CD Projekt RED Gets $7 Million from Polish Government To Research Seamless Multiplayer,City Creation

CD Projekt RED got the biggest cut ($7 million) of the Polish government's GameINN funding program for game developers, to research aspects like Seamless Multiplayer, City Creation, Animation Excellence and Cinematic Feel, presumably for Cyberpunk 2077.

Many other major Polish studios also received grants, including Flying Wild Hog, Techland, CI Games, Bloober Team, and The Farm 51.

[ccgr]

That's pretty cool

[IndominusRex]

No its not. That money could of went to social programs such as health or education... What a joke.

@Shin
This company made millions from witcher. They don't need it.

@Alex
Im fine with governments funding research projects, such as clean energy for example. But funding multiplayer research is ridiculous.

@Neco Why are you bringing gender into this? Btw i only believe in 2 genders. Man and Woman.

[Vengeance1138]

No it couldn't have, this money is specifically for developers, hence the name of the program. This is very good news indeed. Take off the SJW hat eh

[Rimeskeem]

This is a block grant and not shared revenue therefore it can only be spent on a specific area of interest, in this case developers to research a certain topic.

[jer1122]

You people are idiots man they give out these grants so that people stay in jobs or else a lot of times the companies will just move elsewhere where they can get grants. So CD projekt Red could move their Studio somewhere else and then poland wouldn't get any of the revenue tax which is probably pretty good since CD projekt Red is making good money. They try to incentivize people to stay and pay taxes and keep jobs in their country. I wish people would learn about business 101 and how your taxes and grants work before you just say stupid stuff.

[Alexious]

What does this even mean? The governments assigns budgets on health, education...And research, including game development in this case.

[PeaSFor]

they should research in GOOD GAMEPLAY, because lets be honest, Witcher3 combat gameplay was straight up garbage material.

[NecoTehSergal]

Spot the Social Justice Warrior.

Don't try to hide it, you'd want the government to send money to fuel Gender Studies and other 'Social Programs' that are completely useless except for Liberals :^)

[BizarroUltraman]

Ive never been to Poland, but most of what I seen online and have read of it. Seems like a very laid back country and beautiful!

Yes money couldve been used for something else. But its allocated money, which probably means they have a budget for roads, etc.

Just like here in the states. You have a budget and from that you have to spread it out to different agency/departments. Sometimes, a few might not get a grant.

Fix a few schools and a bridge. Might have to wait til next yr for roads. My examples arent the best, but I know you know what I mean..haha

@jerr,
So they're paying the developers to keep them in Poland. Lol.... best comment, hands down.

[Kurdishcurse]

its fine to use some funds for these purposes. especially since the results of this research might benefit things other than gaming. simulations and better algorythms and such. might be hopeful of me to assume that, but i woundnt go about disregarding the whole thing as useless if i were u. true, this money wouldve benefited a small amount of people for a short amount of time, but i like to hope that this money might help with computer related subjects.

[DigitallyAfflicted]

Poland already has a good free health care.

Game developing in Poland is a growing industry that's why it needs small injection of cash and I'm sure it will return in taxes.

[DiscoMan]

"Why are you bringing gender into this? Btw i only believe in 2 genders. Man and Woman."

Amen!

[Bahamut]

Go cry alone somewhere, nobody cares about your opinion.

[Goldby]

@jer1122

Do u even k ow the history of CD Projekt Red? And how important they are to not only to Poland but gaming in general?

[Glemt]

IndominusRex

Could of went? Could have gone. Could've gone. You're making a good argument for education there to be honest : P

[frostypants]

@IndominusRex, I agree with you man. I mean, sure...yay games. But a government dumping millions into what amounts to entertainment research? That just seems weird. Surely Poland has something more impactful to spend resources on. A lot of people are letting there personal preferences get in the way of adult thinking.

