CD Projekt RED - The Origin's of CD Projekt RED

Silver

Spaceman
Staff Member
Joined
February 13, 2014
Messages
9,312
Location
New Zealand
A documentary on the origins of CD Projekt RED.



Go behind the scenes at CD Projekt Red, the acclaimed studio behind The Witcher series and upcoming PS4 adventure Cyberpunk 2077.

In part 1, find out how a pair of gaming enthusiasts growing up in communist Poland transformed their fledgling distribution company into one of the most successful studios in the world.
Thanks Farflame!

More information.
 
Joined
Feb 13, 2014
Messages
9,312
Location
New Zealand
communist Poland
Right, communist. Not socialist, no.
A documentary can ofc contain fantasy, but I'd appreciate less history revisionism.

Oh, wait, sorry, it's about some "upcoming PS4 adventure Cyberpunk 2077". Forget whatever I said, can't care for target audience of adventures on that platform.
 
Joined
Apr 12, 2009
Messages
23,459
"transformed their fledgling distribution company"; shouldn't that read "transformed their illegal distribution organization". CD Projekt RED has become a bigger name in the industry; only since 2015 with its release of 'The Witcher 3'. This company started in the 90s making illegal copies of computer software.
 
Joined
Oct 19, 2016
Messages
141
Location
USA
It was? Interesting. I don't remember buying any illicit software from them or being gifted an illegal something from them…
Care to pic some proof?
 
Joined
Apr 12, 2009
Messages
23,459
Marcin Iwiński and Michał Kiciński first started together selling cracked copies of western video games in Warsaw; from this they made money to found CD Projekt in 1994.
 
Joined
Oct 19, 2016
Messages
141
Location
USA
Erm… It's hard to believe that if that was true noone sued whomever were Marcin Iwiński and Michał Kiciński. See, theft in socialism isn't really tolerated unless you're on the top of the politics foodchain but even then, I doubt the highest ranking politicians would practice piracy - there's more $ in smuggling heavy drugs.
Everything is possible though, so a pic proof instead of rumors would be nifty to have.
 
Joined
Apr 12, 2009
Messages
23,459
Erm… It's hard to believe that if that was true noone sued whomever were Marcin Iwiński and Michał Kiciński. See, theft in socialism isn't really tolerated unless you're on the top of the politics foodchain but even then, I doubt the highest ranking politicians would practice piracy - there's more $ in smuggling heavy drugs.
Everything is possible though, so a pic proof instead of rumors would be nifty to have.

Thus has been clarified in the Gamestar documetary some months ago: There we're No Copyright laws in effect at that time. There also were no legal destributers active. They learned at that time that there was a tremendous demand for polish localized Games. Hence the founding of a company.
 
Joined
Feb 20, 2009
Messages
635
Location
Germany
It is true; they admitted it in an interview but I suspect it was not a huge (as in large) business.

Erm… It's hard to believe that if that was true noone sued whomever were Marcin Iwiński and Michał Kiciński. See, theft in socialism isn't really tolerated unless you're on the top of the politics foodchain but even then, I doubt the highest ranking politicians would practice piracy - there's more $ in smuggling heavy drugs.
Everything is possible though, so a pic proof instead of rumors would be nifty to have.
 
Joined
Oct 20, 2006
Messages
7,758
Location
usa - no longer boston
Thus has been clarified in the Gamestar documetary some months ago: There we're No Copyright laws in effect at that time. There also were no legal destributers active. They learned at that time that there was a tremendous demand for polish localized Games. Hence the founding of a company.
I have to thread carefully now.
As a lawful evil creature I should say if there is no law about something it's allowed. On the other hand there is no law that disallows lootboxes worldwide (only in Belgium there is) yet it's the cancer of gaming industry.

Lemme take the easiest route although I'm practically redeeming all predatory companies. If something obviously wrong in the currect "slave2paybills" civilization is not regulated by law, it's the government (politicians) to blame, not those who benefit from the fact.
 
Joined
Apr 12, 2009
Messages
23,459
So they were actually localizing the games to Polish? That practice would explain one of the steps skipped in the short video: porting Saints Row 2 to PC. According to Wiki, which is referencing a post from Volition, that was done by "CD Projekt Black" instead of Red, though I can't figure out what the relation between the two is/was.
 
Joined
Aug 3, 2008
Messages
8,238
Location
Kansas City
Back
Top Bottom