GENERAL INFORMATION
» History
1994
The months between May and October were the formation period for the company; our offer consisted entirely of software imported from the USA.
This experience made us realize the limitations inherent in obtaining software through foreign intermediaries, and before Christmas of that year efforts were made to initiate co-operation with companies operating in the entertainment industry. It was thanks to these efforts that a contract with a US-based company American Laser Games has been signed enabling us to distribute its products in Poland. In December of 1994 CD Projekt's first major competitor in the CD-ROM software market, IPS, has emerged.
1995
The company's turnover rose during the first quarter of this year, and the Polish market's heightened interest in multimedia products was clearly visible. It was also during that period that CD Projekt began to prepare Polish-language versions of most important products' manuals. The company also had its stand on the Komputer Expo event.
During the April's ECTS Spring computer expo first contacts with European game producers were established, and Interplay and Blue Byte games were added to our offer. A month later we managed to sign a contract with American Laser Games for exclusive distribution and representation in Poland.
During the Gambleriada computer expo CD Projekt organized a nationwide premiere of Mortal Kombat III. It is worth noticing that this event took place only three days after the European premiere.
In October, a contract was signed with Blizzard Entertainment, thanks to which CD Projekt became an exclusive distributor of Warcraft II and any Blizzard's future products; Warcraft II hit the stores in December and became the first game in the company's history to sell more than 2000 copies in the premiere edition alone.
1996
During January's Komputer Expo event a new PC game was presented - Nowy Teenagent, the first Polish CD-ROM game.
In keeping with the company's rising turnover and general rise of the multimedia market, CD Projekt was reorganized, and in March the employment rose by 11. March also meant PlayBox computer expo and 'Best Debut' award for Nowy Teenagent, a symbol of company's pioneering efforts.
In addition, a new contract was signed with Psygnosis; this agreement also introduced a new element - not only the games' manuals, but also the packaging were to be translated into Polish from then on. Soon a decision was made that all our products would have to be sold in Polish-language packaging, which resulted in retail prices being reduced by almost 20%.
New and important products, such as Destruction Derby, Chronicles of the Sword and Settlers II hit the market. A contract was signed for the distribution of Polish software, and the autumn edition of Gambleriada computer expo witnessed CD Projekt's preparing one of the biggest offers available, including a 'Low Price Zone' sale of games which retail prices had been significantly reduced solely for this occasion.
In December the Polish computer game Lew Leon was published. The game, made by the Polish company by the name of Leryx, broke all previous sales' records, and was soon followed by Christmas hits Discworld 2 and Destruction Derby 2.
1997
One of the biggest hits of all times, Diablo, hit the stores, quickly breaking Lew Leon's sales' record - and every other record, for that matter - and swiftly obtaining a cult status amongst gamers. Diablo was honored by the 'Game of the Year' award at the spring edition of Gambleriada computer expo, and another CD Projekt-published game, Katharsis, won the accolade for the best Polish game.
A momentous decision was made this year that the most important products should be fully localized, meaning not only manual and packaging translation, but also providing professional Polish-language versions of the games themselves. Soon, fully localized products adjusted to the customers' needs began getting published. Examples of those are MDK, Ace Ventura and Ecstatica II.
1998
We managed to fulfill another customers' wish (after the Polish-language versions) - the regular sale of low-priced products, which was a development of an earlier 'Low Price Zone' scheme. Hopkins FBI was published during the autumn edition of Gambleriada computer expo, and it is worth noticing that the game's retail price was much lower than those of our competitors' products and amounted to mere 69 PLN. Thus the company began to continually lower its premiere products' prices, which were previously considered an expense of more than 100 PLN.
CD Projekt's efficient operations did no go unnoticed by the European publishers, and by the end of the year a contract was signed with one of the biggest computer games' publisher, the French company Infogrames; the first result of this contract was the publishing of the Polish-language version of Anno 1602. Additionally, a CD Projekt contracted another publisher, Cryo.
1999
Following Hopkins FBI it was decided that the company's main objective should be to lower the prices of as many products as possible. This objective was achieved, and the year 1999 witnessed the premieres of such 69-79 PLN games as Saga: Rage of the Vikings, Airline Tycoon, Atlantis 2, Black Moon Chronicles, Adas i Pirat Barnaba.
