ "CD PROJEKT updates its strategy". CD PROJEKT. 4 October 2022. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
- ^ James Batchelor (7 December 2022). "CD Projekt to undergo "structural changes" as Spokko merged into Red studio". Games Industry. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
- ^ Thew, Geoff (9 January 2015). "Review: The Witcher Adventure Game". Hardcore Gamer. Archived from the original on 29 July 2016. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
- ^ Leray, Joseph (12 July 2014). "Mo' Money, Mo' MOBA: CD Projekt RED Announce 'The Witcher Battle Arena'". TouchArcade. Archived from the original on 3 October 2015. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
- ^ "Gwent single-player is now Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales, a standalone RPG". PCGamesN. Archived from the original on 28 August 2018. Retrieved 29 August 2018.
- ^ Harsch, Jonathan (22 July 2021). "The Witcher Monster Slayer: Die meisten Fans feiern es, schimpfen aber auch über Wartungsarbeiten". GamePro (in German). Retrieved 25 July 2021.
- ^ Bastian, Matthias (26 August 2020). "The Witcher: CD Projekt bringt AR-Spiel im Pokémon-Go-Stil". MIXED (in German). Retrieved 25 July 2021.
- ^ "Roguelike deckbuilder GWENT: Rogue Mage now available for PC, iOS, and Android". Gematsu. 7 July 2022. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
- ^ "Announcing Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty - Cyberpunk 2077 — from the creators of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt". 6 September 2022. Archived from the original on 25 September 2022. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
- ^ Skrebels, Joe (26 October 2022). "CD Projekt Red Announces a Remake of The Witcher in Unreal Engine 5". IGN. Retrieved 26 October 2022.
- ^ "CD Projekt is officially working on a Cyberpunk sequel, Witcher trilogy and more". VGC. 4 October 2022. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
- ^ Sarkar, Samit (21 March 2022). "The next Witcher game is in development". Polygon. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
- ^ "Cyberpunk 2077 Will Get A Sequel, Witcher A New Trilogy, But Expect Multiplayer". Kotaku. 4 October 2022. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
- ^ a b Purchese, Robert (15 September 2015). "We are not talking with anyone regarding selling CD Projekt Red or GOG. Period". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 19 October 2015. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
- ^ Williams, Mike (19 June 2013). "Witcher 3 dev on next-gen, avoiding an "average, crappy game"". Gameindustry.biz. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
- ^ Curtis, Tom (16 July 2012). "What The Witcher Taught CD Projekt About RPGs". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
- ^ Doolin, Patrick (28 January 2014). "How CD Projekt RED Is Reinventing The Open World In Witcher 3". Kill Screen. Archived from the original on 30 October 2015. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
- ^ Makuch, Eddie (12 November 2013). "Witcher dev: Publishers use DRM as "smokescreen" to cover their a**es". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 16 September 2015. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
- ^ Iwinski, Marcin (30 October 2013). "No DRM in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – an open letter to the community". CD Projekt Red. Archived from the original on 3 November 2013. Retrieved 28 November 2013.
- ^ Skipper, Ben (21 August 2015). "Witcher 3 developer CD Projekt Red thinks free DLC should be industry standard". International Business Times. Archived from the original on 20 November 2015. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
- ^ Pearson, Dan (7 March 2013). "CD Projekt RED: "Independence is a crucial part of our strategy"". Gameindustry.biz. Archived from the original on 21 September 2015. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
- ^ Klepek, Patrick (14 October 2015). "The Past, Present, And Future Of The Witcher 3". Kotaku. Gizmodo Media Group. Archived from the original on 15 October 2015. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
- ^ Handrahan, Matthew (27 April 2016). "CD Projekt wants to emulate "the Rockstar model"". Gameindustry.biz. Archived from the original on 28 April 2016. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
- ^ "CD Projekt updates its strategy". CD Projekt. 30 March 2021. Retrieved 19 December 2021.
- ^ Obedkov, Evgeny (16 December 2021). "CD Projekt to pay investors less than $2 million in class-action settlement". Game World Observer. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
- ^ Hollister, Sean (16 December 2021). "Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt will pay just $1.85 million in proposed class-action settlement". The Verge. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
- ^ "CD Projekt Red will pay only $1.85 million to settle 'Cyberpunk 2077' lawsuit". Engadget. 16 December 2021. Retrieved 10 January 2022.