CD Projekt recently took a look back at the first half of 2019, and it saw some interesting things. Cyberpunk 2077 preorders have been going well, particularly on GOG: One-third of all digital PC preorders have been on CD Projekt's own platform. But the primary driver behind the company's financial performance is actually The Witcher 3, despite the fact that it was released more than four years ago.
"Our financial result for the first half of the year was again mainly affected by sales of The Witcher 3, which remain strong. This further confirms our belief that investing in top-quality games pays off, and that such games may continue to sell well for many years," CD Projekt CFO Piotr Nielubowicz said. "In the first half of 2019 gamers actually purchased more copies of The Witcher 3 than during the first half of the previous year!"
CD Projekt has also continued to grow over the first half of the year, according to a management board report: There were 953 employees at the company as of June 30, 2019, up from 887 at the end of 2018. CD Projekt Red accounts for 777 (up from 698), while GOG is down slightly, from 189 at the end of 2018 to 176 on June 30 of this year. CD Projekt said the increase "is mostly due to the upscaling of business and development activities."
But what might be most interesting is the suggestion that more Gwent-style spinoff projects are in the works—and that we haven't seen the end of The Witcher, either.
"Managing two separate major franchises (The Witcher and Cyberpunk), along with several independent development teams, enables the Company to conduct parallel work on several projects and smoothens its long-term release schedule," it states. "This migration towards a dual-franchise model supported by several independent product lines also permits optimization of manufacturing and financial activities, mitigates important risk factors and makes it easier for Company employees to seek professional fulfillment."
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is coming to the Nintendo Switch in October, but given that the original was released in May 2015, that on its own hardly seems enough to maintain CD Projekt's status as a "dual franchise" company. For now, though, CD Projekt is fully focused on Cyberpunk 2077: A livestream featuring 15 minutes of gameplay from a demo shown at Gamescom will begin at 11 am Pacific/2 pm Eastern on August 30—that's tomorrow.
Thanks, @DomsPlaying.