[AnubisG]

IndominusRex has a point but it's also true if you invest in a certain industry (here video games) than it can create jobs in the future. So that's a good thing, however there is this quote from Shin-Zantetsuken: "Not all of the money needs to be spent on healthcare." True, but it should be spent as long as we have nasty diseases that we can't cure like cancer, aids, depression, auto-immune illnesses, etc. Until we live in a world where these all can be cured, NOT treated (which is a word doctors love to use) but CURED. Than we should spend money on video game developers as a government. But than again, the Polish government puts money in this project and what will it get in return? It will be stolen as soon as possible and other people will make money off from it. We have this problem in Hungary where university graduates like doctors and such as soon as finish their schooling they leave Hungary and other nations benefit from their education.

[Phunkydiabetic1]

No it's not hahahaha. That money could've been used for social services like health, public transportation, ANYTHING other than fucking videogames.

This is ridiculous. I'm sure all those families struggling for meals will be happy to know that a company that made MILLIONS in profit from the Witcher series is getting money from the government for some nerd shit.

@TacoTaru
Let me guess, you're American...

[IndominusRex]

Agreed. Video games are not priorities.

[Phunkydiabetic1]

Look at the neckbearded downvotes already coming in. No matter which way you cut it this is full on corporate welfare when a company doesn't even NEED the money. But hey, these fuckin nerds need another videogame from cdprojekt red (man that name is so stupid).

[PeaSFor]

Couldnt agree more(sure it may trigger some peoples since were on N4G... but whatever)

[letsgopal]

Socialism alert. That's not your money to decide what to do with them.

[TacoTaru]

Give a man a fish vs teach a man to fish. Unfortunately the social programs only give a fish while this grant actually provides money to grow where jobs can be produced.

[bmf7364]

Poland is taking pride over their gaming industry. They sent Obama a collector's edition of Witcher 2 as an token of Polish culture.

Poland promoting a media industry within their country is the country's investment in its own economy that will in turn give back. Especially with CD Projekt Red being the biggest name of all the studios.

[-Foxtrot]

Multiplayer? Oh my...

Can't they just fund more of their single player stuff, that's what they are good at.

[Grap]

As long as they keep their quality for storytelling , no worries

[Gitgud]

if they can manage both, why not?

[KwietStorm_BLM]

It's almost 2017 and some people still think multiplayer will give them a terminal illness.

[TheOptimist]

TBH they have mastered single player story telling

[vulsker]

I absolutely agree with you! Let them try something new.

[_-EDMIX-_]

Yes this is very worrisome, it's not to say that I dislike multiplayer simply that this team has no history of even doing such a thing in regards to competitive.

Smh.

Just want them making a single player focused RPG.

[Phunkydiabetic1]

If developers followed everything that videogame nerds demanded and whined about this industry would be a shit hole. They know what's up, I'm cool with experimentation.

[SnotyTheRocket]

Yes because you would know what they're good at? I suppose Naughty Dog should've stuck with crash bandicoot, because they obviously weren't good enough for uncharted, jak and last of us. Oh wait.....

[Movefasta1993]

This this and more this, gamers don't know what they want. Devs try something different and they get hate,stick with the same old they get hate...

[WellyUK]

How do you know they don't go make an extremely good MP game? I know it's hard for the SP obsessed to deal with but I'm down for CD Projekt red to try a MP game, we all know how good they are at SP so lets see them try MP even it is added on to a SP game.

[_-EDMIX-_]

Haha

No.

We know they're capable of creating a single player game there are lots of teams that are great at that but I'd rather they actually focus on the concept of the purpose of the actual property.

Multiplayer concept is something that is extremely difficult even for teams that only create multiplayer titles.....

They're simply adding a multiplayer component to appease certain Gamers that purchase the concept to get more sales, it's no different than when you see multiplayer games adding garbage single player modes just add a bullet point on their game.

Besides Watch Dogs has already done the seamless multiplayer thing. Try or copy?

[SlightlyRetarted]

Seamless Multiplayer AND City Creation, Animation Excellence and Cinematic Feel.

Do you get a hard on from going every thread you can find, as early as you can and making up some negative aspect of it and then twisting it so that every fool that didn't read the article will think that is what it said and upvote you?

[KaiPow]

Guess that's a nice little clue to their upcoming Cyberpunk adventure.

[Chris_Wray]

Not a bad little bump of cash, probably a real considerable amount for a Polish studio as well. They're not short of cash but I always imagine their budgetary constraints are a lot tighter than equivalent US or western Europe studios.

