CD Projekt Red (developers of The Witcher 3) announced Q1 financial results Thursday with a whopping 99.3 million PLN (Polish currency). The total profit earned was 45.3 million PLN. That’s about 26.5 million USD in total and a net profit of about 12 million USD. Most surprising of all is that The Witcher 3, a game released in 2015, actually sold better the first quarter of this year than it did the last.
The closed GWENT beta reportedly accounts for a part of the sales, but it’s safe to say The Witcher was the main chunk. “Two years after the launch of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, the players’ interest in Witcher products remains strong. In Q1 2017, we not only sold more copies of The Witcher 3 than a year earlier, but the revenue from the sales of The Witcher 3 including extras also increased year on year,” said Vice President Piotr Nielubowicz.
CD Project Red’s total investments in game production stood at 16 million PLN (a little over 4 million USD) this quarter. Meanwhile, the cumulative development expenses reached 79 million PLN (21 million USD) by the end of March. The bank deposits and cash balances of CD Project Red increased by 49 million PLN (13 million USD).
The company has been solely focusing on marketing for GWENT this quarter. With the open beta that launched May 24, the game has reportedly gained many improvements. “In March, we announced and started preparations for the first GWENT Challenger tournament, and the finals took place on 13 May. These initiatives have built up player interest and paved the way for a successful launch of the public beta test of our card game,” said CD Projekt Red CEO.
The company hopes to make GWENT as accessible as possible to players. The article reports that there will be a five hour long AI playtest to explore and understand the game. Many card skills have been modified as well, with “new premium animated” versions.
CD Projekt Red has a bright future ahead of them. Let’s hope these gains will carry on into the future and produce some great games.
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