Earthquake at CD Projekt. The long-time president resigns from his position. What’s next for the studio?

Adam Kiciński announced on Thursday that he would resign from the position of president of the CD Projekt group. Although not yet, but today we have learned the names of new key people in the company. Big changes are coming to the studio’s structures.

Big changes at CD Projekt. Adam Kiciński will hand over the position

Adam Kiciński, who has been the studio’s CEO since 2010, does not intend to say goodbye to CD Projekt. As he announced, he will run for a member of the group’s supervisory board from the beginning of 2025. Therefore, at the end of 2024, he will have to resign from the role of head of the Polish company. Kiciński emphasized that his decision was well-thought-out, and CD Projekt will be handed over to “fully verified and trusted hands”.

I am convinced that the company is stronger today than ever, has great potential and a great strategy. She is also perfectly prepared for this change. The transformation that CD Projekt has undergone in recent years, the successes of ‘Cyberpunk 2077: The Phantom of Freedom’ and the basic game version 2.0, allow me to confidently plan my next professional step and hand over the reins to new, but fully proven and trusted hands.

– Kiciński wrote in a letter to shareholders. As he mentions, he has come a long way at CD Projekt, working in various positions almost since the studio was founded 29 years ago. When he started, the company had only five employees (now there are over a thousand).

The reins mentioned by the company’s president will be handed over to two new people at the beginning of 2024 – Adam Badowski, who is currently the creative director, and Michał Nowakowski, who is the sales director. They will both rule together at CD Projekt, officially holding the positions of Joint Chief Executive Officer, i.e. co-executive directors. Adam Kiciński will be the Chief Strategy Officer from 2024 until his resignation.

“The Phantom of Liberty” cost hundreds of millions of dollars

On Thursday, CD Projekt also announced the sales results of the new, large expansion to the game “Cyberpunk 2077”. Within a week of its premiere, “The Phantom of Freedom” sold more than 3 million copies, which must be considered a great success. So far, 25 million copies of “Cyberpunk 2077” have been sold, and all CD Projekt RED games (i.e. “Cyberpunk 2077” and three games from the “The Witcher” series) have sold over 100 million copies.

It was also reported that – according to preliminary data – direct expenditure on the production of “The Phantom of Freedom” amounted to approximately PLN 275 million, and another approximately PLN 95 million was spent on the marketing campaign around the world. The company also reminded that Project Orion (another AAA game in the Cyberpunk world) is currently in the concept phase. Work on it will be carried out by CD Projekt RED North America with the support of developers from the Polish studio.