CD Projekt’s market valuation hits $8 billion

CD Projekt’s market valuation has reached $8 billion as the company continues a remarkable growth streak.

The Polish firm, which is the parent company of Witcher game developer CD Projekt Red and the owner of PC digital distribution platform GOG, has seen its market capitalisation jump approximately 17% in the past two months alone.

That’s despite the company delaying the release date of Cyberpunk 2077, one of the industry’s most eagerly anticipated games, from its original April window to September 17, 2020.

CD Projekt’s market valuation was $6.8 billion in December 2019, when Bloomberg said the company had posted a return of 21,000% over the previous decade, comfortably the biggest rise of any stock then listed in the Stoxx Europe 600 Index.

By way of comparison, European games industry heavyweight Ubisoft’s current market valuation is $9.8 billion, behind Take-Two ($12.88 billion), Electronic Arts ($31.29 billion), Nintendo ($47.19 billion) and Activision Blizzard ($49.45 billion).

Other companies with gaming arms have larger market valuations, including Microsoft, Sony and Tencent, but their businesses are more diversified than the publishers listed above.

In December 2019, CD Projekt signed a new agreement with The Witcher book author Andrzej Sapkowski which will see both parties continue to work together.

It grants CD Projekt extra rights, as well as confirming the company’s title to The Witcher intellectual property in video games, graphic novels, board games and merchandise.

CD Projekt said in June 2019 that the Witcher games had sold more than 40 million copies across three releases since launching in 2007, although that figure is now likely significantly higher.

US physical sales of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt in December 2019 were up 554 percent compared to December 2018, according data from market research firm the NPD Group.

The significant year-on-year increase coincided with the release of the live-action Netflix series, which Netflix claimed is itself on target to become its biggest debut season for a TV show to date.