Video game developer and publisher CD Projekt from Poland, who develops The Witcher, revealed H1 2016 financial results. Although company’s earnings went down a bit, the overall picture is bright. CD Projekt showed 42% profitability on $82.7M in sales revenues. As a result, the capitalization of the company reached $1B turning it into the Unicorn. CD Projekt is also the owner of GOG.com, a video game and film distribution service.
The Witcher is a dark-fantasy role-playing game released in 2007 and based on the same-name novel series by a Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. The setting for the story is a medieval fantasy world of Geralt who is the Witcher - a traveling monster slayer with supernatural powers. The game was recognized for its system of moral choices with time-delayed consequences, and featuring of adult themes and mature social issues like racism, political intrigue and genocide.
The sequel, titled The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, was released in May 2011 for the PC, and in April 2012 for Xbox 360. The threequel, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, debuted in May 2015 and got more than 800 awards, including over 250 Game of the Year awards, which made it the most awarded game of 2015.
As of July 2016, the game sold nearly 10 million copies worldwide.
CD Projekt has an intention to grow further with an upcoming Gwent, online multiplayer collectible card game for PCs and consoles. The game will have optional microtransactions and a paid campaign. Announced in June 2016, Gwent will feature cross-play between Xbox One, PS4 and PC players. A closed beta starts on October 25.
Another large development project currently underway is Cyberpunk 2077, an RPG (role-playing game) set in a dystopian future. Cyberpunk’s development team is now bigger than that of The Witcher 3. The game will be launched in the 2017-2021 window. Also in a 5-year time, the Polish game dev company plans to release another AAA RPG title, work on its core franchises as well as on marketing and support for earlier releases, expand the current development arm CD Projekr RED, and establish new development offices.
