Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher developer CD Projekt Red is not interested in being acquired despite the likes of Xbox and PlayStation actively seeking out studios to purchase.
I totally understand the appeal of money, in situations like this, but we’ve seen the history repeat itself time after time.
It’s really great news, that they’re saying no. Look at what happened with Blizzard, immediately after acquisition. Or Bungie (multiple times now). Lionhead too, the makers of Fable. Or Volition, the recently shutdown studio behind Saints Row. The list of these is endless
Being absorbed by a gigantic corporation, just to be told they’re not interested in anything you do, is not helping anyone, except for those who are lining their pockets in the upper management and shareholder ranks
The appeal of money already stung them once. I maintain that the reason they had to release Cyberpunk before it was ready was because of contractual obligations and penalty clauses from a Hollywood actor they enlisted, in the hope of selling more copies with his name. Movies have much more fixed release dates than games and the actor’s agents were the big dog at the negotiating table, setting the terms to suit themselves. I’d like to think they’ve learned their lesson.
Also, CDPR own GOG and have a stable income, one that relies on their current structure. I doubt anyone buying them would look to keep them DRM free.
Perhaps this is an unpopular opinion, but I think cyberpunk would have been just as good with somone else playing Johnny. Let’s be honest, it probably would have been better.
Keanu may be a great guy, although I assume we mainly think that because of his PR company, but he’s not a particularly good actor. Film actors are also often worse at stuff like this than professional voice actors. It’s not an uncommon complaint.
Not that I blame them, I assume they mainly hired him for marketing purposes, and he absolutely did help generate hype.
I completely agree with everything you’ve said. Also, I don’t blame Keanu if he did have harsh contractual penalties with CDPR, as it’s his agents who negotiate contracts.
However I would say that, while his PR team no doubt influence things, by all accounts he is a very stand up dude.
People knew about Harvey Weinstein, that was an open secret. There are indications, Keanu displays none of them. There are also far too many anecdotes from random people saying how nice he is.
Like I say, I’m sure his PR people help, but he’s probably one of their easier clients.
We might not know for certain, but we can say with confidence that tales of his character are probably true.
Selling your company is also the quick and easy cash-in. For most people that just want a good life that’s a solid choice, but for someone who really believes in what they built and their product they not only betray their vision, they also give all that future growth potential to that nameless investor or corp who will just milk it to death.
CDPR has several titles and IPs with great name recognition and future growth potential, cyberpunk for example. They also are not in any financial trouble as far as I know, so they would be fools to sell that off now.
I totally understand the appeal of money, in situations like this, but we’ve seen the history repeat itself time after time.
It’s really great news, that they’re saying no. Look at what happened with Blizzard, immediately after acquisition. Or Bungie (multiple times now). Lionhead too, the makers of Fable. Or Volition, the recently shutdown studio behind Saints Row. The list of these is endless
Being absorbed by a gigantic corporation, just to be told they’re not interested in anything you do, is not helping anyone, except for those who are lining their pockets in the upper management and shareholder ranks
The appeal of money already stung them once. I maintain that the reason they had to release Cyberpunk before it was ready was because of contractual obligations and penalty clauses from a Hollywood actor they enlisted, in the hope of selling more copies with his name. Movies have much more fixed release dates than games and the actor’s agents were the big dog at the negotiating table, setting the terms to suit themselves. I’d like to think they’ve learned their lesson.
Also, CDPR own GOG and have a stable income, one that relies on their current structure. I doubt anyone buying them would look to keep them DRM free.
Perhaps this is an unpopular opinion, but I think cyberpunk would have been just as good with somone else playing Johnny. Let’s be honest, it probably would have been better.
Keanu may be a great guy, although I assume we mainly think that because of his PR company, but he’s not a particularly good actor. Film actors are also often worse at stuff like this than professional voice actors. It’s not an uncommon complaint.
Not that I blame them, I assume they mainly hired him for marketing purposes, and he absolutely did help generate hype.
I completely agree with everything you’ve said. Also, I don’t blame Keanu if he did have harsh contractual penalties with CDPR, as it’s his agents who negotiate contracts.
However I would say that, while his PR team no doubt influence things, by all accounts he is a very stand up dude.
How would we know though?
He’s an A-lister and he’s represented by a big talent agency and production company.
They can quite easily squash stories, simply by refusing media access to other stars or productions on their roster.
Hell, for all we know he could be on Epstein’s list. Or he could be secretly donating money to donkey sanctuaries. Who knows?
People knew about Harvey Weinstein, that was an open secret. There are indications, Keanu displays none of them. There are also far too many anecdotes from random people saying how nice he is.
Like I say, I’m sure his PR people help, but he’s probably one of their easier clients.
We might not know for certain, but we can say with confidence that tales of his character are probably true.
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Anything is possible, but A-list celebrities have hundreds of people and even whole news organisations trying expose any possible secrets they have.
Trying to disprove him being a down to earth good person, is probably akin to dispensing the moon landing at this point…
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Selling your company is also the quick and easy cash-in. For most people that just want a good life that’s a solid choice, but for someone who really believes in what they built and their product they not only betray their vision, they also give all that future growth potential to that nameless investor or corp who will just milk it to death.
CDPR has several titles and IPs with great name recognition and future growth potential, cyberpunk for example. They also are not in any financial trouble as far as I know, so they would be fools to sell that off now.