Couchpotato spotted a new CD Projekt RED Podcast:

AnsweRED Podcast - Episode 7: CD PROJEKT RED in Boston

Couchpotato spotted a new CD Project Red podcast:

AnsweRED Podcast 5 – Episode 5: Creative Adaptation in Games

Gabe Amatangelo talks about CD Projekt RED's transformation:

Changing the Game: A Leader's Perspective on CD PROJEKT RED'S Transformation | D.I.C.E. Summit 2024

Thanks Couchpotato!

Rock Paper Shotgun reports that CD Projekt RED plans to stay independent:

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.

[...]

Thanks Couchpotato!

PC Gamer thinks about the future of CD Project RED:

Cyberpunk 2077's redemption is complete, but the future remains murky for CD Projekt

Despite a wide slate of games in development, it feels like the company's starting over from scratch.

V looking afraid or confused and pointing to herself in Cyberpunk 2077.

It's official: Cyberpunk 2077's redemption arc is complete. It feels like after three years of flagellation, CD Projekt can finally move on. But I can't help but think the company's future is still murky. 

The Witcher 3 was a masterpiece, firmly establishing CDP's original studio, CD Projekt Red, as one of the best RPG development teams of all time. It felt like the beginning of a shining new era for the company—but it was also the end of The Witcher. With Geralt's story finished so completely that we even got to see him retire to a vineyard in the south of France, it was time for something new. 

After an eight year wait, we got that, in the form of Cyberpunk 2077 - but its launch was such a debacle that the studio had to spend years focused just on fixing both the game and its own tattered reputation. Though 2.0 has successfully turned the game into something closer to players' original expectations, it'll always be remembered as a disaster first and a good RPG second.

[...]

Thanks Couchpotato!

Blues News reports that CD Projekt RED plans a Cyberpunk Sequel and five Witcher Games:

CD PROJEKT Unveils Cyberpunk Sequel and Five Witcher Games

Okay, here's a lot of news from CD PROJEKT. Strap in. First, a message from Marcin Iwiński announces he is stepping down from his role as Joint CEO of the company he co-founded. Word is he's submitting his candidacy for the role of Chairman of the Supervisory Board. And the company has a lot of news too. In a series of tweets, CD PROJEKT unveils its upcoming plans include a Cyberpunk 2077 sequel codenamed Project Orion, a Witcher trilogy, and two additional The Witcher games. With all that on deck, and recalling the rough launch of Cyberpunk 2077, it's a little surprising to hear the company is also currently working on a new standalone IP codenamed Project Hadar. An no, we don't know why all theses are "projects" rather than "projekts." Anyway, all this news is compatible with recent indications that the company is currently developing two AAA games and that a new Witcher saga is expected to include more than one game. Thankfully, CD PROJEKT RED Global PR Director Radek Grabowski tweets a one-pager rounding up the news on all these codenamed projects:

[...]

Thanks Redglyph!

An article about the history of CD Projekt RED written by PC Gamer:

How CD Projekt Red climbed to the top of the RPG mountain, then slipped

From D&D imports to redefining the fantasy RPG entirely.

This article first appeared in PC Gamer magazine issue 366 in February 2022, as part of our 'DNA Tracing' series, where every month we delve into the lineages behind iconic games and studios. 

CD Projekt Red is a phenomenon that could only have occurred in Poland—and only, really, in the '90s. It's a time that explains more than the studio's ludicrously anachronistic title. This was not just the golden age of the CD-ROM, but the golden age of piracy too—at least in the former Eastern Bloc. Under communist rule, without legitimate access to Western retailers or any copyright law to speak of, Polish PC gaming culture grew in the street markets, where games were sold for £3 a pop—according to the excellent reporting of Eurogamer's resident Witcher scholar, Robert Purchese. 

As the iron curtain lifted, local companies—including a pair of skinny young hopefuls named Marcin Iwi ski and MichaÅ‚ Kicinski—could finally, legally import and sell the biggest games from around the world. But in doing so they would have to compete with the Captain Kidds and Calico Jacks who had thrived in their stead. 

For its vanguard release, the nascent CD Projekt picked BioWare's Baldur's Gate. In its favour was the fact that it came on five discs, reducing the ability of pirates to sell it cheaply. And since it was an RPG, it was built around words, which CD Projekt could translate in full—casting renowned local actors in some of the key roles. 

[...]

Thanks Zloth!

Gaming Bolt reports that CDPR confirmed new "AAA Cyberpunk" and The Witcher Games.

New AAA Cyberpunk and The Witcher Games Will Begin Development in 2022, CD Projekt Confirms

CD Projekt president Adam Kiciński says the Polish studio is gearing up to begin AAA development on projects in both IPs next year.

CD Projekt RED has some stuff cooking for the near future- Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3 are both getting native PS5 and Xbox Series X/S versions in early 2022, while future updates and expansions for the former are also currently in the works. Next year, however, will also see the Polish studio beginning to work on its next big projects.

Speaking in an interview with Polish outlet Rzeczpospolita, when asked if CD Projekt has plans for developing any IPs beyond Cyberpunk and The Witcher, president Adam KiciÅ„ski said that those two properties have great potential. The studio, as such, remains focused on those two only, and will begin development on big-budget AAA games in both in 2022.

“We are currently focusing on our two franchises,” KiciÅ„ski said. “Both have enormous potential, so one of our strategic goals is to start working on AAA projects in parallel within our IPs, which is expected to happen next year.”

This, of course, isn’t the first time CD Projekt RED has said this, having made similar statements earlier this year. Some months before the launch of Cyberpunk 2077, KiciÅ„ski had also confirmed that once the action RPG has launched, CD Projekt RED will begin working on the next mainline game in the Witcher series. That said, given the fact that the studio has learnt its lesson after Cyberpunk 2077 and plans on having shorter marketing cycles for its future games, it’s likely that we won’t be hearing much about what’s in store for the future anytime soon.

Meanwhile, CD Projekt recently also acquired The Molasses Flood, developer of The Flame in the Flood and Drake Hollow. That team is said to be working on an “ambitious” new project based on either Cyberpunk or The Witcher.

PCGamesN reports on a studio purchase by CD Projekt RED of The Molasses Flood who are ex-Bioshock people.

In a statement today, The Molasses Flood announced that it was joining CD Projekt. Buying an indie studio is an unprecedented move for the studio behind The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077, which normally builds all of its projects in-house – from its biggest titles to smaller games like 

The statement and accompanying tweet also confirmed that this meant the formerly-indie studio is building “a completely new game in the universe of an existing CD Projekt IP” – meaning The Witcher and Cyberpunk. Beyond that, the statement doesn’t reveal much more, other than The Molasses Flood would continue to make “games with heart built on rich gameplay systems”.

[...]

Gamerant has spotted a job offer suggesting another game in preparation.

CD Projekt Red Hiring for New Open World Game

[...]

While Cyberpunk 2077 reportedly continues to display major issues even following the recent 1.3 update, CD Projekt Red seems to be working on a new project rumored to be an open world RPG. A recently posted job listing seeks an individual with previous open world development experience to "fill [CD Projekt Red's] game world with believable and exciting content consisting of communities and events that players will encounter."

It is unlikely that the project is related to Cyberpunk 2077, as CD Projekt has previously put out job listings openly seeking hires for Cyberpunk-associated projects and improvements. Whatever this project is, it is currently surrounded by secrecy. Fans, of course, hope that the mysterious open world title might be the long-awaited The Witcher 4, which may follow Ciri's journey following the ostensible retirement of series protagonist Geralt at the end of Wild Hunt. Representatives for CD Projekt RED had previously reported that the title was in very early development, although a release date prior to the year 2025 was not anticipated.

[...]

 

Kotaku reports that CD Project Red has been hacked:

CD Projekt Red Hit By Cyber Attack, Source Code For Cyberpunk 2077 And Witcher 3 Held For Ransom

CD Projekt Red is the latest game company to be hit by a cyber attack. The company released a statement on Twitter this morning saying an “unidentified actor” has hacked some of its systems, and included a screenshot of the ransom note. Accessed data includes source code for some of the studio’s games, alongside internal company data. The company writes that it will not negotiate with the hacker.

“Yesterday,” the CD Projekt statement begins, “we discovered that we have become a victim of a targeted cyber attack, due to which some of our internal systems have been compromised.” The hacker’s note threatens to release source code for Cyberpunk 2077, The Witcher 3 (including an unreleased version), and Gwent, as well as release company documents “relating to accounting, administration, legal, HR, investor relations, and more.” The hacker’s note gives CD Projekt Red 48 hours to “come to an agreement,” after which the hacker threatens to leak or sell the source code and information. 

[...]

Thanks Capt. Huggy Face!

Games Radar reports that CD Projekt RED's next game will be a new Witcher title.

Work is set to begin on a new Witcher game once Cyberpunk 2077 launches, CD Projekt president Adam Kiciński has revealed.

Kiciński told a group of journalists (via Eurogamer Poland/PSU) that a "relatively clear concept" has already been staked down for the next entry in the Witcher series, but that full production would kick off "immediately" after Cyberpunk 2077 hits the shelves.

[...]

GameWatcher reports that CD Projekt RED is working on another AAA game apart from Cyberpunk 2077.

Unannounced AAA CDPR game was mentioned off-handedly by Benchmark.pl, a Polish gaming-related website, who quoted CDPR saying that "plans for the release of the second AAA game until 2021 remain unchanged. We are currently focusing on the production and promotion of Cyberpunk, so we do not want to comment on further projects."

Furthermore, according to that very same source, both the unannounced AAA RPG and Cyberpunk 2077 are set to come out sometime before 2021, which is quite curious indeed.

[...]

A documentary on the origins of CD Projekt RED.

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Go behind the scenes at CD Projekt Red, the acclaimed studio behind The Witcher series and upcoming PS4 adventure Cyberpunk 2077.

In part 1, find out how a pair of gaming enthusiasts growing up in communist Poland transformed their fledgling distribution company into one of the most successful studios in the world.

Thanks Farflame!

Winter is Coming reports that the Witcher author has settled with CD Projekt RED over royalties.

So it got ugly there for a minute, but just recently, Polish newspaper Puls Biznesu reported that the parties have reached an “amicable settlement,” meaning that CD Projekt Red offered Sapkowski more money if he’ll just stop complaining. We don’t know how much, but it’s probably more than the original $9,350 lump sum and short of the $16.11 million profit share. Back when it was first responding to Sapkowski’s demands, CD Projekt wrote that it wanted “to maintain good relations with authors of works which have inspired CD Projekt Red’s own creations.” With any luck, this will do the trick.

[...]

Thanks 'you!'

PC Gamer reports that CD Projekt RED will return to the Witcher series but it won't be Witcher 4.

In conversation with Polish finance website Bankier.pl (via VG24/7), Kiciński rules out 'The Witcher 4' as a title, but expresses interest in returning to its setting and world.

 

"The first three Witchers were by definition a trilogy, so we simply could not name the next game The Witcher 4," Kiciński tells Bankier.pl (via Google Translate). "This does not mean, of course, that we will leave the world of The Witcher, created by us for over a dozen years. The Witcher is one of two franchises on which to build in the future activities of the company. Today, unfortunately, I can not reveal anything more."

[...]

@VG24/7 As Joxer discovered CD Projekt RED will be showing an RPG at E3 which is likely Cyberpunk 2077.

CD Projekt RED will present an RPG at E3 2018, and there’s a fairly short list of candidates.

Now that E3 has published the exhibitor details for its 2018 convention, we can see one reason for RPG fans to get excited. CD Projekt RED has signed up to present a role-playing game that debuts for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

[...]

CD Projekt RED has announced a new division to help it on Cyberpunk 2077 called CD PROJEKT RED Wrocław which is based in Poland.

CD PROJEKT RED, developers of Cyberpunk 2077, The Witcher and GWENT, to open a new division — CD PROJEKT RED Wrocław.

Located in the city of Wrocław, south-western Poland, the new studio will join forces with CD PROJEKT RED Warsaw and Cracow, and bolster development of Cyberpunk 2077 — the upcoming futuristic AAA role-playing game.

“Wrocław is one of the biggest and most technologically advanced cities in Poland and a playing field for serious creative talent. I think the scope of our current and future projects, as well as the overall package we’re bringing in, will pull in people who were hesitant to move to Warsaw or Cracow.” — says Adam Kiciński, President and Joint CEO, CD PROJEKT Capital Group. “The founding dev team of CDPR Wrocław is already pretty stellar, but I still can’t wait to see what talents we’ll discover in new people along the way.” — Kiciński adds.  

Consisting of 18 talented industry veterans, Wrocław-based developer, Strange New Things, will form the core of the new studio.

“We’re pretty hyped to be on the spearhead of this new office.” — says Paweł Zawodny, Head of Studio, CD PROJEKT RED Wrocław. “We know Wrocław inside out and it’s an amazing place to make games. The team is strong, and I’m sure we have both the experience and the creative firepower to make Cyberpunk 2077 an even better game.” — Zawodny adds.  

“Aside from their immense technological knowledge and artistic flair, the core team of CD PROJEKT RED Wrocław are just great people.” — says Adam Badowski, Game Director for Cyberpunk 2077 and Head of CD PROJEKT RED. “CD PROJEKT RED is not a typical game developer — we put gamers, creative freedom and quality games above making business. These guys not only share this approach, but, much like the rest of the team, think that this attitude is essential to creating epic video games.” — Badowski adds.

—-

Interested in becoming an integral team member of CD PROJEKT RED Wrocław and working with a tight-knit group of professionals on games like CYBERPUNK 2077? Don’t wait a moment longer — write to us at wroclaw@cdprojektred.com

@PCGamer CD Projekt RED have responded to the loot box controversy.