Also, a new and groundbreaking sales record was set, when Baldur's Gate sold more than 18 thousand copies in just a couple of months. For this incredible (considering the market situation in 1999) feat, CD Projekt was awarded with, amongst other accolades, an 'As EMPIKu' for the publishing of the biggest best-seller in the entertainment multimedia business.
2000
In this year, every single title in our offer (excluding three lavishly published, "big" games - Planescape: Torment, Diablo 2 and Baldur's Gate 2) cost no more than 100 PLN.
CD Projekt was in 2000, and still is, the only Polish company to publish only localized software. Competitive prices and high quality of our products were highly regarded by our customers, and at the end of the year a whopping seven of ten best-sellers in EMPiK stores were published by CD Projekt, with Colin McRae Rally 2.0 and Baldur's Gate 2 occupying the first two places.
Thanks to new record sales we managed to keep up the dynamic rate of company's development, and our yearly turnover doubled for the second year running.
2001
Three series of very attractively-priced games were introduced. The first one of those was the eXtra Klasyka, which cost 19,90 PLN and included such well known titles as Colin McRae Rally and Fallout. Up to the present day, over 60 games were published in this series.
The summer witnessed a full-fledged development of eXtra Gra series, which sold in newspaper stands for a mere 29,99 PLN.
Fajna Cena, on the other hand, is the series of games in premiere packaging sold for only half of the price (normally 49,90 PLN).
A very important event that year was the inauguration of our children's games' division. Its goal was to broaden the hitherto scarce availability of such games in Poland. Much care was applied in selecting the games, and it was decided that children's games should have no violence, should include educational elements and of course provide entertainment. The division managed to obtain rights to distribute Compedia, eWsoy, Pan Interactive, Mindscape, Tivola and Vivendi products. The first games to be published were Przygody Pippi (based on novels by Astrid Lindgren) and Muminki: Zima Muminków (based on the works of Tove Jansson). Before the end of 2001, 33 products were published and more than 100 thousand copies of children's games sold.
That year we sold over 870 000 copies.
2002
A new and better Internet-portal was launched in February, resulting in a steady increase of page hits up to today.
Also in February CD Projekt Red Studio was opened - a division of our company dedicated to creating PC games. Currently, Red Studio is working on an action RPG based on the works of Andrzej Sapkowski.
In March, we started publishing games for the Playstation, Playstation 2 and Gameboy Advance consoles . An edition of Colin McRae Rally 3.0 for Playstation 2 sold more than 2 thousand copies in just two months.
Thanks to an agreement with Disney, our children's games' offer was significantly broadened, and on July 1st, 2002 CD Projekt established a division in Prague, becoming the official distributor of 3DO, Disney Interactive, Interplay/Virgin, Paradox and Wanadoo titles in Slovakia and the Czech Republic. 5 people were hired to work there, and so far 25 professionally localized titles have been published. Each of those games cost 999 Kè (in contrast, most new, not localized games in the Czech Republic cost between 1290 and 1790 Kè).
Between April and December 2003 we sold over 44 thousand games with Heroes of Might & Magic IV logo in Poland and 7 thousand games in Czech Republic. All 22 titles published that year in Czech sold in 52 thousand copies in total.
In November, the publication of a very popular children's game series , Reader Rabbit (pol. Królik Bystrzak) was inaugurated. During the first two months after its premiere, it sold 12 thousand copies.
Tanie Granie series hit the market in December. The price of every installment in this series is only 9,99 PLN.
Heroes of Might & Magic IV received a prestigious 'As EMPIKu' accolade for selling more than 40 thousand copies, which is the current Polish record for such a short period of time. That year we sold over 1 100 000 copies (including 1 050 000 in Poland, and 52 000 in Czech Republic).
2003
In 2003 we continued previously started projects. We significantly consolidated our position in kids' products market, and we ended the year with the spectacular success of Disney's "Finding Nemo" that sold over 20k copies in November and December alone.
