The Polish studio that made The Witcher 3 — one of the greatest video games ever created — and then released Cyberpunk 2077, one of the most broken launches in gaming history. CD Projekt Red went from a game localization company to the most valuable company in Poland (briefly worth more than the country's largest bank). Then Cyberpunk launched with so many bugs that Sony removed it from the PlayStation Store. The stock crashed 75%. They spent three years fixing it. It eventually became good. The most dramatic redemption arc in gaming history.
Founded
1994
HQ
Warsaw, Poland
Total Raised
Self-funded (public company)
Founder
Marcin Iwinski, Michal Kicinski
Status
Public (WSE: CDR)
Website
www.cdprojektred.comTHE ORIGIN STORY
Marcin Iwinski and Michal Kicinski started CD Projekt in 1994 in Warsaw, Poland, as a video game distribution and localization company. Poland was a piracy hotspot, and the founders believed that if you made games affordable and high-quality, people would buy them instead of pirating.
In 2002, they founded CD Projekt Red as the game development studio. Their first game, The Witcher (2007), was a surprise hit based on Polish fantasy novels.
The Witcher 2 (2011) was better. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (2015) was a masterpiece — it won over 250 Game of the Year awards and sold over 50 million copies.
The company became the most valuable in Poland.
WHAT THEY ACTUALLY DO
CD Projekt Red makes money by selling premium video games ($60-$70 each) and expansions. They also operate GOG.com — a digital game store that competes with Steam by selling DRM-free games.
Revenue spikes with major releases and sustains through back-catalog sales. The Witcher 3 still sells hundreds of thousands of copies per year.
THE PRODUCTS
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — 50M+ copies sold, 250+ GOTY awards. Cyberpunk 2077 — 25M+ copies sold (post-recovery).
GOG.com — DRM-free digital game store. The Witcher (Netflix series) — based on the same IP, expanded the franchise to mainstream audiences.
HOW THEY GREW
Quality over quantity. CD Projekt Red releases games rarely (one every 3-5 years) but each one is massive and highly polished (The Witcher 3) or eventually becomes so (Cyberpunk 2077).
They also built a fiercely loyal community by being perceived as a pro-consumer company — free DLC, no microtransactions, DRM-free games on GOG.
THE HARD PART
The Cyberpunk 2077 launch disaster. The game was released in December 2020 in an unfinished state — riddled with bugs, crashes, and missing features.
Console versions (PS4, Xbox One) were nearly unplayable. Sony removed it from the PlayStation Store.
The stock dropped 75%. Lawsuits followed.
It took three years of patches and the Phantom Liberty expansion for the game to reach its potential.
MONEY TRAIL
Public (WSE: CDR)
2020 · Led by Public market
$0 raised
$12.0B valuation
WHO BACKED THEM
CD Projekt is a publicly traded company on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE: CDR). It was briefly the most valuable company in Poland, surpassing PKO Bank.
No traditional VC funding — the company grew organically and through public market capital.
Related Profiles
Head-to-Head
Compare CD Projekt vs another company.