Piotr Nielubowicz, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of CD Projekt Red recently addressed questions about possible price increases and the inclusion of microtransactions in the company’s upcoming games.
The Witcher: Enhanced Edition Director’s Cut (2008), CD Projekt Red
In a Q&A with Stockwatch, Nielubowicz was asked, “Given the rising costs of game production, is the Company considering significantly higher prices of its games for sale at Premiere? For example, the equivalent of about PLN 350 or more on consoles and PC for The Witcher 4? Recent major premieres show that fans are willing to pay a much higher price on the debut day. The above has a huge impact on the subsequent profitability of projects.”
He responded, “It is too early to talk about it, but we are constantly monitoring the market situation and retail prices of the largest titles.”
New generation console titles for PlayStation 5 and Xbox X|S titles have increased their prices to $70 from PlayStation 4 and Xbox One titles, which typically cost $60. As for 350 PLN is around the equivalent of $90.
A screenshot from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (2015), CD Projekt Red
Not only did he address possible price increases, he also addressed microtranscations. He was asked, “Will microtransactions be added to future games?”
“We do not see a place for microtransactions in the case of single-player games, but we do not rule out that we will use this solution in the future in the case of multiplayer projects,” Nielubowicz said.
Cyberpunk 2077 (2020), CD Projekt Red
Nielubowicz also provided updates on a number of games in development including The Witcher Remake and The Witcher 4. For The Witcher Remake, Nielubowicz was asked, “What does the cooperation with Fool’s Theory on The Witcher Remake look like? Is Fool’s Theory also involved in the development of Polaris, since Remake is to be based on solutions created for Polaris? How many people will ultimately work on The Witcher Remake?”
Nielubowicz shared, “We are at the early stage of conceptual work. Yes – our assumption is that the remake will use solutions developed as part of the Polaris project.”
Polaris is the codename for the next installment of The Witcher series that CD Projekt Red hopes will be the beginning of a new AAA RPG trilogy.
Polaris is a codename for the next installment in The Witcher series of games, which we recently announced was in pre-production. It is the beginning of a new saga: we aim to release two more Witcher games after Polaris, creating a new AAA RPG trilogy. pic.twitter.com/898Ez6Yk79
— CD PROJEKT RED (@CDPROJEKTRED) October 4, 2022
As for The Witcher 4, Nielubowicz provided an update on the man power that is working on the title, “Currently, about 400 developers are working on the game, with the support of about 50 people from the so-called shared services. The target number of people involved in the project should be slightly higher than the current one.”
Finally, Nielubowicz also discussed the company’s codename Sirius project, which is supposed to be the company’s next project to be released that is being developed by Molasses Flood and will feature multiplayer.
He was asked, “Is the Sirius project supposed to be a full-fledged AAA game, or maybe a smaller AA game, or something in between, and what target group is it created for: mature players like W3 and C2077, or is it more aimed at younger players?”
The CFO stated, “We treat Sirius as a AAA project. The target group should be slightly wider than in the case of W3 ;)”
A screenshot from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (2015), CD Projekt Red
Finally, he gave an update on the company’s codename Hadar project, “About 20 people are currently working on Hadar in the IP conception phase. The project will be created in parallel to other ongoing productions.”
What do you make Nielubowicz’s comments regarding the future of CD Projekt Red and its various projects?
CDPR have been larping as pro-customer for quite some time now, but at least Cyberpunk opened the eyes of some people what they are really like. They are no strangers to loot boxes and microtransactions given that there were plenty in the Gwent card game.