In November, CD Projekt Red CEO Adam Kiciński proposed its long-awaited Cyberpunk 2077 will include online elements to ensure its long-term success. With this in mind, I ask the developer's co-founder Marcin Iwiński where he and his team stand with loot boxes—suggesting the controversial mechanic has dominated the conversation around single-versus-multiplayer games in the last 12 months. 

 

"'Conversation' sounds way too nice to describe what was happening last year. I would rather call it community backlash," says Iwiński . "And this time around, it wasn’t just the hardcore community, there were a lot of really pissed off gamers out there and they decided to speak up. Where we stand is quite simple and you could see it with all of our past releases—most recently The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and GWENT. If you buy a full priced game, you should get a big, polished piece of content, which gives you many, many hours of fun gameplay.

[...]

@Shacknews CD Projekt RED is registered for E3 2018. This gives credence to the rumour of Cyberpunk 2077 being shown at E3.

According to Polish gaming site GryOnline, CD Projekt RED has plans to pull the wraps of its highly-anticipated Cyberpunk 2077 at the upcoming E3 2018 show in June. The company is expected to show the public a trailer and present a playable demo behind closed doors at the show. GryOnline says that the claim has been verified by two independent sources.
[...]

PCGamesN reports on how CD Projekt RED came to gain their independence.

As the biggest publishers and developers gathered in LA for E3, CD Projekt’s founders were in Agoura Hills signing the most expensive signature of their lives. They returned home the same week to Poland to announce a deal: THQ would promote and distribute The Witcher 2 on Xbox 360 in Europe. Another victory for the onetime industry outsiders who decided to make RPGs.

Marcin Iwiński escaped to England for “nine days of Zen”. Michal Nowakowski holidayed in Thailand with his wife. And neither of them was the slightest bit aware that another major publisher was busy preparing a court case against them.

 

“Boy it was an expensive signature,” says Iwiński 

“Very expensive,” agrees a wistful Nowakowski. “Probably the most expensive.”

This is the story of CD Projekt RED’s adventures in courtrooms around the world, though mostly in Lyon, France. A story that hinges on a single clause in a decade-old contract.

[...]

CD Projekt RED tweeted that they will not be taking the path of EA for Cyberpunk 2077.

.@PrettyBadTweets Worry not. When thinking CP2077, think nothing less than TW3 — huge single player, open world, story-driven RPG. No hidden catch, you get what you pay for — no bullshit, just honest gaming like with Wild Hunt. We leave greed to others.

— CD PROJEKT RED (@CDPROJEKTRED) November 19, 2017

@Eurogamer CD Projekt explain why they are trademarking Cyberpunk.

...

"Life knows quite a few examples of companies registering marks similar to well-known marks, and then trying to sell them for big money," the company said.

"Should we ever decide to create a sequel, there's a possibility of someone telling us we can't name it, say, Cyberpunk 2078 or Cyberpunk 2.

"Moreover, if someone else registered this trademark in the future, they could prohibit CD Projekt from making any expansions to the game, any additional titles under the name Cyberpunk. The reason for our registration is to protect us from unlawful actions of unfair competitors."

CD Projekt's ownership of the Cyberpunk trademark does not give it any exclusivity to set a game in a certain environment, or in a certain genre, such as the cyberpunk genre. But what if a developer is working on a game that includes the word cyberpunk in its title?

CD Projekt said it would only block this if it could confuse customers.

"If someone names their game John Smith: Adventures in a Cyberpunk Dystopian Society, or 20 Short Video Games set in Cyberpunk Worlds, none of them should be treated as an infringement on our rights," CD Projekt said.
[...]

Glixel interview Marcin Iwinski about the origins of CD Projekt Red and about the thinking behind the companies projects.

...
At the very beginning of The Witcher 3, Vesemir says to Geralt: "It used to be simple. Monsters were bad, and humans were good. Now things are all confused." That's the theme of the whole game.
In the literature and in the game, the worst monsters are humans. I really don't want to use the word "mature," because it hasn't got the right flavor, the right color, but we developed these games and wrote the story for adults. We want to entertain them. We want to surprise them. We want to play with their vision of the world. The Bloody Baron quest: It's fantasy, there's this unborn child that turns into a monster, but still it's a real, tragic situation.

I'm not playing as many games as I used to, but I love to consume culture. Whenever I go for a certain form of entertainment, I want to be surprised. I want a certain freshness. I want something new. If I'm going to the cinema, and from the very beginning I know what's going to happen, where is the reward for me? I want the story to play with my intelligence, with my knowledge about the world, and maybe deliver something new. I hope that's what we are delivering in our games.

I was hoping to finally finish The Witcher 3 before we talked, and I just couldn't quite get there in time. Is there a reason you wanted the game to be so long?
The thing is, when a game isn't finished, you have a certain vision of the story. You want to make it rich, you want to make it great, and in our case nonlinear, deep, with very strong personalities and characters. And so you run wild.

And then you put it all together, and, "Wow, boy, it's big." You do a lot of cutting, because that's what development is. It's about thinking what you can sacrifice to get to the launch.

If I count my time, I spent around 200 hours in the game, with the expansions. You can finish the game in, what, 60 hours? That's probably what my 14-year-old daughter did. There's a certain feeling of accomplishment at the end.

I'm really curious how my second playthrough would be, but I don't have another 200 hours. What we are all fighting for as creators is people's time. With family and running a company and traveling a lot, I'm more and more paranoid about allocating my time.

I even started keeping a log last year of what I read, what I watch, the culture I consume. I'm so paranoid that I started rating it, and when I see that I spend a couple days on a book and then I give it 3 out of 10 - I'm asking myself, "Why didn't you throw it away?" Because I could have done something else. The backlog is really long.

Just to be clear, I'm not running development. I'm running the company. Of course, I take part in the key decisions, along with the storytellers and the developers working on it.
[..]

PC Gamer reports that CD Project Red is now one of Poland's biggest companies:

CD Projekt's market cap breaks $1.6 billion, making it one of Poland's biggest companies

It's been a good half-decade for CD Projekt, the parent company of Witcher and Gwent (and, one of these years Cyberpunk) studio CD Projekt Red and digital storefront GOG—especially the last half-year of it. The company started 2015 with a share price of around 17PLN ($4.18), but following a surge through the end of 2016 and opening months of 2017, it's now sitting at 70PLN ($17.20) per share.

As pointed out by NeoGAF member boskee, That gives it a total market cap of more than $1.6 billion, and despite its scrappy indie appearance, that's enough to make it one of the biggest companies in Poland. For the purposes of comparison, it now sits well ahead of Capcom, which currently has a market cap of $1.38 billion. It also represents tremendous growth since the summer of 2016, when the company revealed that its value had hit the $1 billion mark, as Gamasutra noted, on the strength of The Witcher 3, which was still riding high on the Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine expansions, and—as always—GOG.

[...]

Thanks, henriquejr!

@Wccftech The Witcher developer CD Projekt RED has been awarded 7 million dollars by the Polish government to research city creation and seamless multiplayer. There is also some information on Techlands new original fantasy game.

The official document shared by the NCBR gives us a decent amount of insight on each proposal. CDPR's four proposals were focused on the following game development goals:

City Creation
Comprehensive technology for the creation of "live", playable in real-time, cities of great scale based on the principles of artificial intelligence and automation and taking into account the development of innovative processes and tools supporting the creation of high-quality open world games.
Seamless Multiplayer
Comprehensive technology enables the creation of unique gameplay for many players, taking into account the search of opponents, session management, replication facilities, and support of a variety of game modes along with a unique set of dedicated tools.
Cinematic Feel
Comprehensive technology for providing a unique, film quality RPG with open world, also taking into account innovative solutions Process and unique set of dedicated tools.
Animation Excellence
Comprehensive technology enabling a significant increase in quality and production of complex face and body animations for open world RPG games, also taking into account the innovative process solutions and a unique set of dedicated tools.

The Witcher 3 fans will undoubtedly argue that the game already sports greatly detailed cities, excellent animations and a "cinematic feel" of sorts, but at the same time it's reassuring to see that the developers aren't resting on their laurels and still want to push the boundaries further in all these categories.

[...]

Techland (Call of Juarez, Dead Island, Dying Light) received two grants, one of which for “developing a prototype for an action RPG set in an original fantasy world, played in FPP (first person perspective) and using DX12 technology”. Yes, it sounds like Techland’s open world fantasy action RPG with former CDPR employee Damien Monnier as Lead Designer.

@wccftech they report that CD Projekt RED has denied the rumour of a takeover attempt.

Of course, such news sparked lots of speculation among fans of the Polish developer and publisher, who created beloved games like The Witcher series and beloved services like the DRM-free GOG.

Pretty much everyone would dread if this beacon of independence in the gaming industry ever suffered from a hostile takeover by a huge corporation.

Luckily, you can all rest a little easier. We've reached out to CD Projekt for comment and they provided the following statement.

As for the rumor, it emerged after the Board suggested introducing a voting cap during the upcoming shareholder meeting. However, the proposal is not a reaction to any current events affecting CD PROJEKT. Rather, it is meant as insurance against future hypothetical scenarios which may never materialize.
We wish to safeguard the interests of minority shareholders in a hypothetical case where a major shareholder emerges professing a business and strategic vision which conflicts with ours.

There's no actual threat for the time being, then: it's just a precaution on hypothetical events. The developer remains focused on developing great games, starting with Gwent (which is now in closed beta; you can read our Gamescom preview here) and Cyberpunk 2077, which already has more manpower than The Witcher 3 ever did (and might even feature seamless multiplayer).

CD Projekt RED has opened up about Gwent's evolution into something more like an adventure, with at least ten hours of campaign playtime.

Gwent wasn’t even part of the plan. Originally created by a pair of designers at CD Projekt Red in their spare time, Gwent eventually found its way into The Witcher 3 and became a small phenomenon: the mini-game that was so good, it just had to find life beyond The Witcher 3. A few months after The Witcher 3 was released, CD Projekt was still being flooded with emails about the card game. Lead designer Damien Monnier, one of Gwent’s co-creators, took those emails to the leadership. They asked if it was possible to make a standalone game. A multiplayer game. Of course he said yes.

...

“There’s set choices and consequences, cards that you can receive from them, and that's the whole point,” Monnier said. “You start with a base deck and as you progress through the campaign, it gets bigger and bigger.

“I mean there’s loads of stuff that’s happening. You have these cool comic-like panels that appear where you [make a choice], as you choose you get to see a preview of what could happen....It’s just a little thing, but [our focus on quality] reflects in these little things when someone says, ‘wouldn't it be cool if?’ And we say, ‘well actually yeah, you’re right, it would be. How long would it take to do it?’ There’s a lot of people working extra time because they want to. We work super hard. I’ve been making games for over a decade now, and I’ve never been surrounded by such hard-working, crazy people.”

CD Projekt isn’t talking about how many of those campaigns it will make for Gwent or how much they’ll cost, but they’re the part I’m truly excited about. 10 hours gives a campaign enough meat to offer a sense of progression—starting with weaker cards, collecting heroes and rares along the way to bolster your deck—that I found addicting in The Witcher 3. And I expect battles against the AI to benefit from the complete rework Gwent has seen to be a viable multiplayer game, which is free to play in the vein of Hearthstone.

Is CD Projekt RED announcing a new Witcher-related title at E3?  Might it have something to do with the Gwent card game that made the news last week?

I'll leave the title of this newsbit with a question mark at this point, but I think it's pretty clear by the picture that GameSpot snapped near the LA Convention Center that CD Projekt RED intends to announce, well, something related to The Witcher series at next week's E3. The promotional art that dons the side of the Figueroa Hotel looks more than a little light-hearted, though, so it's hard to say where this will ultimately lead. Perhaps it will tie in with the Gwent trademark that was filed last week?

GameSpot is now on the ground in Los Angeles for E3, and we snapped the photo below of a massive poster from CD Projekt Red hung on the Figueroa Hotel. As you can see, the poster is incomplete; perhaps the rest will be revealed in the coming days.

Earlier this week, it was revealed that CD Projekt Red trademarked "Gwent: The Card Game," with the suggestion being that it could be for a standalone version for mobile devices. Gwent is the name of the popular in-game card game from The Witcher 3.

It is possible this is the game that CD Projekt Red boss Marcin Iwinski alluded to in a recent interview, where he also suggested the project could be announced at E3.

CD Projekt said previously that it would announce or possibly launch a new game in 2016. Interestingly, this would be a "new type of video game format previously unexplored by the studio." A standalone version of Gwent for mobile devices would fit that description.

CD Projekt RED studio head John Mamais chatted with GamePressure about expanding CDPR's second studio, this one in Krakow, in an attempt to shoulder the workload for Cyberpunk 2077.

Q: Do you guys slow down sometimes?

A: Well, we haven’t slowed down much in the last 5 years, perhaps except for a few long weekends, some raucous team parties, and a few personal holidays ;). It’s been The Witcher 2 straight to The Witcher 3 in parallel with Cyberpunk and then, after TW3 base game, straight onto 2 large expansions: Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine. To realize our ambitions regarding Cyberpunk 2077 we need to scale the size of the team working on it which means from 300+ to 500+. Kraków will play a critical role in that expansion and the intention is to grow that studio from 30 now to 100+ in the next year (representing about 20% of the dev team on CP). Kraków is already planned to work on some key areas of Cyberpunk. But it’s part of the goal to build a studio with its own identity and to give the Kraków team ownership. Thereafter in Kraków it will be more and more growth and a new independent full AAA game conceived, pitched, and developed in Kraków.

Q: How do you guys plan to do it?

