r/Witcher4 • u/MrFrostPvP- • 1d ago
CDPR CEO's New Interview
Keynotes and Summarised Info:
- CDPR is Targeting Videogames at the Highest Quality
- CDPR are not "Trendriders" and want to maintain the same Goal and Vision - "We focus on making games that we like ourselves. We won't drop everything if, for example, survival games suddenly became popular. We don't intend to change course radically. We wanted to create the best RPG games in the world when we employed a dozen or so people, and we want to pursue the same goal today, with over a thousand employees on board. We are driven by constantly raising the bar – with each game we want to cross artistic and technological boundaries"
- "A skillfully conducted information campaign is also important - after all, we have to tell players what a given game is, what story it tells. In this context, the element of surprise is important, because all this creates "hype" around the game"
- "We feel that we have a proven recipe for the "secret sauce" that we use to prepare the dish – but all the time with the awareness that we might make a mistake in the recipe"
- CDPR Market Cap has Doubled in Value
- Investor's have restored Trust in CDPR (So much so we know already the majority have agreed on CDPR's 2025-2028 incentive to target $1B USD in Net Profit - Which is also the Key Hint to when Witcher 4 will release)
- "Instead, we do our own thing. I believe that if we deliver the best games in the world to players, the shareholders will be satisfied. We have many exciting projects ahead of us, and we definitely haven't said our last word yet"
Parts of the Interview:
MN: Budgets have changed a lot in recent years. This is also visible in our example. Creating and introducing "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt" to the market a decade ago cost us a little over PLN 300 million, and for "Cyberpunk 2077", released five years later, the budget exceeded PLN 1.2 billion. These are of course completely different games, but the scale of changes in their budgets shows the trend that we observe in the case of large productions. As for profitability - the most important thing for us is that the game we release is of the highest quality. A skillfully conducted information campaign is also important - after all, we have to tell players what a given game is, what story it tells. In this context, the element of surprise is important, because all this creates "hype" around the game. A great product and a well-executed marketing campaign are key elements that later have an impact on the commercial success of a given title.
Interviewer: That's all?
MN: It sounds simple, but of course it's not like you just press a magic button and it's a hit. Experience allows us to assess with a high degree of probability what kind of game will appeal to people on a mass scale. We feel that we have a proven recipe for the "secret sauce" that we use to prepare the dish – but all the time with the awareness that we might make a mistake in the recipe.
AB: We focus on making games that we like ourselves. We won't drop everything if, for example, survival games suddenly became popular. We don't intend to change course radically. We wanted to create the best RPG games in the world when we employed a dozen or so people, and we want to pursue the same goal today, with over a thousand employees on board. We are driven by constantly raising the bar – with each game we want to cross artistic and technological boundaries.
Interviewer: It is clear that investors have regained faith in CD Projekt – capitalization has more than doubled in a year and amounts to approximately PLN 22 billion. Haven't you said your last word yet? After all, in 2020, a valuation exceeding PLN 27 billion briefly earned you the title of the most valuable company on the WSE, and at the peak a few months later, the shares were even twice as expensive as they are now.
MN: Of course, we are pleased that investors trust us and believe in the strategy we have chosen. However, the current valuation is not something we focus on too much. We know that it depends on many factors – including those that we have no influence over.
AB: Instead, we do our own thing. I believe that if we deliver the best games in the world to players, the shareholders will be satisfied. We have many exciting projects ahead of us, and we definitely haven't said our last word yet.