CD Projekt Red is Now Europe’s Second-Biggest Gaming Company
Despite the news that CD Projekt Red has delayed Cyberpunk 2077 from its original release date, the last couple of months have actually been very profitable for the company; the release of Netflix’s new Witcher series has prompted a huge resurgence of interest in CD Projekt Red’s Witcher games, especially the critically-acclaimed third instalment. Now, CD Projekt’s latest earnings report has put the company as the second-biggest gaming company in Europe, behind Ubisoft.
Only Ubisoft is Bigger Than CD Projekt Red in Europe
This new rise in valuation has largely happened within a single month, suggesting that the launch of The Witcher Netflix series has had a major positive impact for CD Projekt. Shortly after the series launch, a new record for most concurrent players was set in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. CD Projekt also recently announced that the game’s Steam profits have now passed $50 million; a major milestone which also puts the game in a new revenue tier on Steam. That means that 80% of the game’s sale profits now go to CD Projekt, with only 20% going to Valve.
Back in January, CD Projekt had a valuation of roughly $6.8 billion. However, that valuation has now risen all the way up to $8 billion. The only gaming company in Europe with a higher valuation is French publisher Ubisoft, with a valuation of $9.6 billion. Given how many different franchises Ubisoft publishes, it’s impressive that CD Projekt is now in second place. After all, the Polish company hasn’t actually released a triple-A game since 2015!
It’s currently unknown when fans might get to see CD Projekt Red release another Witcher game. Cyberpunk 2077 is coming this September, of course. Since late last year, it’s been known that the Polish studio has been working on another, secret triple-A project. However, following the Cyberpunk 2077 delay, we now know that it’s Cyberpunk multiplayer, not a Witcher game. We currently know almost nothing about Cyberpunk multiplayer, but it’s due to release in late 2020 or 2021.
Of course, CD Projekt did actually renew their licensing contract for The Witcher franchise with author Andrzej Sapkowski back in January. As such, they do have the ability to make another game, if they so chose. However, it’s worth noting that without that license, they might well have had to cease development on Gwent, their ongoing Witcher card game. As such, it’s unknown whether they actually have any plans for future Witcher games at present.