A: Both Warsaw and Kraków need to grow rapidly. Given the critical success of Wild Hunt (many thanks to gamers supporting us!) and the positive perception of our development studio due to our core values (no DRM, free DLCs) – there has been no shortage of great CVs. But it takes a great deal of scrutiny and time and effort to select the right candidates based on talent, experience, and attitude. So as Blood and Wine wraps, a larger part of the team can focus on this recruitment effort – evaluating tests and sitting in for intensive interview sessions. Kraków played an important role in the development of Blood and Wine – with the whole idea of Toussaint and some of the core story ideas and key art from the team there. And in terms of code, Kraków is continuing to play a vital role in the development of the the engine, with the entire programming team there tightly integrated across our engine and tools team in Warsaw. All this experience and this current level of integration has proven the Kraków team is working at the same level and in the same mindset as the Warsaw team. So there is already a very solid foundation for growth and synergy between the two studios.

In addition to that, I will be taking over as Head of Studio this autumn, with the primary focus on growth and management. We will also be moving some additional key development staff for a great er degree of knowledge transfer from Warsaw to Kraków. Having some veteran Warsaw developers in Kraków should also help us attract some additional senior level talent there.

More.

CD Projekt Red has outlined its plans for the next five years and this comes with some revelations.

CD Projekt Has Another Game in Store for 2016; One More AAA RPG by 2021 Besides Cyberpunk 2077

During CD Projekt's 2015 financial results conference, President Adam Kiciński shared the plans for the company's business strategy in the upcoming years.

As you can see in the slides below, the company plans to release "a new type of video game format previously unexplored by the studio" in 2016, in addition to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt‘s expansion Blood and Wine (which will premiere in the second quarter of this year).

During the call, Kiciński mentioned that the nature of this project won't be explained today, but there will be a time in which we will understand what this bullet point means. Later he also hinted that the company is "experimenting" and doing things that "nobody has ever done before."

Pushsquare.com says that CD Projekt Red is the best developer of 2015, and their argument is compelling.

2015 has been a pretty good year for gaming in terms of pure entertainment, but it's often been soured by news of some very questionable business practices. Whether it was simple stuff like Star Wars Battlefront's preposterous $50 season pass or Deus Ex: Mankind Divided's deservedly canned pre-order strategy, there's been plenty to shake your head at over the last 12 months. For what it's worth, we reckon that one company in particular shunned the greedy nature that's sadly expected from our industry these days – we're talking, of course, about the studio behind The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, CD Projekt Red.

The Polish outfit is no stranger to treating its customers with respect. Building its name on the PC, the studio supported both The Witcher and The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings well into their respective lifespans, adding content and positively tweaking the two titles to the best of its abilities. It was with Wild Hunt, though, that the developer took its post-release support to the next level.

More information.

Happy holidays to you too, CDPR!

The team at CD PROJEKT RED would like to wish you HAPPY HOLIDAYS and an awesome New Year!

Original link.

CD PROJEKT RED and R.TALSORIAN GAMES have announced The Witcher Role-Playing Game:

Together with R.Talsorian Games, makers of the hit pen and paper role-playing system Cyberpunk 2020, we are pleased to announce an agreement to develop The Witcher Role-Playing Game -- the go-to tabletop Witcher experience for pen and paper RPG enthusiasts.

The Witcher Role-Playing Game will allow tabletop RPG fans to re-create an array of characters known from the Witcher universe and live out entirely new adventures set within the world of Geralt of Rivia. Powered by Fuzion, the same ruleset that made Cyberpunk 2020 gain worldwide player acclaim, The Witcher Role-Playing Game will feature a myriad of spells, rituals, and curses; favorite gear and items from the entire Witcher series including a bestiary of devilish monsters players can face during their adventures. The system will provide all the necessary tools to create and play out your own adventures and become everything from a battle-hardened monster slayer to a merchant kingpin controlling a vast network of contacts.

The Witcher Role-Playing Game is currently slated for a mid 2016 release. More information about the system, price and availability will be provided at a later point in time.

A new video was released today recaping the Wild Hunt in the Witcher games.

Listen to a wandering preacher spin the tale of how magic came to be and how the vagabond monster hunters known as witchers fit into the universe of the upcoming open world, fantasy RPG – The Witcher: Wild Hunt.

Thank you CelticFrost for the link.

CD Projekt RED never fails to astonish with their awesomeness.  A devoted fan suffering from cluster migraines has been put into the Witcher 3.

I have a brain condition that gives me, essentially, a non-stop Migraine. It's a terrible, shitty Disability and I've had to live with it my entire life. There's no real "Cure" for Migraines these days, so ever since I was 14 I was placed on an ever increasing painkiller "cocktail" regiment.

This ties in because due to my condition and the heavy amount of medicine I have to take, I experience side-effects and sometimes the pain doesn't go away at all, so quite a bit of time pain-locked to my bed and there's only a small amount of things that can take my mind off the pain: redditing, reading and gaming. The reason that those things are able to help me is because they're all very immersive and vast, so I can really get lost in a graphic novel or an open-world video game (Reddit is something I do if it hurts too much to game/read).

So there's only been a very small amount of games that offer that truly immersive experience I need to truly get lost within them and escape the pain that I'm feeling, and The Witcher 2 happened to be one of those games! Now, whenever I come across a game like this, I look around really deeply on the web to find some way of communicating directly to the team that created that game so that I could tell them my story and personally thank them for how they've helped me so much.

In response to Nick's touching letter, CD Projekt offered to reproduce his likeness in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and a number of keys for Witcher-releated digital products. The story was later published on Eurogamer (their article is also the original source for this newspost), whose article includes a small message from CD Projekt:

"Some time ago we got an email from this guy. He described his situation and wanted to let the studio know what he thinks about our games and what they mean to him. That was a very kind and touching email. He didn't ask for anything, just to pass the message to others in [CD Projekt] Red.

"Over the weekend we exchanged a couple of emails and finally came up with an idea to put his face in The Witcher 3. Let me quote one of these emails: 'It is great that we can do something to make him feel better :)'. I think that sums it up pretty well."

Stay amazing, CDPR.

More information.

CD Projekt RED released a new video tutorial for their new Witcher Adventure Game.

The Witcher Adventure Game takes players on a journey across the world of The Witcher as they assume the roles of four beloved characters from the books and computer games: Geralt of Rivia, monster slayer; Dandelion, roguish bard; Triss Merigold, cunning sorceress; and Yarpen Zigrin, dwarven warrior.

A variety of quests invite players to hunt monsters, earn gold on dangerous missions, and interact with the characters they meet in a web of alliances and treachery.

The game is slated to a worldwide release in 2014 by Fantasy Flight Games in boxed version and in digital for PC/Mac and iOS iPads/Android Tablets.

CD Projekt RED announces they have sold over eight million games in the Witcher series in the developers new fiscal report. Not bad I dare say yet still not COD sales.

From time to time the big companies brag about their income and achievements in the specified time interval. Why organize this type of event? Bragging financial results is designed to attract new investors who want to put their money in the development of a specific company, because such meetings are organized primarily for interested investors than for curious players. Two days ago, his presentation was organized CD Projekt - our native company, which is known to every player. The entire conference led Adam Kiciński, which acts as President. What fun it was to learn from this event? The first and the second part of The Witcher has sold 8 million copies worldwide. We remind you that In March this year the studio announced that the number of copies sold was 7,000,000, so from March as many as one million new customers.

The company unfortunately did not share the results of sold copies of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt ordered in pre. If we're on the third part of the adventures of Geralt is worth noting that the company has placed great emphasis on the distribution of the game. Currently, CD Projekt has signed agreements with 17 partners, so that the third part of the series will be up in 109 countries. In the first two parts of the distribution of continents such as Europe, Australia, South America and Africa dealt only with one company and their subcontractors, which unfortunately did not present too interesting from the point of view of financial statements. In the case of the third part of this step is to be played a lot better.

As regards the question of money is the end of June the company had 51.2 million zloty in cash, also do not have to worry about any bankruptcy;). CD Projekt in the future want to also focus on creating games for mobile platforms, and has plans to actively develop its platform GOG.com. In addition to the games designed for Linux corporation also wants to promote the sales of movies with no DRM, unfortunately at the moment distributors are not keen on this form of cooperation.

Found on PurePC.

GamerHubTV interviewd CD Projekt RED about the new Witcher MOBA game.

CD Projekt Red developer Tadek Zielinski previews the new mobile MOBA set in The Witcher universe, The Witcher Battle Arena, in this exclusive gamepay interview from Gamescom 2014 in Cologne, Germany.

CD Projekt RED released another video of their panel from Comic-Con 2014.

On July 24th, 2014, CD PROJEKT RED, the creators of the open world fantasy RPG The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, held a panel at Comic-Con San Diego.

Playstation Lifestyle has posted the full interview with Level Designer Miles Tost of CD Projekt RED. I posted a small sample of the interview last week.

PSLS: Each of The Witcher games contain some level of sexuality in them, and that has caused a bit of controversy in the past. What are your thoughts about sexuality in gaming and how have you approached the subject with The Witcher 3?

MT: We make mature games, for mature players (every Witcher game is for adults only) and sex is, well, a part of adult life. The key thing is not to overdo it, not to sell your game with sex. As long as you remain tactful in what you do, as long as you have a legitimate reason to put sex in your game, I think it’s quite safe to do so.

PSLS: RPG fans are generally a fickle bunch and can be hard to please, regardless of the platform. In what ways do you feel The Witcher 3 embraces the genre that might make RPG fans giddy with joy?

MT: Take a really good story (and I mean really good, book-grade story), add a whole bunch of smaller stories, and mix that in a truly vast open world. You’re a guy that slays really ferocious monsters, does it like a cold and calculated killing machine, and you can go anywhere and do anything. Players will get this sense of wonder and excitement when exploring the open world, that feeling many people love when they get to play an amazing open world game for the first time and that makes them remember the game fondly later on. We’re trying hard, to create that feeling for literally tens of hours of gameplay. For me, that’s a pretty good reason! And if that doesn’t convince you there’s also a much improved combat system, alchemy, crafting…

Playstation Lifestyle has a small preview of a new interview with CD Projekt RED about sex, and how the developer, "Makes Mature Games for Mature Players'"

If you’ve played past Witcher games or have read the books it’s based on, then chances are you’ve come across at least one scenario where sex was involved. 

In our exclusive interview with CD Projekt RED, we mentioned to Level Designer Miles Tost that each entry in The Witcher game series contained some level of sexuality in them, which has stirred some controversy. What do they think of sexuality in gaming and how they’re approaching the subject in The Witcher 3?

"We make mature games, for mature players (every Witcher game is for adults only) and sex is, well, a part of adult life. The key thing is not to overdo it, not to sell your game with sex. As long as you remain tactful in what you do, as long as you have a legitimate reason to put sex in your game, I think it’s quite safe to do so."

In the same interview, Tost also mentioned that there’s “no plans” to re-release previous games in The Witcher franchise on PlayStation platforms.

How do you feel about sex in games? Should developers be allowed to put as much  of it as they want in games or should it be used sparingly and not just for shock value?

Polygon posted a new article about how CD Projekt RED conquered Poland in the last decade. Here is a sample from their tour of the developer.

Like so many other companies in Poland, CD Projekt started as a direct result of the collapse of communism. Poles were suddenly left to fend for themselves, and many like Iwinski saw the opportunity to build businesses, something that was denied to ordinary people under communist rule. He calls the years following the 1990 change in government an "incubator of entrepreneurship."

CD Projekt's version of entrepreneurship involved capitalizing on Poland's lax copyright laws and Western games companies' general disinterest in the Polish market. When the copyright laws changed, CD Projekt changed, shifting into licensed localization, distribution and, eventually, game development. But it all started simply as an excuse to play new games before anyone else.

"We had access to new games," Iwinski says. "How silly does that sound as a reason for founding a business? But I think it was quite important. ... We were doing the first localizations in Polish. We did PR and marketing campaigns. In the beginning, the market was quite wild. No retail chains selling games. In the first few years we were just selling to mom-and-pop shops. [Customers] were coming up with a Volkswagen and filling it up with games and selling them in small stores all around Poland."

The success of CDPR's early efforts convinced Iwinski that he wasn't the only one who wanted to play games, and that most Polish people wanted to play them in Polish. CDPR became the first company in Poland working directly with Western companies to localize games in Polish, hiring famous Polish actors to redo the spoken dialogue. Suddenly the world of game development broke wide open. CDPR could offer Western companies something no one else was offering.

Rock Paper Shotgun has a short quote from CD Projekt RED that the recent mobile Witcher MOBA may be released on the PC . So is this good or bad news?

You may or may not have heard, but CD Projekt has partnered with Fuero Games to make a Witcher MOBA. A mobile Witcher MOBA. It’s called Witcher: Battle Arena, so you won’t confuse it with Witcher: Hockey Arena or Witcher: Arena Rock. And yes, I know this world already has more than enough MOBAs, but this one looks kinda OK. So I had to ask, what are its PC prospects? CDP was, as ever, straightforward: a PC version could happen, but it’s not happening yet. You should probably gird your lusty loins for more spin-offs of Geralt’s lustacular lustventures, though. CDP seems quite keen on doing those.

First though, why no Witcher MOBA on PC? CDP looked at the landscape pragmatically; PC is overrun by the things, and nobody wants to be the one hundred and first dalmatian. CDP’s Tadek Zieliński explained:

“The game is built in Unity Engine, so technically it would be possible [to bring the game to PC]. That being said, the PC MOBA market is pretty much full of awesome games so we’re focusing on mobile for now.”

On the upside, PC is currently getting one Witcher spin-off, a boardgame called Witcher Adventure Game, and of course The Witcher 3. And in case you were wondering, no, these spin-offs aren’t detracting from Witcher or Cyberpunk development time. I asked CEO Marcin Iwinski about that during E3, and he claimed that CDP’s main projects are unaffected by these. Battle Arena, for instance, has been its own separate thing for nearly two years now, Zieliński told me.

