The Witcher Sells 600k Copies, Two More Projects Planned

CD Projekt RED sent out a press release this morning announcing that The Witcher has sold over 600,000 copies worldwide and that the team is working on two more unannounced projects. Glad to hear it.

The Witcher over 600,000 copies sold!

Warsaw, 14th February, 2008. CD Projekt RED is proud to announce that the company’s debut video game production, The Witcher, has sold more than 600,000 copies worldwide in just three months.

Adam Kiciński, CD Projekt RED Joint CEO, commented on the sales results: (We are very happy with The Witcher’s performance to date. Our goal was and still is to reach one million copies sold during the first year. 600,000 games sold in just three months brings us much closer to this ambitious goal. It’s a great success for us, made all the more impressive by the fact that The Witcher was created by a completely new team and it is our debut both as a game developer and in bringing our products to a global audience. The task was not easy, as The Witcher brand was completely unknown in many markets, and it was released in a busy season alongside franchises that have been on the market for many years. Yet, I can confidently say that we’ve passed this trial victoriously. Actually, only now as we’ve conquered many of the initial barriers can we spread our wings, which, of course, we intend to do. Such success wouldn’t be possible without our publishers’ support Atari, Noviy Disk and the publishing branch of CD Projekt. They all put a lot of work into the game’s promotion in individual markets.)

The exceptionally warm welcome given to The Witcher by media and gamers around the world facilitated the commercial success of our game. This grand welcome is illustrated by 48 awards and distinctions a number which is constantly rising including the prestigious (PC RPG of the Year) from popular outlets like IGN.com, GameSpy, Play Magazine and the US edition of PC Gamer, as well as the award for (Readers’ Choice Winner Best RPG) at GameSpot (see the full list of awards: http://www.thewitcher.com/community/en/awards/). The game has received exceptionally high ratings from players all over the world, which is manifested in high average scores in players’ reviews at sites like Metacritic (9.4/10), GameTrailers (9.1/10) and GameSpot (8.8/10).

Adam Kiciński also hints at the developer’s plans for the near future: (Our plans include continuous game support, the release of the powerful D’jinni module editor, the continued release of game updates and patches, and in late spring gamers can expect a pretty big surprise, which will be revealed at a press conference really soon February 18th! We are still working on making the game better and we will actively support our fan community, which is getting bigger and bigger. Unfortunately I can’t reveal anything further at this time, but I assure you that we won’t rest on our laurels and we have very promising plans for the future. We set our standards very high with The Witcher and we surely don’t want to lower them in the future.)

The Witcher:
(The Witcher) is a role-playing game developed by Warsaw, Poland-based CD Projekt RED. The game uses a new version of the BioWare Aurora Engine, titled Aurora 2007. The game is set in the world created in the books of Andrzej Sapkowski, which have been published in many countries. In recent months, the first volume of stories about The Witcher has become available in English (http://www.amazon.com/Last-Wish-UK-Paperback-Sapkowski/dp/B00121UIP8/ref=pd_bbs_7?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1201788033&sr=8-7). The game tells the story of Geralt, a professional monster slayer drawn into political intrigues. The Witcher is an RPG designed for mature audiences.

CD Projekt RED:
CD Projekt RED was established in February 2002 as the sister company of CD Projek. CD Projekt RED’s mission is to become one of leading RPG developers in the world, developing games that combine the best trade practices with original ideas. One of the company’s guiding values is working in close contact with the players and listening and reacting to their opinions, both in the scope of developed games and the methods of delivering them to gamers’ hands. The studio’s first game is The Witcher, a title warmly welcomed by fans of the genre and showered with awards by professional media. CD Projekt RED benefits from experience and financial support of CD Projekt’s publishing arm, the largest PC games distributor in Central Europe. Currently, CD Projekt RED consists of 70 people working on two unannounced projects. More information is available at www.thewitcher.com.

CD Projekt:
Established in 1994, CD Projekt is the largest PC games distributor in Central Europe. It is known among gamers for high professionalism and many pioneering projects that have changed local markets. It was the first company to fully localize PC games in the region, including some of the biggest RPG projects like Baldur’s Gate, Planescape: Torment and the Gothic series, which are lauded by players as premiere models for the localisation process. Currently, CD Projekt is a group of companies operating in electronic entertainment industry, employing over 300 people altogether, with annual turnover reaching 55 million USD in 2007. Including The Witcher, CD Projekt sold 3.7 million games bearing the CDP logo in 2007. CD Projekt group’s mission is less about the realisation of business goals than the realisation of dreams and delivering products that cater to the needs and desires of gamers around the world. An important value of the company is also the pursuit of unique and landmark projects. Every year, the company’s turnover has been at least 30% higher and such growth is planned to continue in 2008.