Thanks to consequent emphasis on key products we published many bestsellers (including Gothic 2 and Colin 3.0)
We created and systematized methods of maximizing sales throughout whole lifecycle of a product. Re-launching budget series "eXtra Klasyka" resulted in sales topping 170k copies, and increasing our efforts in mid-price segment (40-60PLN) of the market resulted in selling over 75k copies.
We intensified our distribution in Czech Republic by starting direct cooperation with networks (Carrefour, Hypernova, Globus, Datart or JRC)
Summing things up, we sold almost 1 400 000 copies.
We introduced a system of electronic registration for games, which gave us possibility to better examine the market from the end users perspective.
We broadened our localization services and localized 30 versions externally for companies like Disney, JoWood, Travelbox i Wanadoo.
In September we moved our development team to a new office in Warsaw and found new team members (15 in total) in order to intensify our efforts on "The Witcher" - our upcoming action-rpg game, utilizing BioWare Corporation's technology.
2004
For CD Projekt, this year was for the most part a time of strengthening its position as the computer games' market leader. This was highlighted by the company receiving for the second year running an accolade presented by the renowned daily 'Puls Biznesu' - the newspaper included CD Projekt in its 'Gazele Biznesu' ranking. It is worth noting that CD Projekt is again the only company in the computer games' market to be included in the 'Gazele Biznesu' roll of honour!
This success sprang from many combined factors. Above all, we managed to start co-operation with new, well-known companies. In May, we became the exclusive distributor of SEGA's games. Due to this, we could publish an all-European bestseller, Sports Interactive's Football Manager 2005. June witnessed our signing an agreement with THQ - a company publishing hit titles like Full Spectrum Warrior, Warhammer 40.000: Dawn of War, and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
Another momentous event took place in October, when - thanks to the co-operation with a giant of the computer games' market, Ubisoft, we became the publisher of another great company's games - Microsoft's! This must have also came as great news to the numerous fans of these games, as the agreement allows us to publish on the Polish market products characterised by their highest quality - like Dungeon Siege or Age of Empires - not only in fully localised, professional Polish language versions, but also - at long last! - in acceptable prices.
We did not stop at broadening our offer of premiere titles - thanks to the activities outlined above, we also managed to greatly enlarge our portfolio of series titles. Our Platinum Collection ('Platynowa Kolekcja') and New eXtra Classics ('Nowa eXtra Klasyka') series comprise of titles situated within the most attractive price range, but also great games on their own. The development of those series was fostered by our starting co-operation with a new retailing chain - since May, the latter series is being sold in the press lounges of RUCH S.A. !
The enlargement of the list of titles we offer was coupled with the modernisation of our after-sale customer services. CD Projekt now boasts the most professional technical support department on the market, partly thanks to the launch (in June) of Internet Technical Support service. Using this system and its intuitive search feature, every gamer can quickly find a solution to their problem.
Year 2004 was also an important one for Red Studio - the company's branch dealing with developing PC games. The studio is now mainly concentrating on producing an Action RPG called The Witcher, which is based on the bestselling prose of Andrzej Sapkowski. The progress of their work can be monitored regularly on the game's official site at www.thewitcher.com (launched this year).
2005
This was yet another year during which our company continued its success and constant development. We're continually enlarging our employee-base, hiring new specialists and young, capable people that want their professional careers to be bound with our fortunes. Currently, our team comprises of some 120 people in our publishing branches in Poland and Czech Republic, as well as our design team developing The Witcher, the first game prepared by CD Projekt.
We started cooperating with new publishers, such as SCi, HIP Interactive, Aspyr Media Inc, and ITE Media ApS. Thanks to this, we became the exclusive distributor of such titles as Constantine, Total Overdose, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4, The Mummy, Garfield, and Hugo series.
One of our biggest successes is undoubtedly the triumphant introduction of a new publishing series, the Platinum Collection, which includes such hits as Neverwinter Nights, Gothic 2, Heroes of Might & Magic IV Gold Edition or Settlers IV Gold Edition. Thanks to attractive pricing, rich content and newly designed packaging, the series is very popular amongst our customers.