What about in future, though? Will there be more baby Witchers, for instance my dream game, The Witcher: Babies? Other games like Cyberpunk 2077 are also on the way, providing more opportunities for smaller side projects. Again, CDP told me, nothing is set in stone, but they want to do more. Said Zieliński:

“Our mission, as you probably know,  is to create the best RPGs in the world, and that doesn’t change. But if there is a good idea floating around that’s beneficial to the community, and also in line with our philosophy, then why not have a stab at it? If we can uphold the quality we strive to uphold, and be fair with gamers, we’re always eager to do new things.”

CD Projekt RED announces a selected batch of gamers who pre-ordered The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt on GOG.com can now try the beta of the new Witcher Adventure Game.

Together with GOG.com, the DRM-free online distributor of all that is good in gaming, we are excited to announce the launch of the closed beta of the board game tie-in to the universe of Geralt of Rivia--The Witcher Adventure Game.

“The moment you give people a chance to play a game so dear to you is always exciting,” says Rafał Jaki, The Witcher Adventure Game Executive Producer, CD PROJEKT RED. “The closed beta is here! Give us your feedback and, most importantly, have fun playing!” added Jaki.

The first batch of participants consists of selected gamers who pre-ordered The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt on GOG.com. Those gamers will be among the first to help test and refine some of the multiplayer components of the upcoming GOG Galaxy service. With the distribution of further invitations planned as the beta progresses, players interested in participating in the testing can still navigate to GOG.com/galaxy and sign up for a chance to participate.

“We’re really eager to hear your feedback, as the closed beta of The Witcher Adventure Game also serves as the first test of the infrastructure and services of the upcoming GOG Galaxy--GOG.com's DRM-free online gaming platform,” said Piotr Karwowski, VP of Online Technologies, GOG.com.

The multiplayer beta is available on Windows PC and Mac. The full game will include offline single player “VS. AI” modes as well as “hot-seat” multiplayer at launch. The game is scheduled to be released late 2014 in physical box format, and digitally, on Windows PC, Mac, iOS (iPad) and Android tablets.

Eurogamer has some news on what will be talked about in CD Project RED's Live Event that takes place in less than 8 hours.

You'll see brand new gameplay footage from The Witcher 3, ooh err, and hear more about the board game The Witcher: Adventure Game. The GOG pre-order details for the game will be shared, which are bound to include all sorts of enticing goodies, and GOG will unveil its new technology that CDP hopes will take it to infinity and beyond.

They also have an exclusive screenshot from The Witcher 3, showing some people hanging around.

Seems my last post about E3 in June was indeed a good thing as today CD Projekt Red, and GOG.com have announced they are giving out invitations for a new Live Event.

Here is the short video, and some more information on the event.

CD PROJEKT RED, the developer behind the Witcher series of games, and GOG.com, the Internet's leading destination for the best DRM-Free games in history on PC and Mac, are delighted to invite you to a special Summer Conference and live stream event.

CD Projekt RED posted a new press release about the developers new Logo, and the redesigned logo for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

CD Projekt RED unveils a new image of both the studio and its leading title - The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, and provides new details about the titular Wild Hunt.

Established in 2002, located in Warsaw (HQ) and Kraków, Poland, CD Projekt RED was born out of raw passion to video games. The studio’s founders-Michał Kiciński and Marcin Iwiński, both pioneers in video game distribution in Poland in the 90s, decided to employ their gaming industry experience in video game development. A lot of time has passed since 2002, and the studio’s logo remained mostly untouched. Until today.

The new REDbird logo is a combination of energy and passion for game-making the studio is known for. This is how Adam Badowski, CD Projekt RED’s Head of Studio, sees the change:

We are rebels and rebels are free. Just like birds. The Northern Cardinal, or REDbird, is what we see ourselves in the industry: intrepid, bold and confident; flying high and aiming even higher. The colour, cardinal RED, is something that connects it with another bird, a mythological creature close to our cultural roots and heritage-the Raróg, a small firebird believed to bring luck to people. RED stands for energy, the inner fire that drives us; it represents something very close to everyone here in the studio-the creativity and passion we harness from within ourselves to make the best RPGs in the world.

Starting May 14th, the REDbird logo will become the new, official logo of CD Projekt RED-it will accompany all official assets and will form the core of the studio’s visual identification.

Along with the new studio logo, CD Projekt RED is thrilled to unveil the new logo of it’s most ambitious game yet-The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Putting the titular Wild Hunt in its centre, the new logo casts the spotlight on the mask of one of its ominous leaders-general Eredin.

The Wild Hunt has always been thought to presage war, great plagues and death. Their origin unknown, these phantasmal riders instilled fear in the hearts of men and are believed to be able to steal people’s spirits that would later join the ghastly cavalcade. They come at night, in the winter and their appearance is always preceded by the aurora borealis.

In The Witcher 3, the Wild Hunt are not mere bosses at the end of a corridor. They’re part of the lore, part of the system of folk beliefs, they’re both something that children say stories about to scare each other and an entity that can wipe out entire villages in one night. The Wild Hunt is essential to the whole Witcher universe and in The Witcher 3 it will finally take center stage.

The ones who command the Hunt remain a mystery even bigger than the Hunt itself. Their number and purpose are shrouded with mystery, their cold steel however, is not-many have witnessed the Hunt’s atrocities, almost none survived to tell the tale.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is a story-driven, next-generation open world role-playing game, set in a graphically stunning fantasy universe, full of meaningful choices and impactful consequences. In The Witcher 3, you play as Geralt of Rivia, one of a dying caste of monster hunters, and embark on an epic journey in a war-ravaged world that will inevitably lead you to confront a foe darker than anything humanity has faced so far—the Wild Hunt.

PCGamesN had the chance to interview CD Projekt RED, and talk about how the developer fought the publishers to win their independence.

CD Projekt RED gave a speech at Quo Vadis Berlin 2014 about why it makes sense to be independent. A lucky attendee managed to film it, and got permission to post it.

Biz Development Talk about:
"Why it makes sense to be independent"

Michal Nowakowski (CD PROJEKT S.A.)
Marcin Iwinski (CD Projekt Group)

This video is meant to give everyone who could not visit Quo Vadis 2014 a chance to watch this great presentation.I have permission of CD Projekt RED and Quo Vadis to publish this video on YouTube. Big thanks for that!

GrabitMagazine had the chance to ask 11-Bit Studios about signing Lead Gameplay Designer Maciej Szcześnik, and Gameplay Producer Marek Ziemak.

What do you think securing such notable talent says about 11 Bit Studios and its future projects?

I believe the games we make are really well polished and original enough to prove 11 bit studios is a decent developer. Now, we want to go to another level and expand, which is possible - among other thing - thanks to these two guys. I'm sure they will have an impact on what we are currently working on, but what's most important here is that we need creative people and they needed space to free their creativity. This is where we meet perfectly. But I wouldn't say now we're going to develop MMORPG.

These developers bring experience from epic choice-driven third-person RPGs to the studio; were they brought on specifically to work on a new IP or will they be driving the Anomaly brand further?

Maciej and Marek have over 15 years of experience working for CD Projekt combined. However, what people don't know is that they worked on some indie games too and their experience is based not only on AAA RPGs. We gave them creative freedom and a chance to work on different games, which is what they were looking for. Maciej is already working on a new IP. Marek is doing something a little bit different, but we have to keep it a secret for now.

News from a recent press release has information that Lead Gameplay Designer Maciej Szcześnik, and Gameplay Producer Marek Ziemak have left CD Projekt.

They have joined a developer called 11 bit studios to make their own game. Here is the press release with more information.

11 bit studios Hires The Witcher's Lead Gameplay Designer Maciej Szcześnik and Gameplay Producer Marek Ziemak

After years of working on The Witcher franchise, lead gameplay designer Maciej Szcześnik and gameplay producer Marek Ziemak have joined 11 bit studios. "I'm absolutely looking forward to working here," said Maciej Szcześnik, who will be the lead designer of a new game in development at 11 bit. "I'll be responsible for the entire design of a game that took shape in my imagination. It's a really exciting feeling to create a new world from scratch, make its characters and rules and to know that I have this blank page to fill with my ideas and then bring them to life."

Marek Ziemak's role will be announced soon, alongside news about the exciting projects the 11 bit team is working on. Marek says, "I've been watching the indie-game scene for quite some time and I love its creativity and freshness. Without going into details, expect some hot news from us around March." Grzegorz Miechowski, managing director at 11 bit studios adds, "We make games in small teams where creative input is the key. It's great to have these two talented guys on board. This absolutely takes 11 bit to a new level."

Stay tuned for more news from 11 bit studios and its upcoming games.

About 11 bit

We are 11 bit studios – a game development company based in Warsaw, Poland, Europe, Planet Earth. Guided by an experienced management team, our goal is to create exciting games for all kind of gamers – hardcore players, as well as those who play on occasion – and to make the games easily available through digital distribution. The head concept behind our development is to devise unique and pioneering gameplay ideas, and to implement and deliver them to all main gaming platforms: consoles, computers and handhelds. Find more at www.11bitstudios.com

Thanks to lostforever I also have a link to Polygon with more information.

MCV India interviews Marcin Iwinski the Co-Founder of CD Projekt.

Marcin Iwinski’s love for games and his passion for the work his company does are infectious. Having started out as a publisher and distributor in Poland, CD Projekt announced itself on the world stage with The Witcher series of role-playing games, and then with its ever-popular, DRM-free digital distribution service, GOG.com.

This year, its development studio, CD Projekt RED, is set to release the wildly ambitious The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, which floored audiences at E3 and swept the show with over 50 awards. We had a chance to chat with Iwinski at length about The Witcher 3 and what lies ahead for the series; GOG.com and the future of retail; its next project Cyberpunk 2077; DRM and piracy; and a whole lot more.

CD Projekt RED has an announcement of a new Witcher adventure board game.

We are thrilled to announce that The Witcher Adventure Game will be published by a marketplace leader in board game development and publishing Fantasy Flight Games.

 “Fantasy Flight Games has an outstanding connection with board game fans worldwide and is well known for the highest quality of their titles. We’re really excited that we can join the party and expand The Witcher universe in such great company,” said Adam Badowski, Head of Studio, CD Projekt RED.

Ignacy Trzewiczek’s The Witcher Adventure Game takes players on a journey across the world of The Witcher as they assume the roles of four beloved characters from the books and computer games: Geralt of Rivia, monster slayer; Dandelion, roguish bard; Triss Merigold, cunning sorceress; and Yarpen Zigrin, dwarven warrior. A variety of quests invite players to hunt monsters, earn gold on dangerous missions, and interact with the characters they meet in a web of alliances and treachery.

“We are very pleased to partner with CD Projekt RED on The Witcher Adventure Game. The story and the setting of The Witcher really lends itself to an adventure board game. We’re looking forward to players being able to craft their own narrative during the course of the game,” said Steve Horvath, Senior VP of Communication and Digital Business for Fantasy Flight Games.

Watch the Teaser Video for a taste of what’s to come and visit the newly launched website for further details.

The game is slated to a worldwide release in 2014.

Eurogamer has a new article looking at the history of CD Projekt Red, and what comes as a surprise the company was almost bankrupt at one time. It's worth a read so check it out.

I travel to Warsaw in Poland to visit CD Projekt, celebrated house of The Witcher, and there's one thing I discover that I can't stop telling people: The Witcher 2 was very nearly canned, and the entire company almost collapsed.

It was 2009, two years after the first The Witcher, and the global economic crisis had CD Projekt on its knees. The money from the first game had been burned trying to clear up the mess of The Witcher: White Wolf, the console game that never was. Elsewhere, the publishing-distribution business CD Projekt was founded on had become a black hole, sucking money away, and GOG was barely big enough to sustain itself.

It was the scariest moment in Marcin Iwiński's 20-year career. "The company is my baby, is my first baby," he tells me. "Then there is my daughter and then my son. And I realised that I might lose it."

Rather than hit the ground running after The Witcher, CD Projekt was about to fall flat on its face. "It was looking pretty grim back then. It was very edgy. We had probably a year where we were scraping money to make the payroll at the end of the month."

It's not what I expected, and not what I see before me now: Iwiński in a plush, dimpled leather chair in the middle of a trendy office, all exposed brickwork and glass walls and ventilation shafts, where some 200 people now work. There's a motion capture studio, a dazzlingly bright red toilet, suits of armour, swords, awards and a brand new vegetarian canteen. And all around me, an army is making The Witcher 3, a game so prestigious Microsoft boasted about it during the Xbox One conference at E3.

Polygon interviwed CD Projekt RED's Business Development Manager Rafal Jaki at the New York Comic-Con about the Wither comic book.

Dark Horse's upcoming take on The Witcher will explore the gaps in time found between the franchise's novels.

Specifically, the five-issue run, which kicks off on March 19, will see Geralt hired to deal with an undead witch wife that has taken over the mansion in which she used to live.

The run's story, written by Eisner Award-winner Paul Tobin, will be treated more like the tales found in The Last Wish, a collection of short stories written by franchise creator Andrzej Sapkowski, that details the one-off, everyday adventures of Geralt, rather than the main storylines of either the novels or the games.

"In the books there are several times when Geralt's whereabouts are not accounted for anywhere," said Rafal Jaki, business development manager at CD Projekt Red, during an interview at New York Comic Con. "There are actually several years even where we don't know what's happening with him. In our heads he was just doing his job so we thought this is a cool place to pick up and try to tell stories. What happened with him in that specific timeline.

