This week will bring us another reason to stay at home, even though we have all been eager to leave our houses for a while now. What's the reason, you ask? On Dec. 10, CD Project RED, a Polish video game developer, is launching something more than just a game.
It all started in the '90s, which was a crazy time in Poland. Back then, Amiga and Commodore 64 ruled the market. The now archaic graphics did not bother anyone. After the transformation, a country battered by the previous system was getting back on its feet, and everyone did what they could to survive the first encounter with capitalism. One way was through trade, and any place could become a marketplace. One such place was very special. Computer swap meet at Grzybowska Street in Warsaw - this is where Marcin Iwiński and Michał Kiciński, founders of the CD Projekt empire, sold games. Young businessmen easily established contacts with foreign players as the Iron Curtain was down. They founded their first company, CD Projekt, in 1994.
They shared passion for games and they knew how to sell them. Over time, they concluded more serious contracts for the distribution of games with such companies as Blizzard or Blue Byte. Foreign games were mainly created in English, so Michał and Marcin started translating them. Baldur's Gate was their breakthrough - they localized the game and got it dubbed by two very famous Polish actors, Piotr Fronczewski and Wiktor Zborowski. The game was very successful, surpassing 100 000 copies sold. The owners knew very well how to distribute games, but they also wanted to create them, which was the reason CD Projekt RED was founded in 2002. That's where the Witcher was developed in 2007, a game based on the legendary book saga written by Andrzej Sapkowski. A team of up to 100 people gained the necessary know-how during the 5 years of creating the game, and the director of the Oscar-nominated short film The Catherdal, Tomek Bagiński, also worked on the production. Since its release, the title has won over 100 international awards.
In 2010 the company entered the Warsaw Stock Exchange. A year later, The Witcher II: Assassins of Kings was released. The developers created the original RED Engine for the needs of the game and Polityka, Polish weekly newsmagazine, recognized Geralt as...one of the 50 most influential characters in Poland. 2015 was the year that brought the group the biggest profit so far as CD Projekt RED released The Witcher III: Wild Hunt. The game won over 300 awards around the world, and in 6 weeks from the premiere, sales amounted to over 6 million units. It is estimated that the total profit from The Witcher III exceeds 1 billion PLN, and by June 2019 the company sold 40 million copies of all three games from the series combined.
The money is getting better in the gaming market. Investors don't have much to complain about either. On March 16, 2018, CD PROJEKT S.A. entered the WIG20 index. The company's stock became very popular and its valuation grew over time, maintaining a steady, positive trend. The coronavirus pandemic, which has wiped out the cash of many companies and strained many markets, has paradoxically helped game developers as the stay-at-home orders resulted in people spending more time playing games. In 2020, in the face of declining valuations of Polish state-owned giants, such as PKN Orlen or PKO BP, for some time CD Projekt was the company with the highest market capitalization on the Warsaw Stock Exchange and remains on the podium.
We heard about Cyberpunk 2077 for the first time in 2012. After the hit trilogy focused on Geralt of Rivia, millions of people around the world are waiting for this highly anticipated game. Cyberpunk is to take us 57 years into the future to the futuristic city of Night City, megalopolis obsessed with power and overrun by corruption. Your job as the main character is to go after a prototype implant that is the key to immortality. The game atmosphere is based mainly on two works: the universe known from the tabletop role-playing game of the same title, and Ridley Scott's film Blade Runner. A large part of the plot is focused on modifying the body with cybernetic implants. The plot of the game is non-linear, multi-threaded, and you can complete it in many ways in the huge world created by CD Projekt RED.
A team of up to 500 people participated in the production, and the company worked in cooperation with many other technology partners, such as NVIDIA. During the advertising campaign, the firm cooperated with such brands as Porsche, Adidas and Sprite. The key figure who advised developers in creating the game world was its creator, Mike Pondsmith. The involvement of Keanu Reeves, who appeared at the events announcing the premiere, was also a big surprise. Cyberpunk 2077 in pre-sale sells better than the record-breaking Witcher III did, and the game, although it has not yet seen the light of day, has already won over 200 industry awards.
The new work of CD Projekt RED, due to its enormity of possibilities, can provide long hours of entertainment. The game is expected to offer more than 100 hours of content. The game premieres on December 10 and will be available on PC, Xbox One