Our clients also highly appreciate CD Projekt's biggest hits of the year: Settlers 5 together with its Mission Pack, SWAT 4, Empire Earth 2 and the newly-introduced series about the adventures of Barbie doll. And that's still not the end - we're still planning on releasing some of the best games of last years, including Dungeon Siege 2, Age of Empires 3, Narnia Chronicles, Chicken Little and Football Manager 2006. All this for our customers - both the young and the somewhat older.
During this year, we also met another milestone as regards game publishing - we were the first in Poland to publish a fully-localised, Polish-language version of a console game, namely the children's Winnie the Pooh's Birthday Adventures. Our publishing plans include another Polish-language game for PlayStation 2 console - Spartan.
We also began expanding onto a new multimedia-related market - we started publishing a new series of lifestyle products! Thanks to our co-operation with Punch Software, we were able to publish two titles: Home 3D and Garden 3D, and we're currently preparing yet another, House: Your Free Time, promoted in cooperation with the HOUSE clothing brand. We are going to publish new software in this segment soon.
Without any doubt, we were also responsible for a true hit of autumn 2005 - the unveiling of CD Projekt-created GRAM.PL platform, which will revolutionise the computer gaming market as we know it. This project encapsulates the very essence of our over-ten-year existence on the market, supplying our customers great entertainment on the highest level and presenting them with the opportunity of using our unparalleled services. Let us only briefly recapitulate the most important elements of gram.pl:
life-long warranty - a total first on a worldwide scale; we're the first to introduce total guarantee for the media on which our games are recorded. The warranty is valid during the whole lifetime of the product (as long as any of its editions is available for sale)
used titles - we're the first and so far the only company in Poland that enables selling and buying second-hand games - free of any additional charges! This offer is concerned solely with electronically-registered games, which makes it impossible to sell any illegal copies
Internet shop - beginning from September 22nd, every CD Projekt's PC game package includes Virtual Money which can be used towards purchasing games in CD Projekt's new, Internet shop!
And this is only the beginning of the vast range of services and opportunities that our company is preparing for our customers. Even at this early stage, the whole project can be safely branded a revolution on a worldwide scale.
This past year was also a period of increasingly active work on our great enterprise, The Witcher. Our team was bolstered by a number of specialists - graphic artists, designers and programmers - thanks to whom the project is picking up speed. The game itself is already looking fabulous, as attested by very positive reviews in many of the most important computer games magazines and Internet portals. Below are some excerpts taken from those reviews:
"This fantastic looking game might truly be an "RPG Redefined." - warcry.com
"The Witcher looks like it could be the best traditional RPG to hit the PC since Baldur's Gate 2" - Firing Squad
"Bloodsoaked and bleak, it looks to be a wake-up call for mainstream RPGs." - EDGE
The Witcher was also received very well by Western publishers during the most important computer gaming expo of the world - E3! The situation was similar when we visited Leipzig - many journalists and gamers were struck with the incredible graphics, fighting samples and character development models used in the game.
Our company continuously proves that it is the pronounced leader of the Polish computer gaming market. Our courageous and new undertakings make us an "unstoppable machine". We're not afraid of taking risks and constantly prove that passion and commitment can give concrete results - such as creating great team of employees - as well as pave the way to success - ie., large numbers of very happy customers. Because at the end of the day, all of our activities are centred upon our clients, to whom we're offering our highest-quality products and services.
2006
2006 was a boom year for CD Projekt. Poland's largest publisher of computer games made a total profit in excess of 84 million zloty. This is a 56% increase in comparison with 2005. The company sells more than 2 350 000 copies of games!
The blockbuster of the year is Heroes of Might and Magic V, with sales reaching 58 000 copies. This success is crowned by receiving the As EMPiK award.
Continuing its pioneering tradition on the computer games market, CD Project, as Poland's No. 1 company, localises the outstandingly popular MMORPG, Guild Wars. The idea receives an exceptionally warm welcome from Polish players. Guild Wars gains numerous new fans in Poland. This is unquestionably a move which will act as an indicator for the operations of other companies in the future.