"The short stores (from The Last Wish and The Sword of Destiny books) are the essence of what's really cool about The Witcher world and Geralt himself. We think we really captured the essence of the short stories in the comic book. This is about the witcher, Geralt, just being a witcher. He's trying to make a living killing monsters and in the process he's encountering people and dealing with the human condition as we call it. That's the same for the comic book as well."

Jaki said the team at CD Projekt Red decided to work with Dark Horse on the comic, both because they appreciate their ability to turn other video games into meaningful comics but also because they love their take on fantasy as seen in Conan, Elfquest and, in particular, Hell Boy.

"At the office, we are huge comic book fans," he said. "We obviously know Dark Horse properties very well. Actually we had one property in mind that for us was a really perfect fit with what we are trying to do with the comic books. That's the Mignolaverse, Hell Boy.

CD Projekt RED announces on the Witcher webpage that they are teaming up with
Dark Horse Comics.

Together with Dark Horse Comics, one of the global leaders in comic book publishing, we are thrilled to invite you to New York Comic Con, where we will unveil something truly special for fans of the fantasy genre.

There’s a mystery near the edge of the Black Forest. We'd like to invite you to fear it with us

See the teaser here

Learn more at New York Comic Con,

Full Color Fantasy: Fantasy Comics Past, Present and Future!

DSO Gaming has posted the promised interview with CD Projekt RED. Topics include the Witcher 3 Tech: Tessellation, PhysX, DX11.2, Windows 8, and Global Illumination.

DSOGaming: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is powered by REDengine 3. What are the key differences between REDengine 2 and 3?

BT:  The key difference is that REDengine 3 is made to support open world games. We spent a lot of time figuring out the pipeline and the systems and techniques needed to enable our game teams to achieve their goals, both in terms of storytelling and openness. We also rewrote the renderer to support DirectX 11 – this brought a lot of new features that we can use to make our games look even better.

DSOGaming: What are the key tech features of The Witcher 3, and what is the one that you are really proud of?

BT: We are very proud that The Witcher 2 is considered one of the best looking games on the Xbox 360, so we’ve tried to improve our graphics and we are very satisfied with our initial results. Naturally, we are proud that we made the transition to run our games on multiple platforms and to create the systems for an open world. We also switched our physics middleware from Havok to PhysX and we started using Apex.  These were all really big changes and we are far from done – we have a lot more on our plate, including constant improvements to our editor. We should probably get back to this question after the game is released but right now these things come to mind first.

DSOGaming – Readers’ Question – How has native 64-bit affected the engine? How did you achieve a world 35 times larger than Skyrim The Witcher 2 and what does it imply about the engine, performance, and requirements? Can you share any estimated minimum/recommended PC requirements?

GR: Well, 64-bit architecture gave us access to larger amounts of memory available for the game. I think that’s the biggest benefit. In general the transition to 64-bit went quite smoothly and seamlessly for us.

I admit that the size of the world we have in TW3 provided us with a considerable number of technical challenges. It pushed us to rewrite our streaming system, memory management and resource handling mechanisms. It also required a lot of enhancements from us to the tools used by designers and artists. Many things that were done manually in TW2 had to be automated now to allow us to fill the vast areas Geralt will travel through faster.

It will obviously cause TW3 to have higher requirements than previous installments of the game. But at this stage, without final optimizations, it’s hard to estimate what the minimum system requirements for comfortable playing will be. We will definitely work hard to make this game playable on most gaming PCs.

Read the interview for even more questions.

DSO Gaming has posted a preview of it's upcoming interview with CD Projekt RED.

A couple of days ago, we had the pleasure to interview CD Projekt RED’s Greg Rdzany – Senior Technical Producer at CD Projekt RED – and Balazs Torok – Lead Engine Programmer at CD Projekt RED. Although our full interview will be posted later this weekend, we felt the need to share with you some juicy details about why CDPR decided to create the REDEngine engine, and why it did not license CryENGINE or Unreal Engine.

DSO Gaming has news on the development costs of the the Witcher games, and Cyberpunk 2077.

Polish Legal/Law Journal site (thanks Kodaemon and Perscitus for the heads up), Gazeta Prawna, has revealed some interesting information about the development cost of The Witcher 2, as well as the development for both The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077.

During CDPR’s conference, CD Projekt CEO Adam Kicinski said that The Witcher 2 cost $10,36 million to CD Projekt RED.

In addition, Kicinski revealed the The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 will cost CD Projekt RED $2.82 million for the first half of 2013.

DSO Gaming has an interesting article about the RED Engine, and that it was originally meant to be used in The Witcher 3.

During their SIGGRAPH 2013 talk, CD Projekt RED’s Balazs Torok and Krzysztof Krzyscin unveiled some new interesting information about RED Engine; the engine powering The Witcher 2 and CDPR’s upcoming RPG, The Witcher 3. According to the developers, this engine was originally meant to be used in The Witcher 3 as the game was planned ahead already, however CDPR decided to take advantage of it with The Witcher 2.

RED Engine was developed to render characters beautifully with support to special shaders, rendering, lighting techniques. The engine also supported multiple appearances per entity, texture skinning with 4 weights per vertex and animated component using Havok animation. Moreover, CDPR used 3 levels of LOD for most of its meshes plus an optional billboard level. Surprisingly enough, with The Witcher 2 CDPR ‘LOD-ed’ not just the meshes but the animations and the mimics too

When the team began working on the X360 version of The Witcher 2, it ended up creating a new version of its engine called RED Engine 2. RED Engine 2 is considered a more optimized version of RED Engine, as CDPR was facing a lot of issues with Microsoft’s console:

“When we finished making the PC version of the Witcher 2 we started working on the Xbox 360 version. It was a very special situation where the console version was developed separately from the PC version, this allowed us to concentrate all our efforts. At the very beginning the game didn’t even fit on the 1 GB devkit so we had to optimize a lot and we had a deadline of the GC when we had to run on the 512 MB devkit. The first big win was the motion extraction from the animations, then we rewrote the whole foliage system, these and a few other optimizations finally made it possible to run on the console. We were facing many loading time and CPU issues too. For the former, we had to implement animation streaming, we always load the events, the extracted motion and some key poses for the animations and we stream in the rest and blend them. For the CPU we had to implement a lightweight solution for background NPCs that allowed us to place many simple animated characters on the levels. The triangle count and the textures were reduced by a factor of 2 so there was no special thing done here.”

CD Projekt RED has opened a new studio in Cracow as reported on the site a few weeks ago. They are now accepting applications for anyone who is interested in working for them.

We are very happy to announce the opening of a new CD Projekt RED studio in Cracow. The new studio will bolster the development of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Cyberpunk 2077.

“A new studio, new people and new energy – we’re growing and we’re extremely excited that we can tap into the potential that Krakow has to offer. We want to continue to make better and better RPGs and the new studio is another big step in that direction,” said Adam Badowski, Head of CD Projekt RED.

If you are interested in joining our ranks, please take a look at the career section, where you will find job listings from both Warsaw and Cracow.

Gamasutra has a very short article explaining on how CD Projekt RED respects it's fans while growing larger.

How do you keep yourself growing slowly and sustainably, rather than getting ahead of yourself?

MI: That's actually a very good question, because there are a lot of companies which run like crazy into different directions, some of them big, some of them small. We've made some mistakes like that before. We were doing a lot of things. We were expanding our distribution. We had some more stuff... there was the Rise of the White Wolf project, which didn't work out for us.

[Ed. note: Rise of the White Wolf is a cancelled version of the original Witcher for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.]

But I think the important thing is we are learning. What we've definitely learned throughout the last 20 years is that we have to focus. We focus on what we do best, and what we do best is tell stories in big, epic, mature dark fantasy settings -- or in the case of Cyberpunk, futuristic settings. But this is the thing we have to focus on. You will not see from us a lot of diverse stuff. We will not suddenly start making racing games, because I do not think that is where our strength is.

At the end of the day, what really matters is the experience which you are having with the game when it's out. And this is the one unique moment which defines us. If it's an average experience, pretty much what we are doing every day doesn't make sense.

For a lot of companies, from a short-term business perspective, the famous hit-and-run strategy, there are still a lot of people applying this. And sometimes it works! And then they are probably telling [other companies about] what they do. I just don't think it's [the way we should run our business]. So we are really deliberately choosing what we want to do, and we will do it for as long as we are happy with the effect.

Hence, for example, The Witcher 1, and the Witcher 1 Enhanced Edition, and The Witcher 2 and Witcher 2 Enhanced Edition, which for the PC players was all for free, because we think we could have done better, and here it is.

And they appreciate it. Then they tell their friends we are doing a good job and we respect them. And ultimately it will result in a sale. Some people are saying, "Why do you do that? You could have charged for it!" Yeah. But I think the value in the whole proposition is that we are honest, straightforward, and fair, and this pays back. So you can call it a business model, in a way.

If anyone remembers CD Projekt RED said in there company meeting a few months ago that the company would be expanding. It's now official and the new studio will be making two smaller RPG's.

Warsaw, Poland-based studio CD Projekt RED, responsible for The Witcher franchise and the upcoming Cyberpunk 2077, is expanding to a second studio in Krakow, Gamasutra is able to confirm.

This July we are opening an office in Krakow. As we informed in our strategy outlook some time ago, aside from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Cyberpunk 2077, the studio aims to develop two smaller (approximately 20h of gameplay) premium quality titles. Consisting of 20 people, the core team in Krakow will be responsible for developing one of these games.

CapsuleComputers has an interview with CD Projekt RED’s Konrad Tomaszkiewicz.

CC: First of all, thank you for taking the time to speak to us. I’m very keen to learn more about the latest Witcher title and I’m sure that’s a curiosity shared by many of our readers. So to kick things off, what can you tell us about Projekt RED’s early days?

KT: Boy, did we have fun back in the early days. I mean, we actually have more fun now, but reminiscing about the “old days”… Well, it seems everything had this special glow back then. RED studio came into being in 2002 and began working on the first Witcher installment a year later. Back then, The Witcher 1 was the biggest-budget Polish game ever and, in a way, we were pioneering development on such a large scale in our country. We went big right off the bat – we cooperated with the Academy Award nominee and BAFTA winner Tomasz Bagiński, comic book writer Przemysław Truściński and, most importantly, Andrzej Sapkowski – the author of the Witcher book series.

Don’t get me wrong – we had a fairly good idea how to go about making a game, but many things were new to us, especially the scope of what we wanted to do. We decided our first game would be an RPG, and a complex one at that, set in a grim universe, which isn’t necessarily the easiest thing to pull off. Still, we were doing what we loved, which is what gave us the fuel to keep going. After all, we were developing a game that we’d like to play ourselves. Eventually, The Witcher turned out to be a critical success, winning over 100 awards, as well as the hearts of RPG fans around the world.

CC: What games of old have inspired Projekt RED’s work?

KT: Definitely RPGs – we’ve got a full spectrum of role-playing fans here at RED. Whether it’s DOS-era dungeon crawlers, custom LARPs (including Witcher-themed ones), pen-and-paper games or Japanese RPGs on consoles no one has even heard of – I bet there’s someone at CD Project RED that has played them, mastered them and continues to play them to this day. We draw inspiration from all of these every day – singling out one or two titles that inspired us is just impossible.

CC: How important has the response from fans been in the development of Wild Hunt?

KT: Very. Something we always have in the back of our minds is why we’re actually making these games and who we’re making them for. How could we not listen to our players? We have a very active and supportive community, and the forums are full of great ideas, feedback and general chatter on do’s and don’ts from the gamers’ perspective. For example – Geralt himself has been and undoubtedly will continue to be one of our most discussed topics. We’ve been approached countless times about modifying his appearance: hair in ponytails or loose, cut long or short, with a beard or without – it’s all been subject to player scrutiny and we love every bit of it. We’ve also benefited a ton from gamers commenting on the games’ interface, quests and much more. Fans are our best focus-testers and that’s why we love them so much!

CC: Has there been talk of a fourth game? Or will this be the last in the series?

KT: I’d rather not dodge this question with a typical “yes, everything’s possible,” but that’s exactly the case – one of the fun things about making games is that nothing’s written in stone. Still, currently we’re only focusing on The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Cyberpunk 2077, so let’s leave talk about what the future might bring for another occasion.

Digitally Downloaded is offering an interview with CD Project Red's Michal Nowakowski, who is responsible for Business Development, on a variety of topics like the importance of fan support, sex in games, releases and the business aspect of things.

DD: The Witcher 3 will be the first game you release simultaneously on consoles with PC. Do you consider consoles a critical part of your growth strategy?
MN: It depends on the particular market. In Europe, we have markets where PC is the dominating platform, while the console market is really strong in the US. Having a multiplatform release does not only increase your audiences, but diversifies your risks worldwide.

Developing a game for different platforms is a little different than for a single one, but we want the Witcher 3 to be designed so it feels appropriate for wherever you play it. This means we are putting a lot of detail in designing the interface and other features, so it uses the maximal potential each platform gives us.

The release of the Witcher 2 of Xbox 360 gave us a lot of experience and has also proven that our target group – mature and ambitious players - is widely present on that platform. Many people say that console and PC players look for different types of entertainment. The success of The Witcher 2 on Microsoft’s platform, shows that even if it is true, there is still a large audience for our games who want to play them in front of a TV, with a gamepad in their hands.

DD: You have one of the most loyal fan bases of any major development studio. What do you attribute your success in building this loyalty to?
Quality is the answer. The content you deliver should be top-notch, that’s the best way to have fans. We also are gamers ourselves and when thinking about our future we ask ourselves, “how would I react to this as a player?” And generally the answers are simple – we don’t like to be milked for money, or cheated and we’d like to be treated as partners.

As developers, we are aware how much we owe to the players who decided to buy our game. Fair treatment is our way of saying thank you.

