CD Projekt is now Europe’s most valuable game company ahead of Ubisoft

CD Projekt has become Europe’s most valuable video game company with a market capitalisation of $8.13 billion.

The Polish firm behind The Witcher games and Cyberpunk 2077, as well as PC digital distribution platform GOG, has seen its value swell in recent months.

CD Projekt’s market capitalisation 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.

The company has surpassed European games industry heavyweight Ubisoft’s current market valuation of $8.12 billion.

By way of comparison, Rockstar owner Take-Two’s market valuation is $16.13 billion, FIFA and Madden creator Electronic Arts’ is $34.34 billion, Mario maker Nintendo’s is $53.73 billion, and Call of Duty owner Activision Blizzard’s is $56.27 billion.

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

Following a switch to remote working, CD Projekt president Adam Kiciński said in April that the company remains on track to hit this September’s delayed Cyberpunk 2077 release date for current-gen consoles and PC.

CD Projekt also intends to release a “proper, full-blown next-gen version” of Cyberpunk 2077 for Xbox Series X and PS5, but it won’t be a launch game.

The company will work on a new The Witcher game after Cyberpunk 2077 is completed, Kiciński said in March.

The most recent series entry, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, celebrated its fifth birthday on May 19.

In March, CD Projekt said the title had sold almost 30 million copies. Over six million were sold in 2019, when the game debuted on Switch – more than in any other year except 2015, when the RPG was released for PS4, Xbox One and PC.