Industry Computer science Website cdp.pl Founded May 1994, Warsaw, Poland | Total equity 10 075 500 zł Headquarters Warsaw, Poland Parent organization Optimus S.A. | |
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Type Spółka z ograniczoną odpowiedzialnością Products Video games
Films
Books
E-books
Audiobooks Founders Michał Kiciński, Marcin Iwiński | ||
cdp.pl sp. z o.o, formerly CD Projekt Sp. z o.o., is a Polish publisher and video game, film, e-book, and audiobook distributor. The company is recognized for publishing and distributing titles from The Witcher video game series. In January 2015, the company was expanded to include paper books, music, consoles, computer hardware, as well as tabletop, card, and figure games. From 2008 till 2011, the company was part of the CD Projekt Investment holding.
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The company was founded in 1994 by Marcin Iwiński and Michał Kiciński. From the beginning of its operation, it distributed software CDs on the Polish market. Cdp.pl's distribution portfolio includes titles from Blizzard Entertainment, Disney Interactive, Konami, Focus Home Interactive, Nordic Games and Wizards of the Coast card games. On 10 September 2012 the company announced its rebranding from CD Projekt to cdp.pl, and launched an online store under this address, which sells digital games, as well as e-books and e-comics. In November 2014 a management buy-out (MBO) took place. Board members Michał Gembicki and Robert Wesołowski purchased the majority stake from CD Projekt, and cdp.pl became an independent company. In January 2015, cdp.pl launched a new e-commerce platform offering more than 40,000 physical and digital products in six categories: books, games, music, films, hardware, and hobby items.
History
In the initial phase of its business activity, CD Projekt imported software from the USA distributors, and soon established trade relations with video game producers. In the first three years of its operation, the company became the local distributor of companies such as Acclaim, American Laser Games, Blizzard, Blue Byte, Interplay and Psygnosis. CD Projekt began publishing software with manuals and boxes in Polish, and started working on full localisations of games. A watershed moment came in May 1999 with the release of Baldur's Gate. The overall sales exceeded 100,000 copies of the game.
In 1998, the company launched the Strefa Niskich Cen low-priced game collection (Nowa eXtra Klasyka, Platynowa Kolekcja and eXtra Gra). In 1999-2000 the company's offer included games such as Diablo II, Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn, and Colin McRae Rally. In the following years, CD Projekt managed to expand its distribution portfolio to include new games from such publishers as Atari, Konami, Disney, Microsoft, and Vivendi.
In 2002, CD Projekt began cooperating with Disney. In the meantime, the company became the exclusive distributor of Ubisoft games for PlayStation and PlayStation 2 consoles. In February 2002, the company established a new unit within the company – CD Projekt RED whose task was to develop games for PC. Their first game was The Witcher, based on Andrzej Sapkowski's books. In March 2005, CD Projekt RED team comprised 31 persons, and as of February 2015 it staffed approx. 230 employees. On 1 July 2002, the company opened a branch office in Prague.
In 2004, CD Projekt established cooperation with Sega and THQ, becoming the exclusive distributor of their games. As a result of the partnership with Microsoft, CD Projekt became the Polish distributor of the Xbox 360 video game console.
On 6 October 2005, the company launched its own video game portal, gram.pl. On 1 February 2008, gram.pl separated from CD Projekt to become an independent company. On 18 February 2008, the company became the majority shareholder of Metropolis Software, the studio behind, among other projects, the Gorky trilogy. 2008 also saw the transformation of CD Projekt into CD Projekt Investment, a holding company with its main division responsible for publishing games.
On 25 January 2011, CD Projekt changed its owner. CD Projekt Investment was replaced by Optimus. In February 2014, the company announced that it had signed a distribution contract with Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. In November 2014, CD Projekt sold the majority stake to cdp.pl, which – as a result of this deal – became subordinate to the capital group. In the beginning of 2015, cdp.pl launched a modern e-commerce platform offering a broad array of products.
Company overview
Presently, cdp.pl employs a team of over 90 people, comprising professionals who specialize in management, finance, marketing, sales, logistics, DTP, and computer graphics.
Game collections
1998 saw the launch of the Strefa Niskich Cen low-price game series. These included Fajna Cena: Złota Kolekcja, Platynowa Kolekcja, Fajna Cena, eXtra Gra, eXtra Klasyka neXt, eXtra Klasyka: XK Hit, XK Gold, XK Dodatek, TopSeller, Disney Edukacja, Disney Klasyka, Disney Magiczna Kolekcja, and Twój Prymus. In the following years, the offer was expanded to include new series.
CD Projekt RED
CD Projekt RED was founded in 2002 as a development studio of CD Projekt. In 2003 the studio began working on its first project, The Witcher – a computer game based on Andrzej Sapkowski's books, which rose to international acclaim. Until 2011, the overall sales of the game reached 1.87 million copies. The Witcher gained more than 100 prizes and accolades. Published in 15 languages, it was the first Polish game with such global reach. The second installment was published on 17 May 2011 and unlike the first part it was developed on the proprietary REDengine. The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings sold more than 400 thousand copies within the first week of its release.
In 2011 CD Projekt's parent company, Optimus, changed its name to CD Projekt RED, and before the end of the following year to CD Projekt. CD Projekt RED remains the name of the development studio.
GOG.com
In 2008, CD Projekt founded Good Old Games – a proprietary system for the digital distribution of computer games. Its sales offer consisted of vintage computer games. In March 2012, the service was renamed from Good Old Games to GOG.com, and expanded its catalogue to include more recent titles.