That’s why we removed DRM from our game on PC when it posed more problems for legit users. We also didn’t support paid DLCs for small chunks of content and even gave the Enhanced Edition upgrade for The Witcher 2 for free. Also every owner of our game received a free digital back-up copy on GOG.com and we still patch and improve our titles.

Our fans help us a lot. Three new language versions have been created thanks to fan-support. We tested those and officially released patches allowing players to play in Turkish, Korean and Brazilian Portuguese.

These are really small gestures from us as a developer and we love our fans, so we have even more goodies prepared for you.

CD Project Red have made a document public stating that they are not only working on The Withcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 but that also two smaller games will be released in the next years. The document is in Polish, but Kotaku has received a translation of the main points:

• Open REDkit beta and further support the modding community.
• Premiere of the first non-computer game set in the Witcher world.
• Launch of a local branch of CD Projekt RED in the United States, focused on marketing and PR for both Americas, especially the US.
• 2014-2016 – launch of The Witcher 3 for at least three strong platforms including PC and PS4.
• Launch of Cyberpunk 2077.
• Two smaller (about 20 hours of gameplay) but top-quality games supporting one of the product lines.
• A cross-platform mobile game based on one of CDPR’s brands.
• Start of license sales for REDengine.
• Long-term Witcher 3 support involving completely new mechanics.
• Launch of the full version of the REDkit and further modding community support.
• Launch of further local CDPR branches in key territories.

Adam Badowski , head of CD Project Red, has talked - at length - with Gamesindustry.biz.
The talk has resulated in an interview that sets its apart from other interviews today. The interview is somewhat longer than we're just too and Adam Badowski actually also has some noteworthy things to say about different subjects. He, Adam Badowski talks about these subjects in the inteview their design philosophy, Cyberpunk 2077, GOG.com, the Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. He also talks about the probability of a publisher which might be buying the studio in the future, and much much more.

On the prospect of being bought, here's Adam's take on this:

Q: Your success and ambition certainly hasn't gone unnoticed, and I'm sure that there are companies who have looked at CD Projekt RED with an eye to acquisition. Does that fit with your plans at all?

Adam Badowski: Independence is a crucial part of our strategy. That means we need to be independent in both ways. First, financially and secondly creatively - they're both crucial for us. So as a company we're listed publicly on the Warsaw stock exchange, which gave us financial independence and creatively we own all our IP so we're free to invest in our own business with total creative freedom. This gives us a fresh eye in the studio, so it's very important to us. Maybe we could get extra money or experience, but it wouldn't make us happy.

Here's a quote about how he sees the growth of the company:

Q: CD Projekt RED has gone from strength to strength by aiming for niche products with great ambition. That's quite a high risk approach - what made you confident that you would succeed?

Adam Badowski: Growing was hard, but this has always been our studio's policy and our team's policy. We have always aimed for ambitious projects. I believe that if you want to succeed, creative vision has to inform business policy and not the other way around - that's crucial for us. Sometimes business will decide a company's creative policy, that's very bad for a studio.........To succeed you have to believe in your project first and then do your job 100 per cent. So the creative side and your heart comes first. Business should be based around your vision.

And here's a quote about Cyperbunk 2077:

Q: The Witcher series maintains an excellent balance of established tropes and fresh ideas, setting up expectations and confounding them. Will we see a similar approach to 2077?

Adam Badowski: We always wanted to avoid simple good and evil scenarios. The war between good and evil isn't interesting for us. We love controversial stuff, anti-heroes, Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns, for example. So we have controversial roles and post-modern influences in the storyline. We have a lot of work ahead of us in that regard because the established plots for Cyberpunk - the wars between corporations, fighting against advanced AI, wars over energy sources, have already all been covered quite thoroughly. There's also the Cyberpunk 2020 game from the '90s. Those scenarios are very familiar.

Game Informer has a video interview with Michal Novakowski, vicepresident of business development at CD Project RED.  In the interview you'll learn about:

how the studio acquired the Witcher license and how they are funding the massive project that is The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

CD Project RED has announced, via a press release at Gamebanshee, that the Witcher series has sold 5 million copies:

"The Witcher 3 will be a crowning achievement for the RPG genre, but I am also proud to announce that the number of previous Witcher games sold has surpassed 5 million copies. This is great news, especially since the 2012 debuted console debut on the Xbox 360 contributed largely to this result, receiving great feedback from gamers and critics...... To celebrate both the new sales figures and the announcement of the new Witcher game, the developers of the award-winning Witcher franchise have dropped the price of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition for Xbox 360 to 29.99 USD/ 29.99 EUR/ 19.99 GBP and are putting The Witcher: Enhanced Edition Director's Cut and The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition on sale for 50% off at GOG.com and Steam until the 8th of February.

Rock, Paper, Shotgun has a screen from CDPR's REDEngine 3, which we know will power Cyberpunk 2077, but the accompanying screen looks rather fantasy-based:

“Combining a non-linear story and open-world RPG for the first time, CD Projekt RED’s REDengine 3 brings a new level of realism to the gaming experience.” And then there’s CD Projekt RED boss Adam Badowski, saying: “If we look at RPGs nowadays we find two approaches, one which emphasizes the story but limits the game world, and one that builds a vast, open world but hampers and simplifies the story. With the REDengine 3 we combine the positive aspects of both approaches for the first time, creating an open environment with a complex, multi-thread story. Together with believable characters, a captivating tale and a world where players can roam freely without loading times, we will be able to move gaming to a new level with a realistic feel and full player immersion.” Sounds a lot like what we might expect The Witcher 3 hyper to sound like, eh?

PC Gamer joins the speculation that The Witcher 3 will be announced on February 5 by listing the improvements they'd like to see:

Consequence Over Choice Nobody sane would say that The Witcher 2 lacked for choices to make. The end of Act 1, the entire of Act 2 and most of Act 3 didn’t so much have a critical path as a critical spaghetti pile. Make no mistake, this was seriously impressive and deserves credit.

That said, while choices did have big consequences, the scale of the game and sheer number of paths did have a tendency to trip over its own feet – key characters simply disappearing or being shoved into the background, massive events being dismissed, and most painfully of all, much of the plot that Geralt should have been uncovering during the game having to be explained via the final boss actively holding an expositional Q&A. It was also unfortunate that your choices tended to be a step removed from what you were actually choosing – the lead-up to Act 2 being the decision to throw your hat in with Roche or Iorveth, not Henselt or Saskia – or simply swept under the table with the politics of Act 3.

For The Witcher 3, it would be good to see that willingness to take the tough road put to more focused use – the world itself changing as a direct result of decisions, for good and bad, rather than the focus being on altering the path through it. A central city like Vizima wouldn’t hurt for this, with its development over the game altering based on who you kill, and what relationships you form. Kill too many crooked officials, and the entire thing becomes a fascist state out of fear, for instance, or have the monster population of the area directly tied to how much killing you bother to do. Direct responses, with unexpected twists, tend to be what make choices interesting. Especially with…

A post on the Witcher community site provides a short update on the REDkit beta but also an excuse to tease, offering a single image of what is clearly Geralt's sword along with this text:

It’s been a while since you’ve heard about the REDkit beta. Well, the beta program is still in full effect with participants sending us loads of awesome content every day. We would like to share it with you on the go, but you’re going to have to wait a little longer to see the outcomes of their work. It shouldn’t be too long however, so stay tuned for more info. Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter for official announcements as well. Oh, and if you are wondering what’s that in that picture above – well, we’ll leave it for your imagination to answer. :)

For those fluent in the Polish Language, please tell us what this is about, but according to this post on NeoGaf, the video is about a game that is further in development than Cyberpunk 2077 and is likely to be The Witcher 3.

Sorry for bumping but I watched an interview with the CEO of CDPR and he confirmed that The Witcher 3 (he didn't say Witcher 3 but the second project) is much further along in development than Cyberpunk 2077 and will be announced in the first half of this year. Interview is couple of weeks old but I don't think it was already posted here and some of you were curious which RPG will be released first.

CD Projekt Red has a blog entry titled The Devil is in the Details, with Lead Quest Designer, Mateusz Tomaszkiewicz talking about the importance of cooperation between different teams, when designing quests:

To fully understand our work, I believe it is important to explain the difference between story design and quest design at CDPR. The story design department operates mostly from a macro perspective of game storyline – what should be the main focus in game, what characters would be most interesting to introduce in game, what regions should the action take place in, who should be our main antagonist, etc.

They set the very foundations for the game that we all build upon. Quest designers, on the other hand, operate at the micro level of the storyline, thinking what solutions could and what solutions couldn’t be implemented in game, what could work in quests and how to implement them in a way that will appeal to the players – they are the people responsible for implementing both main and side-storyline content in game engine. The key to success is the close cooperation between those two departments, as they design and create the structure for the whole game together.

Eurogamer has an interview with the Andrzej Sapkowski, the author behind the Witcher books. He has some interesting points about games:

 "I do not play computer games as they are far beyond my sphere of interest," he remarked. "I've never played any computer games, be it fantasy or others. Sometimes I read through dedicated gaming magazines or watch television programmes. Graphics and technology, sometimes, I admire. I cannot say anything about the plots, though. Apart from the fact that some types of games seem to lack any story whatsoever. Those seem to be all about the hack and slash."

And Sapkowski's take on the Witcher games:

The Witcher game told an alternate story with The Witcher world. Was Sapkowski happy with it?

 "The game - with all due respect to it, but let's finally say it openly - is not an 'alternative version', nor a sequel. The game is a free adaptation containing elements of my work; an adaptation created by different authors," he noted. "Adaptations - although they can in a way relate to the story told in the books - can never aspire to the role of a follow-up. They can never add prologues nor prequels, let alone epilogues and sequels.

And here's his take on the crossover between books and games:

"I realise that current times accustom us - which I find terrible - to the strange convergence of media and the freedom of mixing them. To me as a writer, the idea to write 'adjuvant content' and create something 'complementary' to a game or a comic is an absolute pinnacle of idiocy."

There's no chance of The Witcher games influencing the outcome of the The Witcher books, then.

"I will definitely skip any 'alternative ideas'," Sapkowski promised. "It'll come easily to me anyway, as I don't know any of them. And even if I knew, it would be funny and silly were I to write based on the game's suggestions. I suppose I have made myself clear when I said that I will never accept any ideas and concepts of 'complementarity plots' and 'building coherent stories'. A story can only be contained in a book."

After the interview with Sapkowski, Adam Badowski from CDPR chimed in to say this:

"Our cooperation has a strict and defined direction. I can't imagine Andrzej Sapkowski playing a game to do research for the new novels. This is unlikely and would look like writing a book for a game or movie release, which ends badly in most cases; the novel winds up in a collector's edition and then covers with dust somewhere on the gamer's shelf. "We want to develop The Witcher's universe in other media, not only video games. We have Mr. Sapkowsk's blessing and what we create is in line with his vision of the world, no matter how the saga will evolve.

PC Gamer has an interview with Agniezska Szostak, PR Specialist at CD Project RED. In it, she discusses why they sent letter to people who pirated Witcher 2. Here's a snip:

“Yeah, it was going on,” said Szóstak. “It was all about sending letters to people who we knew pirated [The Witcher 2], and say, ‘Hey, we know you have the pirated version of the game, and it would be nice if you could actually pay for it if you find the game good enough.’ “Although, once we started doing that, we got lots of feedback from the community—from gamers, and not even pirates, but actually legal gamers with a legal version of the game, saying, ‘You know what, guys? That’s not entirely right to do that.’ And they were like, ‘You’re saying that DRM is not such a great thing, and you try to give your games without it, but on the other hand, you’re doing something like that?

Here's another snip:

“I mean, we really do believe that it’s better to deliver high quality content and support gamers on several different levels. So, either releasing modding tools, or giving DLC for free, or doing huge updates which are like 10 gigs and give them out free. Instead of doing DRM, because that’s, frankly speaking, a pain in the ass for the users.”

CD Projekt Red's Cyberpunk project has an official title: Cyberpunk 2077.

During its Summer Conference today, CD Projekt RED Studio announced its currently-in-development triple-A game based on renowned pen-and-paper-RPG designer Mike Pondsmith's Cyberpunk® system.

At the conference, CD Projekt co-founder Marcin Iwinski promised players that this game would have all of the hallmarks of the Witcher series that has made the developer so well-known and loved, and even more. Their upcoming RPG will be designed for mature and demanding players who expect to be treated seriously, and the game will be richly detailed, non-linear, and with a complex and gripping story. This much is expected from the talented studio, but the new universe brings with it some new twists in their game design. Players will experience the world through their own, unique characters chosen from different classes – be they blood-thirsty mercenaries or cunning hackers – that they will equip with vast selection of cybernetic implants and deadly weapons. As in the Witcher series, players will face morally ambiguous choices, their actions influencing events in the world at large and the fate of the individuals they encounter.

Original “Cyberpunk” game designer Mike Pondsmith was at hand for the conference in Warsaw, Poland. “For over two decades, I’ve been proud to say that Cyberpunk’s been the gold standard of what it means to be a true cyberpunk game. And it’s been a huge success for me and our many fans, with over 5 million players worldwide. But over all that time we haven’t found the right team to bring our cyberpunk world to full digital life -- until now. CD Projekt Red is the team we’ve been hoping for. Their incredible work on The Witcher and The Witcher 2 shows that they share the same dedication and love of great games that we do at Talsorian. I’m especially stoked that they want our participation in making this game a fantastic project that will live up to everything Cyberpunk fans (old and new) have been waiting for. Trust me -- this game is going to rock,” said “Maxmike” Pondsmith.

