According to Polish-language internet reports, The Witcher developer and Good Old Games proprietor CD Projekt has been acquired by ailing Polish computer company Optimus S.A.

 

An analyst quoted by Polygamia.pl believes the move is actually a way for the privately-held CD Projekt Group to transform itself into a publicly-traded company on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. The acquisition is reportedly being made purely with stock, and the owners of CD Projekt will thus become the primary shareholders in the company.

 

In addition to its publishing and distribution operations, Warsaw-based CD Projekt Group owns CD Projekt RED, the development house behind the critically and commercially successful PC RPG The Witcher, as well as the digital distribution service Good Old Games, which updates and sells classic PC games on behalf of numerous publishers. Optimus is a fellow Warsaw-based company that manufactures PC and provides information technology services.

 

The description of the companies' alleged financial maneuvering is in some ways reminiscent of Activision's merger with Vivendi Games, which saw Activision fully acquired by Vivendi S.A., but had Activision's existing management essentially take control of Vivendi Games and head up the new resultant publisher.

 

According to Polygamia, CD Projekt has been in talks with Optimus for months, but talks temporarily broke down in the wake of a deal between Optimus and recruitment firm Work Service. The site claims an official announcement will be made soon.

 

Gamasutra has contacted CD Projekt for confirmation further details on the matter.

 

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=25503

 

If the story is accurate, they must be pretty desperate to go public. Honestly I doubt the wisdom of a single pipeline studio with very long product cycle to trade itself on stock market.

Edited October 2, 200916 yr by Masterfade

If they become a publicly traded company, that's probably the end of any good games. Nothing crushes creativity brutally underfoot like a fat suit waiting for a dividend check.

Maybe they will have just enough time to squeeze out witcher 2 before they turn to ****.

Hmmm. I wonder if Good Old Games is in serious danger.

Where's Ausir?

Well, shoot.

Not being able to find a publisher for the Witcher 2 probably forced them into this. That and the shenanigans surrounding the failed console port.

 

I thought their first game did well enough that getting a publisher for the second one wouldn't be such a difficult task

I thought their first game did well enough that getting a publisher for the second one wouldn't be such a difficult task

 

 

Yeah, its kind of surprising. The vagaries of publ;ishers are pretty weird though.

 

I remember when Sir Tech had a finished Wizardry 8, that's right a FINISHED entire game in a famous line of games from a well known company with a long history of game development, and they could never find a publisher for it. Eventually they worked out some kind of deal with ENX or something and at least got the game on the shelf in small numbers.

 

 

I bought three copies.

 

 

Sir Tech shut their doors soon after.

Can't Zenimax just buy them out or something?

 

Oh, wait...

Now that doesn't make any sense to me. A company that assembles computers buys a game publisher/developer....That doesn't bode very well.

According to the vice-president of CD Projekt, they did this so that they could find other to finance their games and "not be at the mercy of Western publisher". Their experience with Atari was really THAT bad???

Wow, lots of doom and gloom here. Some people seem to forget how many otherwise good games get shafted by the publisher for whatever reason.

Just to clarify, they weren't really bought by this computer company, because the CDProjekts bossess will remain on top of the ladder anyway, they will be bossess to Optimus guys, to put it in an easy way.

 

CDP was bought but it wasn't

As I understand it, Optimus give their shares to CD Project, so that CDP could buy Optimus; CDP then apparently now owns Optimus. This means that CDP is now the boss of Optimus, now the other way around. I can certainly understand why CDP will be their own publisher for their games, and find other publishers than Atari for their games. And yes, Atari and Western companies can treat companies the former Eastern Europe that bad...

And yes, Atari and Western companies can treat companies the former Eastern Europe that bad...

 

 

WHich is pretty sad since Eastern European developers generally make more interesting games than their US counterparts.

Where's Ausir?

 

Here, sorry for being late.

 

Actually, it turns out that Optimus shares will now be owned equally by the previous owners of CD Projekt and of Optimus.

Where's Ausir?

 

Here, sorry for being late.

 

Actually, it turns out that Optimus shares will now be owned equally by the previous owners of CD Projekt and of Optimus.

 

That sure looks like a unfavorable deal for CD Projekt.

 

Why was it so hard for CD Projekt to go public on its own? It has a strong international business unit on a hot new field (digital distribution), it produced what is perhaps the most successful Polish cultural export in the last few years (the Witcher) and it operates MMO too. I mean, you'd think putting MMO and digital distribution together would surely mean people will want to buy the shares.