CD Projekt also undertakes another pioneering challenge, launching a computer games radio station, Radiostacja Gram.pl; the only company in the sector to do so. The programme is broadcast by Radiostacja, the most popular young people's radio station. On CD Projekt's initiative, Gram.TV is also established. This is a programme broadcast on the TV4 television channel; in terms of ratings, it is sixth out of the forty Polish language channels available.
Naturally, the gram.pl website continues to develop, gaining more and more popularity amongst players. Gram.pl gains two new functions – gamersite and gamerIRC. Players greet the appearance of these options with enormous enthusiasm.
CD Projekt attains another significant success in 2006. Launching its operations in the electronic entertainments market in Poland, the Microsoft Company entrusts CD Projekt with the distribution of the Xbox 360 console, accessories and, of course, the games that go with it.
Yet another major event of 2006 is the signing of a distribution agreement with ATARI for The Witcher game. By the same token, The Witcher obtains an official distributor in Europe and a few months later, ATARI also becomes the game's distributor in the USA.
CD Projekt's operations do not go unnoticed. The company receives one of the most important awards granted by the gamers themselves. A vote held on the outstandingly popular Polish website, Wirtualne Imperium Gier, results in CD Projekt's receiving the eminent Distributor of the Year Award. Without a doubt, 2006 is one of the most successful in CD Projekt's many years of operation.
2007 belongs first and foremost to The Witcher. The CD Projekt game, Red, came out under the Atari label in Poland and across the world. Work on the game lasted for several years and its production cost 20 million zlotys, in other words, the same as the production costs for a major Polish film.. But it was worth it. The Witcher met with an enthusiastic reception, both from players and the media. The Witcher game received almost 50 awards and distinctions, as well as being appraised very highly in major publications and on websites. Amongst the awards are:
2007
- Game of the Year 2007, according to the CRPG.ru website
- best RPG of the year, according to the readers of Gamestar
- best RPG of the year, according to the Online Welten website
- best RPG of the year, according to PC Gamer
- best RPG of the year, according to the readers of Gamestar
- best PC RPG of the year, according to GameSpy
- best PC RPG of the year, according to the IGN website
- best PC RPG of the year, according to Voodoo Extreme
Sales of The Witcher game achieve a genuine success. During the opening weekend, 35 000 copies were sold; the record to date had been held by Heroes of Might & Magic, at 12 500. In order to give a better picture, suffice it to say that, on average, a Witcher game was sold once every 3 seconds. Within four months of going on sale, The Witcher had spread to the tune of 140 000 copies! The record holder to date, Heroes of Might & Magic, sold 60 000 copies in total.
The Witcher also met with a huge success abroad, unparalleled in terms of Polish games. 600 000 copies were sold, which is unheard of when it comes to a creative team making their debut; yet The Witcher was the first game to be produced by CD Projekt's RED Studio.
In total, CD Projekt's sales of games reached 3 270 000, a marked increase on 2006, when sales oscillated at around 2 350 000. CD Projekt's net turnover amounts to 135 million zlotys, as against 84.8 million in 2006.
2008
2008 started with a bang. At a press conference in February, CD Projekt and Metropolis Software announce the signing of an agreement, on the strength of which, CD Projekt becomes the majority shareholder in Metropolis. Metropolis Software Sp. z o.o. is one of Poland's leading games producers and, at the same time, the longest-standing company of this nature in the country. The company has extensive experience in the production of computer games, with 11 completed projects to its name, including the Gorky series and Infernal, which came out last year. The merger of these two companies is the next step in implementing a strategy of creating high budget and ambitious games in Poland, games which will compete with the biggest titles in the world.
The first joint CD Projekt/Metropolis project is THEY. This is an FPS, set in the near future on an Earth which has been destroyed by war. Within the story, the main emphasis is on the possibility of creating one's own weapons, something which is unprecedented in this type of game. The player is free to combine various weapon elements exactly as he or she wishes, and even to paint them. The game is being built on the basis of a completely new and original Metropolis engine, making use of all the capabilities of the latest graphics cards. The launch is planned for 2009, when THEY will find its way onto the latest PC platforms and new-generation consoles.
