CD Projekt Red won’t give up their independence anytime soon - but might be “open” to buying others
“We are not interested in purchases that would only aim to include the acquired companies in our group and consolidate their financial results”
Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt makers CD Projekt Red have said in no uncertain terms that they “are not interested” in being acquired by another company, while still leaving the door open for the studio to potentially acquire others in the future.
Chief strategy officer Adam Kiciński, who spoke to Parkiet in his former role as CEO before stepping down on January 1st, dismissed any rumours that the Polish developers might be acquired as just that: “just rumors”. (Thanks, VGC.)
“We have always had a clear position, supported by the regulations included in the statute,” Kiciński said, referring to the company’s countermeasures aimed at deterring hostile takeovers. “We are not interested in being included in any larger entity.”
Despite the likes of Microsoft and Activision doing billion-dollar mergers, and the Embracer Group hoovering up every available games studio and IP they can see before spitting out the fleshless bones, Kiciński reaffirmed that CD Projekt Red have no need to join forces with another company to continue their success.
“We have worked our whole lives to get to the position we have now, and we believe that in a few years we will be even bigger and stronger,” Kiciński said. “We have ambitious plans and we are passionate about what we do. We value independence.
“Independence is really attractive, it's a kind of freedom.”
As for the other way around, Kiciński didn’t shut down the possibility that CD Projekt Red could acquire another company in the future - but made clear that any such deal would be done with the aim of getting where they want to be, rather than just plumping profits. (Hint, hint, Embracer.)
“We do not plan any acquisitions at this time,” Kiciński said. “Of course, we are open to ideas that could accelerate the implementation of our strategy. But we are not interested in purchases that would only aim to include the acquired companies in our group and consolidate their financial results. We don't see the value in it.”
The rest of the interview is well worth a read, as Kiciński touched on the three years taken to recover Cyberpunk 2077 from its messy launch to the acclaim of Phantom Liberty, the plan to dedicate almost the entire studio - 400 developers - to working on the next Witcher game, currently codenamed Polaris, by the middle of 2024, and their ambition to introduce their own original IP, Hadar, alongside Witcher and Cyberpunk as both a game franchise and something that could extend into other mediums, just as Cyberpunk: Edgerunners did with anime.