This game will be developed by a new team at CD Projekt RED Studio, composed of veterans from the Witcher franchise. The studio will set new standard in the futuristic RPG genre with an exceptional gaming experience. The most important goal for this division is to create a game matching their vision, a game that corresponds to their high production values.

There's also a new teaser site with a blog. A snip from Implementing P&P mechanisms into a computer game:

At first glance it may seem that there’s nothing easier than creating a video game based on an existing RPG system like Cyberpunk® 2020. After all, we already have all the mechanics prepared and ready to use in the game. As simple as it sounds, there’s more to it than meets the eye.

The pen & paper game rules are designed to give players as much flexibility as possible. They are more like a set of guidelines which players are at liberty to bend to their liking. Improvisation, dropping rules or adding new ones is a common practice for pen & paper games. This principle applies not only to gameplay rules, like combat or skill tests, but also to character customization. Players are limited only by common sense, the agreement of the group and their imagination.

Video games, on the other hand, do not have that much flexibility. Every element has to be accounted for and carefully designed. Of course, modern AAA RPG games, like The Witcher 2 or the upcoming Cyberpunk 2077, can give the Player lots of freedom. But the underlying mechanics are adhering to very strict rules and if an action or option wasn’t implemented in the code, then the player will not be able to do it. The same principle applies to character customization – the player can do only as much as game allows him to. So if game designers decide that it is not possible to play as an ugly midget you will not be able to play one. Sorry Tyrion Lannister fans.

CD Projekt Red has announced they will announce the actual title for Cyberpunk on October 18th. These guys like their conferences:

The blog at CD Project RED has been updated with an entry about world-building    in videogames. It seems like it is the first post of a series on this subject. As always, an excerpt.

Creating something gamers will enjoy is a long process. The game doesn’t begin on high-end rigs, but on paper. In our case, it begins in the STORY department. That’s where the first ideas for The Witcher world sprang to life. This is a long and complicated process, but defines everything that will happen later. Their work is the base for the whole studio and later influences the work of everyone else in it. Sometimes, of course, we have to remove certain elements of this foundation, because they don’t fit into the whole structure. We have to be 100% sure, that we want a specific element in the game.

At GDC Europe 2012, Marek Zimak, gameplay producer and Maciej Szczesnik from CD Project RED  gave a speak on how the studio has a method for killing the developers'  favorite features.

A quote on how this is done:

CD Projekt Red uses a set of internal documents that the studio's employees all have access to. Using these documents, developers can describe their features and the rest of the staff evaluates them. In some cases, staffers even apply numerical values to a proposed feature, with the final "score" affecting the likelihood that a feature will make it into the game. The overarching idea is to fully analyze the risk of a feature and the consequences of implementing it.

CDPR has posted the second part of their blog on the creation of the "52 and a half" trailer:

Paweł Świerczyński, the cutscene lead at CD Projekt RED has just posted a new blog entry. In the second part of his article, he takes us behind the scenes of the “52 and a half” trailer, explaining the production process in detail. Paweł also describes the challenges that surfaced during the production process and how the studio overcame them.

Konrad Tomaszkiewicz from CDPR talks to VG247 about a wide range of general topics, from their view on DLC to digital distribution to a brief mention of cyberpunk:

VG247: CD Projekt Red recently suggested that DLC should be free. What is your view of on-disc DLC that is there from day one and overpriced content? How would you see the method of DLC delivery handled – theoretically – if you had total power over it?

Not recently. We’ve always believed in free DLCs. The thing is that we consider DLCs as a normal post sale service, which shouldn’t be priced. Back when retail games were dominant, we had expansion packs. These were really large chunks of content, which were worth their price. If today’s DLCs offered the same amount of content, they would be worth paying for, but in most cases players think they are overcharged for what they receive. That’s why we offer expansions to our game for free. This is also a way of saying “thank you” to the people who decided to buy our game instead of copying it from an unauthorised source.

CD Projekt Red has launched a new studio blog with the following aims:

The goal of the cdpred.com blog is to inform about the studio and its products by a series of “making of” articles, inside materials and fun facts.

The first article describes the creation of a cinematic, titled "52 and a half":

In Poland it’s hard to find someone, who doesn’t know Geralt of Rivia, a witcher, the main protagonist of Andrzej Sapkowski’s novels and our game. Outside of Poland not so many people know Geralt. While working on the 360 version we thought it’s a good idea to show the White Wolf to others in a short clip made with the REDengine.

A good idea is like the Spanish inquisition – nobody expects them. The spark to make, what later became “52 and a half”, kindled us quite late in the production process, so we had little time to produce a film, which carried enough information. There were a lot of thoughts how to give as much details about the witcher’s abilities having a very tight deadline. What we finally agreed on was a clip with the witcher preparing for combat with an off-screen commentary.

CD Projekt Red has provided a handful of the answers to the recent call for questions on Cyberpunk. A sample:

Geralt The Riv: Will the setting be a totally new designed by CDPR(You know like name of the planet, country, state, city etc) or just a mimic of a current location?(New York, L.A. Miaimi etc.....)

MM: Cyberpunk’s story takes place all over the world, but we’re going to focus on it’s most characteristic venue - Night City. One thing is certain, we want to make a game with an open, living world that stays true to the source material.

CD Projekt Red has a job opening for an "experienced multiplayer programmer" to work on adding multiplayer to the Red Engine.

Spotted at VG247.

Update: Eurogamer caught up with CDPR, who explained this is "R&D":

The studio's head of marketing, Michal Platkow-Gilewski, told Eurogamer that everything's still at an ideas stage, and this new hire will help them understand what will and won't work going forward.

"As for the job ad: this post should be named Multiplayer/Online Programmer," Platkow-Gilewski told us. "I don't want to comment on what this guy will create, it's way too early.

"We want to bring to the team someone experienced in this field to evaluate our concepts and ideas. He will be one of backbone elements of our R&D.

"We believe that there's still a lot of space for innovation in the RPG genre. At this stage of our games' development, we want to explore all possible directions, check what would be cool, what's feasible and - always the most important for us - what suits our games the best." 

CD Projekt is calling for fan questions for the first community Q&A for Cyberpunk:

Welcome to our first official Q&A segment where you can ask questions about our upcoming Cyberpunk title. Just leave your questions in the comments below and we will be back with answers next week. We will close this thread on Monday (July 30th) at 3PM GMT, select 5 questions, and post the answers on Wednesday (August 1st).

Please remember that a lot about this project is still classified and we simply can’t answer every single question you might have, even if we really wanted to, so please keep that in mind. Only one question per person and please try to keep your inquiries relatively short. Also, if your question isn’t picked this time, it still might get answered next time we do the Community Q&A: it might mean that we’re not allowed to talk about what you want to know at this particular moment.

GamaSutra has an 3 page interview on what developing the Witcher RPGs taught the deevlopers of CD Project RED when it comes to develop RPGs. They also talk about how the transfer licensed properties to a gaming medium. They also discuss how all this has affected the future plans of the company.

A quote about what attracted them to the Cyberpunk License:

First of all, I'm curious to learn more about what drew CD Projekt RED to the Cyberpunk license. What about that franchise attracted you as a studio? 

Marcin Iwinski (Co-founder and joint CEO): It was the setting. That's what we're really excited about. Adam Badowski (Studio head): And we're an RPG-focused developer, so making a game based on a pen and paper game made sense. Those games have always been very important to us. MI: We're really excited! We really wanted to make Cyberpunk, and when we started digging around in the team, we saw what people were fans of, and it turned out that a lot of people on the team played pen and paper games, so we thought, "Okay, we'll take a look at that."

A quote on how to blend story and characterization in games:

So how do you plan to overcome those challenges? Something like Skyrim, for example, has a lot of customization, but its story is less about the character and more about the world. The Witcher's story, meanwhile, really played up Geralt's history, his personality, and things like that. 

AB: We're not really sure yet. I mean, there's no one true workflow when making RPG games, but we’re trying to combine things, we're mixing different ideas. But we've been very impressed withSkyrim, particularly in how they've made that game and its content so diverse. 

MI: In terms of what you can expect from us, you can expect a rich story, and there won't be any easy shortcuts that say, "Hey! You're this unknown guy..." You know?

A quote on what they learned during the development of Witcher 2:

Speaking of The Witcher 2, I'd love to hear about the lessons you all learned during that game's production. Looking back, what sort of things did you learn from The Witcher 2, and how are you carrying them forward into Cyberpunk? 

AB: It's quite complicated, but it all comes down to design. We spent days discussing a general postmortem after we finished The Witcher 2. What we learned is that we need to attract people with a smoother learning curve when it comes to the storyline. On the other hand, we want to keep that mature setting, and offer something deeper than the usual war between good guys and bad guys. 

MI: Just to make sure we're understood correctly by our fans, this does not mean that we are going to simplify our games. That's definitely not the case. But for some audiences, the learning curve should be improved, and particularly the introduction to the world should be improved.

A quote about the future plans:

Looking ahead, are there any other platforms you have your eye on? 

AB: Yes. We'll be releasing the visually-stunning Witcher 2 on Android! (Laughs) MI: (Laughs) No, no. When the time comes, we'll be talking about the new stuff, but as you can imagine, we're looking to really push the boundaries of the next generation of platforms, so that's pretty much the place for us. 

AB: This is why we developed our own engine. Speaking of which, after going through all the hurdles to make your own engine, do you have plans to license it out to other developers? 

MI: We're thinking about it, but it's far too early. We'd have to prepare the tools in the right way... We have some ideas of course, but we can't talk too much about them now. Stay tuned...

CD Projekt Red announces combined sales of the Witcher series of 4M across all platforms:

Gamasutra has an article titled From The Witcher to Cyberpunk: Making a complex story more accessible.

Polish developer CD Projekt RED has a distinct fondness for rich, complex game narratives. Its Witcher titles are well known for their morally ambiguous storylines and intricate character relationships, but while the games certainly found a loyal fan base, the team at CD Projekt now believes that their labyrinthine narratives likely scared some players away.

Speaking to Gamasutra in a recent interview, key members of CD Projekt RED explained that the studio learned some very important lessons after the release of latest blockbuster title, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. Most notably, it has realized that you can't expect players to readily embrace a complex game world -- you have to ease them into it.

"We spent days discussing a general postmortem after we finished The Witcher 2," CD Projekt member of the board Adam Badowski explained. "What we learned from The Witcher series is that we need to attract people with a smoother learning curve when it comes to the storyline."

CD Projekt Red's co-founder Marcin Iwinski has been quizzed at a couple of sites about Cyberpunk. Here's a snip from VentureBeat's article:

GamesBeat: During the press conference, you said you wanted to create “an outstanding new standard in the futuristic RPG genre.” That’s a pretty lofty ambition. How are you guys going to accomplish that?

Iwinski: I think we’ve created some new standards in terms of storytelling in the RPG genre, in terms of having no compromise in the way the story is being told, how we shape the world, how believable the characters are, how similar it is to what we see around us. We are really looking at totally new ideas on telling a story and involving the gamer in it. I think we’re looking at what the critics were saying and what the fans were saying. I think we’ve delivered something totally new.

Second, we don’t see any reason why RPGs should look worse than shooters. They should actually look better. The story’s always the thing, because that’s the thing which keeps you playing, but these days — and especially in the next generation when you have the new consoles, when you have the new HDTVs — you’re going to want bells and whistles on the graphical side, and we want to deliver on that as well.

There's also a video interview from GameSpot.

CD Projekt Red has completed their Summer Conference, which you can watch here at the Witcher site. It's around an hour long but starting around 24 minutes in, they start discussing their new AAA RPG, which is revealed as Cyberpunk.

The announcement starts with a slide titled "Our Promise":

1. Mature RPG for mature up audiences, realistic and brutal, set in a rich, futuristic world

2. Gripping non-linear story filled with life and detail

3. Advanced RPG mechanics based on p&p RPG system

4. Varied selection of different character classes

5. Gigantic arsenal of weapons, upgrades, implants and cool high-tech toys

6. Set new standard in the futuristic RPG genre with an exceptional gaming experience

They then introduce Mike Pondsmith, author of the Cyberpunk 2020 PnP system - he references the seminal movie Bladerunner as a touchstone and talks about holding out on developing a video game based on the IP until the right company came along.

CDPR has established a new team with a number of Witcher veterans to develop the game, although it appears early in development, so it may be a while before we see more than concept art.

CD Projekt Red has released a single piece of concept art from the title they will announce tomorrow, revealing a cyberpunk-like setting. Eurogamer has the art, along with discussion about the Witcher 1 being released on console. You may recall Rise of the White Wolf was cancelled ages back but it seems it has popped up some retailer listings. Clearly, the art released indicate the upcoming announcement is not Rise of the White Wolf -though perhaps that is also coming down the track.

May 30th will see a Summer Conference from CD Projekt Red (these guys have a lot of conferences) with a "major announcement":

We know CD Projekt Red has two RPGs in development, including a  new IP, so it doesn't come as a huge surprise they are looking for staff for an "RPG in a brand new setting" and one in a "dark fantasy world". The first is apparently "new and different" and a "vast" RPG:

Eurogamer has an interview with CDPR's Adam Badowski discussing the two known AAA games they have in development for 2014/15 releases. Adam says both titles will be multi-platform and suggests this will be a next-gen console release:

"We are definitely starting for new consoles," managing director Adam Badowski told us, when asked whether the pair of known-about "AAA+" games will be for this generation or the next.

"The market is ready for something new," heralded head of marketing Michal Platkow-Gilewski, "for something faster, more powerful."

Badowski added: "I can tell you we are and we were focusing on powerful gaming rigs. We're going to do something amazing, so we need extra processors. 

Eurogamer talked to CD Project Red, this time about the chance on when we'll see a PS3 version. Adam Badowski, the managing director, gave this comment:

We are waiting for the perfect occasion," CD Projekt Red managing director Adam Badowski told Eurogamer, after a brief and knowing chuckle.......