The success of The Witcher means that CD Projekt is planning to issue an EXTENDED LIMITED EDITION of the game in the autumn of this year. This will be a real treat for fans of one of the best action RPGs around, as well as for all players who have yet to have the chance of becoming familiar with the adventures of Geralt of Rivia. The game has been improved and previous flaws have been stripped away. All the patches to The Witcher game which have so far come out will be included. Apart from the improved game, the new edition will also contain improvements to the publisher's layer.
2008 also sees the premiere of some superb games, with the first priority being a PC version of Mass Effect. The Polish edition of Mass Effect is the largest localisation project in the history of Polish entertainment. Stars of the Polish cinema took part in it. A script of around 25 000 lines was translated and the recording and editing of the voice-overs took 750 hours in total.
Another of CD Projekt's successes is the issue of a full Polish language edition of the Age of Conan game, as is the establishment of a Polish server, serviced by a team of Polish games masters.
» Profile
CD Projekt is not only involved in distribution. The beginning of 2002 saw the opening of the CD Projekt Red Studio, which is involved in creating PC games. The first title, which came out in the autumn of 2007, was The Witcher, an RPG action game with a story based on the books of Andzrej Sapkowski, which enjoy considerable popularity in Poland. The Witcher game received almost 50 awards and distinctions, as well as being appraised very highly in major publications and on websites. It also broke all records for sales. During the opening weekend, 35 000 copies were sold, meaning that, on average, a copy of the game was sold once every 3 seconds
At a press conference in February 2008, CD Projekt and Metropolis Software signed an agreement, on the strength of which, CD Projekt became the majority shareholder in Metropolis. Metropolis Software Sp. z o.o. is one of Poland's leading games producers and, at the same time, the longest-standing company of this nature in the country. The company has extensive experience in the production of computer games, with 11 completed projects to its name, including the Gorky series and Infernal. The merger of these two companies is the next step in implementing a strategy of creating high budget and ambitious games in Poland, games which will compete with the biggest titles in the world. Following the merger of CD Projekt and Metropolis, three development teams were established, each of which is working on a new title. The first joint CD Projekt/Metropolis project is THEY. This is an FPS, set in the near future on an Earth which has been destroyed by war. The game is being built on the basis of a completely new and original Metropolis engine, making use of all the capabilities of the latest graphics cards. The launch is planned for 2009, when THEY will find its way onto the latest PC platforms and new-generation consoles.
The company's development has resulted in the opening of an office in Prague. Since July 2002, teams have been working on products published in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. To date, several dozen fully localised titles have been published and there are more in the pipeline. Similar to the situation on the home market, the distribution network in these countries consists of all the most important shops and hypermarkets. CD Projekt plans to extend the its product market to include other countries in the future.
Currently, alongside CD Projekt RED, the CD Projekt group also comprises CD Projekt Localisation Centre, which provides professional game localisation services to companies from all over the world (www.localisation.cdprojekt.com) and the gram.pl Sp z o.o. company, responsible for running the Internet portal and shop at www.gram.pl. CD Projekt is a group of companies operating within the electronic entertainments sector, employing over 300 people in total and with a turnover reaching 137 million zlotys in 2007. The CD Projekt group's mission is work where turning passion and dreams into reality and providing products which are one hundred percent geared to their users' requirements are more important that achieving objectives which are purely business-orientated.
» Localisation
CD Projekt Localisation Centre is a part of CD Projekt. It provides professional game localisation services to companies from all over the world (www.localisation.cdprojekt.com). The department was established in 2004, although CD Projekt had been involved in professional games localisation since 1997. The company has so far localised several hundred titles in Poland and almost as many for companies from around the world. Projects have even been carried out in Korean and Chinese.
In total, products in 17 languages, for PC platforms, Xbox, PlayStation 2, PSP and Nintendo DS, are created at CD Projekt Localisation Centre. CD Projekt Localisation Centre cooperates with companies such as Disney Interactive, THQ, Ncsoft, Atari, SCEE and Codemasters. Around 150 people are employed on localisation and translation. Film and theatre actors are used for recording CDP LC's sound tracks.
last update: July 31, 2009