While most acquisitions of game studios in the past have dealt with smaller studios being absorbed into much larger ones, relatively recent acquisitions of companies like Bungie, Bethesda, and Activision Blizzard showed that even the largest of studios could be snapped up. Ever since acquisitions like those started happening, people began speculating which other companies might be on the table when it comes to being part of a much larger operation. CD Projekt Red was of course one of the ones people theorized about, but the CD Projekt Red CEO Adam Kiciński says the company is "not interested" in being acquired by anyone.

Kiciński and others within CD Projekt Red have broadly addressed the ideas of acquisitions in the past, and his most recent comments about the matter came from an interview with the Polish news site Parkiet. When asked about the possibility of an acquisition, Kiciński left no room for interpretation.

CD Projekt Red Boss on Acquisition Rumors
While people have indeed speculated about CD Projekt's views towards being acquired, Kiciński said any insinuations that such an acquisition would actually happen are "just rumors."

"These are just rumors," Kiciński told Parkiet (translation via DeepL). "We have always had a clear position, backed up by regulations in the statute (designed to prevent hostile takeovers – ed.). We are not interested in being incorporated into any larger entity. We have worked all our lives for the position we have now. We believe that in a few years we will be even bigger and stronger. We have ambitious plans and are passionate about what we do. We value our independence."

But what about CD Projekt itself acquiring new studios since it's such a big company already? CD Projekt has a history of doing so with the studio acquiring others like Digital Scapes and The Molasses Flood in the past, but in terms of future acquisitions, CD Projekt is open to the idea but is not planning any right now nor is it interested in acquiring other companies just to have them rolled up into CD Projekt.

"We are not currently planning any acquisitions. Of course, we are open to ideas that could accelerate our strategy. However, we are not interested in acquisitions that would only integrate the acquired companies into our group and consolidate their financial results. We don't see the value in that."

Given that it's got multiple projects in the works including The Witcher 4 which has so far just been called "Polaris," CD Projekt has started working with other developers internally and externally on some of these games. One of those in the works is the remake of the first Witcher game which is being developed by Fool's Theory.

"Collaborating with Fool's Theory on the project is just as exciting, as some of the people there have been previously involved in The Witcher games," CD Projekt Red's head of studio Adam Badowski said previously. "They know the source material well, they know how much gamers have been looking forward to seeing the remake happen, and they know how to make incredible and ambitious games. And although it will take some time before we're ready to share more about and from the game, I know it'll be worth the wait."

Posted: Dec 31, 2023 1:51 pm
Related Forum: Gaming Discussion

Source: https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/cd-projekt-red-acquisition-rumors/