"Theoretically," answered Badowski. "It's all about the new renderer and it's all about the new content; you need to have something new to pass concept submission, for example.

Adam Badowski, the managing director of the studio has commented, via Eurogamer, on a rumour that the next Xbox may block pre-owned games. He does not like this very much:

"It can be a bad thing," Badowski said of the rumoured next Xbox technology.

He explained: "I assume you know we decided not to continue our beautiful journey with lawyers seeking pirates...

"We are losing money not because of pirates; we are losing money because people decided not to buy our game.

"We should invest more power to upgrade and polish our products and convince players to keep our products, to be with us, to understand our needs - because we are an independent developer, we have to prevent lay-offs, we need to grow up and have the power to create new games.

"This is our approach, our policy - we want to change industry."

"We want to be treated fairly.

"Most hardcore and hardware solutions will be OK for short periods," Badowski bombarded, "but a strong relationship with players, with customers, can change the situation. And for us, this is a better way.

And there are some news about what the standard edition on Xbox 360 will contain,
according to CD Project RED's head of marketing, Michal Platkow-Gilewski:

"We are trying to change, a little bit, standards on every platform," Platkow-Gilewski pronounced, explaining how the standard edition of The Witcher 2 on Xbox 360 will come with much more than tends to be the industry standard: two DVDs and a printed guide, manual and a "nice big map". "It's already one of the richest SKUs you can find on the shelves, and it's still regular price," he said.

According to http://www.gamezilla.pl/content/tomasz-gop-odchodzi-z-cd-projekt-red  Tomasz Gop has left or are planning to leave CD Projekt RED, the studio responsible for The Witcher 1 and Witcher 2. The news is in Polish, but luckily EbonHawk on the gogforums has translated this into English. A few samples of the translation:

Tomasz Gop worked at CD Project Red for 5 years and in that time he travelled upwards on a professional ladder finishing as Senior Producer. As a man responsible for the Witcher 2 at conferences and presentations he presented himself in an excellent fashion.

And then, there's this:

The Witcher 2 arrived and while the Xbox 360 version is in the making, Tomek (Tomasz) decided to part with the company. Our source says that he is tired and somewhat burned out. After all for the last few years he lived only on the adventures of Geralt and I am sure that other professionals employed in the industry will tell you that the virtual worlds do not necessary have the best effects on personal life. Furthermore it is somewhat hard to hide the fact that the port of Witcher 2 (presumably Xbox 360 version) is not the most fresh and highly anticipated product as the original and this means that the promotion of the said product delivers less satisfaction. Therefore our September presentation of the console version of the game (Witcher 2) during “Gamescom” will not include Tomek (Tomasz).

More confirmation links:

http://www.en.thewitcher.com/community/entry/58/
Scroll down to palimpsest's post.

Fchopin's post on the Bioware forums.
http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/13/index/5214483/327

I didn't see this one coming, I must admit.

Update

In this thread at gogforums Marcin360 confirms that

If you want to watch CDPR announce their next project live, here are the details for their Summer Conference broadcast:

GOG.com and CD Projekt RED start summer early as we're having a joint conference on June 2nd! We're going to reveal some big news just before E3 live from Los Angeles. The announcements will be made on June 2 at 12:00 LA time (which is 3:00 p.m. EDT or 7:00 p.m. GMT) via Ustream live stream at this link.

We already teased you about a new deal with one of five big publishers still not signed with us: Microsoft, Lucas Arts, Electronic Arts, Square Enix or Take2. Well, on June 2nd everything will become clear, as during the live stream we will reveal the name of the publisher and the first games out of the batch of 25+ titles that will be released throughout summer 2011 at GOG.com.

CD Projekt RED will also be making a big announcement about their next upcoming title, and will also have some other exciting things to share during their livecast. CDP RED will discuss some of the successes of the recent launch of The Witcher 2, and will also map out a plan for continued support for the new title.

So see you on Thursday, for the announcement of the Summer!

CD Projekt Red has put some effort into their April Fool's with the "announcement" of The Bard: Saviors of Queens. The announcement is below and head over to the Saviors of Queens site for a trailer and dev diary video (presumably cut together from Witcher 2 footage, so probably worth a look).

CD Projekt RED has just announced its next game - THE BARD: Saviors of Queens. The adventure is supposed to revolve around an undisclosed poet whose name is yet to be determined.

Following recent video game trends the title will offer a very short and linear story. Almost no gameplay whatsoever and twenty launch DLCs, including a special pink banjo (normally obtainable by finishing a game) and a unicorn mount, will have you stuck in front of your computer screen for minutes. Visit http://www.saviors-of-queens.com to feast your eyes on the brand new announcement trailer and first installment in SoQ Dev Diary series. Less details to be released soon. 

Following comments by their publisher supporting Ubisoft's DRM practices, CDPR has decided to post their policy on the Witcher forums:

According to former rumor, we've decided to publish our internal policy regarding patches, DRM and games in general:

1.   We believe that the chief way to achieve favorable sales of legal game copies is to establish the right relation between game price and product quality. In our opinion, it is more important to encourage acquisition of original game copies than to punish those who play pirated copies.

2.   Copyright protection cannot impede or hamper the use of legally acquired game copies. In particular:
   - Games that do not require an Internet connection for gameplay reasons should not require an active Internet connection for normal use.
   - Game installation should in no way be limited, neither as regards the number of repeated installations on a given system, nor in terms of the number of systems on which a game can be installed.
   - Internet-based registration of game copies is advisable only where the developer makes available, free of charge and via the Internet, additional game content or other services requiring an Internet connection.
d.   Traditional forms of copy protection like CD-check and serial numbers are acceptable provided they are highly stable and reliable.

3.   All patches and updates should be made available free of charge as additional services provided to consumers who acquired original game copies. Charges can be applied only to completely new material providing additional gameplay time.

Our chief aim is to provide our customers with a positive and satisfying game experience. We strive always to remain true to our principles and find solutions that enable CD Projekt to operate effectively in the games industry while allowing us to pursue our stated aim.

The official Witcher boards sees a Fall Community Update, with discussion of the Witcher 2 video "leak" and other minor bits and pieces from The Witcher community.

The Witcher site has the following message, correcting the recent news via Polish CD Action magazine that confirmed two titles in development - I assume this is the confirmation of The Witcher 2 story we recently linked.  Here's the correction:

We just wanted to clear up some recent media reports concerning new projects being prepared by CD Projekt RED and Metropolis by noting that the news confirming the two games was a misunderstanding and is not true. The statement from Micha³ Kiciñski published in the last issue of CD-Action magazine was a bit awkwardly edited, significantly changing its meaning. Below you’ll find Micha³’s comment on the situation:

'The interview was edited by CD-Action without informing me, and after the changes the meaning of my answer concerning our studios’ future plans became significantly distorted. I realize I could have expressed myself more clearly; this is my mistake, and should not have happened, as I’ve been doing interviews for quite some time and I’m careful with such details. However, the fact is that the question was edited and accompanied with an editorial lead that is not a quote from my statement (and which directly speaks about The Witcher’s sequel), distorted the issue of next RED’s project and caused quite a big confusion. Regardless of whose fault it is (a bit of mine as well), I’d like to apologize for the confusion (and also for the fact that this response did not appear as quick, as it should have). As for the most interesting thing – namely our future projects – you’ll still need to wait for official statements.’

Dagon writes that Polish game mag CD Action has an interview with CD Projekt's Michal Kicinksi confirming The Witcher 2 is in production and expected in 2010.  This comes as no great surprise, so there's little reason to doubt the veracity.

CD Projekt continues with their Mysterious Secrets fun from yesterday with a blog entry and this announcement:

We are very sorry to inform you that because of the enormous interstment in our new project The Witcher: Mysterious Secrets, we had to cancel it. With a heavy heart, I would like to assure you it was a very hard decision for us.  We spent a lot of time and work on the project; nevertheless we didn’t have any other choice, given the current circumstances. We hope that you will understand and respect our decision.

CD Projekt RED Team

Straight from CD Projekt:

The Witcher: Mysterious Secrets Announced

CD Projekt RED to Revolutionize Handheld Gaming with Revolutionary Game for Handhelds

Warsaw, Poland – April 1, 2009. Today CD Projekt RED, the world’s leading developer of games with “The Witcher” in their title, announced its first internally-developed foray into handheld gaming, The Witcher: Mysterious Secrets. The game is in development for all current-gen, next-gen and gen-after-next-gen handheld systems and is scheduled for release between Tuesday and Friday 2010.

A jaw-dropping revolution in handheld gaming, The Witcher: Mysterious Secrets features a massive list of revolutionary features that will completely revolutionize, then de-evolutionize, then evolutionize and then once more revolutionize the industry. Among the revolutionary features are two cooperative multiplayer modes never before seen on handheld systems: play together with your friend on one system as you harness Geralt’s awesome Powers of Movement on the D-pad while your friend uses the awesome Powers of Doing on the A and B buttons; or connect with a limitless number of players as you play for a bit, then pass the handheld to your friend and watch them play for a while, and then finally take it back to play some more yourself!

The awe-inspiring graphics created using half of the game engine’s available 32 colours help to immerse players in the awe-inspiring story of Geralt of Rivia as he fights to save the world from an unknown evil. Set in a completely open world that allows for movement in both left and right directions for an infinite amount of time, The Witcher: Mysterious Secrets also includes some features usually found in today’s best console games, like the Decisions and Inconsequence system that ensures that no decision you make will have an impact on the outcome of the game. That’s right – no more worrying about making bad decisions. We’ll also have DLC at astronomical prices, including the upcoming “The Witcher: Go Up and Down” pack. Yeah, DLC on a handheld. You wanna fight about it?

“The Witcher: Mysterious Secrets is really awesome,” said Adam Kicinski, the guy who runs CD Projekt RED. “Like… really awesome. It has better graphics, better combat, a better story and more boobs than the PC version. Awesome, right?”

Box art, the full features list, a developer interview and the game’s intro video are now available at http://secrets.thewitcher.com.

;)

As a Valentines Day feature thingy, The Witcher site has profiles of eight female staff at CD Projekt Red.

It's a shame to spoil the Treasure Hunt fun but the news will get around quickly and we may as well be up to date.  VoodooExtreme has a trailer for The Witcher: Rise of the Wolf - a console version of The Witcher.  Word is "an all-new engine, Rise of the Wolf will include re-engineered assets, Sixaxis support, and a raft of other bonus goodies to satiate console gamers".

Although The Witcher is the obvious backdrop for this interview with CD PRojekt's VP of PR & Marketing, Tom Ohle, the actual topic of conversation is the nature of games PR:

What do you think are the unique aspects of working in PR for the video games industry? How does it differ from other entertainment industries?

The biggest difference, which completely changes the way we have to promote things, is that we release little bite-size pieces of info for months or years, always with products that aren't done. Planning is so important. Announce too early and you'll run out of stuff to talk about by launch. Announce too late and there's just not enough time to let people know about the game. Demo too early and you can spend months trying to recover your fanbase.

You need to have a good idea of how many screenshots, videos, dev diaries, etc. you'll need, when best to release them, where to push them out... do you try to score an exclusive in hopes of one big hit, or do you blast it out to everyone in a shotgun approach? And that's just the stuff you can control; you might be a month from release after a great PR campaign, and then your game gets delayed. The job is constantly changing, and that's part of what makes it so exciting.

CDProjekt has issued a press release stating that Tom Ohle, whom you may have seen as a visitor on the forums and who was instrumental in the North American promotion of The Witcher, has been appointed Vice President of Public Relations and Marketing. Congratulations, Tom!

From the release as posted at Gamebanshee:

CD PROJEKT RED APPOINTS TOM OHLE AS VICE PRESIDENT OF PR AND MARKETING

WARSAW, MARCH 26, 2008 – CD Projekt RED today announced the appointment of Tom Ohle to the position of Vice President of PR and Marketing, North America & UK. The hiring is part of CD Projekt RED’s plan to expand its reach and influence in North America and the United Kingdom as the company continues to grow following the success of its debut title, the PC role-playing game, The Witcher.

Tom most recently served as Director of his public relations studio, Evolve PR, and he has managed and executed PR and community campaigns for such leading companies as 2K Games, Atari, BioWare, Microsoft Game Studios, NVIDIA and Stardock.

CD Projekt RED’s debut game, The Witcher, is a worldwide hit. After several years of development and a record budget for a Polish media product, The Witcher launched to much critical and commercial success. To date, the game has earned more than 45 awards, including prestigious honors like Best PC RPG of the Year at IGN.com, GameSpy, Play and the US edition of PC Gamer, as well as GameSpot’s Readers’ Choice award for Best RPG. Rave reviews from fans and media have translated into excellent sales results, as the game has sold more than 600,000 copies around the world. The company recently announced The Witcher Enhanced Edition, which further improves the existing gameplay, introduces two new adventures alongside the D’jinni Adventure Editor and features numerous bonus items packed in the box, including the official soundtrack CD, an album of music inspired by the game, a cloth map of The Witcher’s world and more.

“We have been working with Tom for some time now and our collaboration has been very productive,” said Adam Kicinski, CEO of CD Projekt RED. “Appointing Tom to the position of Vice President is a big step towards strengthening our position in the demanding Western markets, particularly in America. With Tom as our representative, our confidence in the commercial success of our titles is greatly boosted.”

“I can’t really express how happy I am to join CD Projekt RED,” said Tom Ohle. “I love the people, the company and The Witcher. The company has a lot of ambitious goals and a tremendous amount of promise, and I hope I can help CD Projekt RED make a big splash on the global games market. The Witcher was really just the beginning.”