The Witcher 3 Was A Huge Commercial Success, But Cyberpunk 2077 Can Be A Much Bigger One, According To CDPR Co-Founder

With work on The Witcher 3 having ended a while back, CD Projekt Red is now fully focused on the development of their next big role-playing game, Cyberpunk 2077. Despite the huge commercial success achieved by the latest adventure of Geralt of Rivia, co-founder Michał Kiciński feels that the upcoming game can be an even bigger success for a few reasons.

Speaking with Polish website Gazeta, Michał Kiciński revealed how CDPR didn't expect The Witcher 3 to be so successful. At the same time, he mentioned how there's still room for growth in this regard, with the Polish team aiming to catch up with the largest developers.

I think that none of us expected such an unbelievable success of the game and CD Projekt itself. We're talking about a game, that has pretty much won every single award and accolade that you can in this industry.

If we're to expect something more, it would be even better sales of the game. My brother Adam (CD Projekt's CEO) spoke about it at one of the investors conferences. The Witcher 3 was of course a gigantic commercial success, but in terms of sales there's still a lot of room for growth. CD Projekt's ambition is to catch up with the largest developers in the world in that area.

Michał Kiciński feels like Cyberpunk 2077 will be the game that will help CDPR achieve their ambition, as the futuristic world and the popularity of the Cyberpunk universe are much less nichè than a fantasy world like the one of The Witcher series.

I think it's absolutely realistic. "The Witcher" was a fantastic material for a game, but it also constraint us. For startes, we're working with a story set in a fantasy world. Secondary, we're promoting a brand, that was mainly known in Central-Eastern Europe, and not in the west.

I'm confident, that Cyberpunk 2077 can be a much bigger commercial success than "The Witcher 3". Futuristic world of the Cyberpunk is much closer to what we know from our daily lives. It's also much more popular, massive as you can tell by its presence in the films, books, comics and games. You have to remember, that fantasy is a much more niche topic.

I believe, that in case of Cyberpunk, CD Projekt can fight not only for prestigious awards and accolades, but also for a huge commercial success. It's hard to achieve both of those in our industry, but it's perfectly doable, as shown by Rockstar and, in the past, Blizzard.

Michał Kiciński has also been asked about the Cyberpunk 2077 release date, but CDPR couldn't confirm anything. He did reiterate that the team is aiming to announce the release date not too far from the actual launch, hinting at a short but intense marketing campaign.

Ha ha ha... I know as much as any other person, so I just patiently wait. However, Adam has clearly stated during one of the conferences, that the period between the release date announcement and the launch itself may be very short. Creating a short - lets say 6 month - but intensive marketing campaign is a hard to achieve ideal. Only well respected companies that have appropriate financial resources can pull it off. It's sort of a communication blitzkrieg. You have to be well prepared, but you can win a lot.

Cyberpunk 2077 launches on a yet to be confirmed release date. We will keep you updated on the next RPG by CD Projekt Red as soon as possible, so stay tuned for all the latest news.

Thanks, boskee

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