[DrJones]

Oh really now?

[ThatGuyDart]

Love CD Projekt Red and that is awesome. When your game development skills are so boss you get backed by the government lol.

They 1000% deserve it!

[jmc8888]

It's not because of their skills, it's because of the ideology that gov't and/or the average Joe gives welfare money to rich corporations. It's all over the world.

I'm sure CD Projekt RED wouldn't oppose free money, but the cronyism is strong when the gov't does crap like this.

[Diffraction_Fos]

I'm going to assume you'd probably love it if the government raised the minimum wage by a cool 200%? Make those greedy, filthy rich bastards pay the people what they owed them, right?

[ShaunCameron]

CD Projekt RED isn't rich, though.

@ Diffraction_Fos

Isn't that what is practiced in Venezuela? Something along those lines?

[vulsker]

Or the fact that Poland sees The Witcher franchise almost like its baby. For God's sake, the Prime Minister gave a copy of the 2nd game to the US president as a gift! And its talked about in foreign conversations between the US and Poland.

[sullynathan]

Tesla gets lots of money from the government too but it's not from skill.

[jmc8888]

Kind of stupid. They made a ton of money, and Poland isn't exactly rich. More corporate welfare for people who don't need it.

I'm pretty sure that 7 million could be used much more wisely. (and of course as the synopsis says, they are giving out this money to more than just them). In Polish Currency terms, that's 28+ million dollars just for them.

It's similar when billionaires ask the public to build them their billion dollar stadiums to play a game 8 times a year.

They don't need it, and it could be better used elsewhere.

Love their games. Can't wait for Cyberpunk 2077, but hate crap like this.

[Lamboomington]

It's a fund dedicated to this. It's aim is to help improve/encourage the video game industry in the country. Studios like CDPR are valuable to the country. Governments often have funds like these. You could say "they don't need it" for tons of things, but that's not how it works.

[game4funz]

It'll create more jobs... Something America seems to know little about.

[kraenk12]

They are supporting a studio which brought Poland back in worldwide perception. There isn't much else so it's a good investment..it also creates jobs and helps establish a gaming scene...something I wish the German government would do as well.

[Fist4achin]

I agree about a better allocation coming from the government of Poland. Why fund a MP anything when it will probably be outdone and a fond memory so quickly in this digital age?! I'm looking at you COD and Star Wars Battlefront as numbers have dropped significantly for both of those titles that are new or newer...

[Pandamobile]

Because mutliplayer games can generate continuous revenue for years after they launch. It's really not hard to comprehend the value of multiplayer games.

Single player business model looks like this:
Launch game at $60 USD and it sells 3 million copies over its lifetime.
Maybe squeak out 1-2 episodic DLCs at $20 a pop. Those sell maybe 1 million units total.

That's a pretty typical example of what happens with single player games these days.

Multiplayer business model looks like this:
Launch game at $40 USD and it sells 1 million copies in a year.
After 3-6 months start launching post launch content. Keep patching and improving the game over time and based on aggregate player feedback. Launch buyable cosmetic items are optional (don't affect base game) but are still highly sought after. Over the next 2-3 years you continue this cycle while trying to maintain your core userbase and expanding it at the same time. 3 years after launch the game has sold 4 million units, but has had constant income from players opting into post launch support.

To pretty much every major publisher, multiplayer sounds like the best overall option, while single player is becoming more of an after thought.

CDPR are really, really good at making single player games, but they need to move into multiplayer if they want to truly prosper and grow as a studio. If they can hit it out of the park and pull in a serious, longterm userbase with CyberPunk, it'll mean a world of creative possibilities for them in the future.

[Pandamobile]

It's not exactly uncommon for governments to support high skill, high demand jobs though. Canada's whole film and games industries are predicated on hefty tax breaks and grants from provincial and federal governments.

[jer1122]

You people are idiots man they give out these grants so that people stay in jobs or else a lot of times the companies will just move elsewhere where they can get grants. So CD projekt Red could move their Studio somewhere else and then poland wouldn't get any of the revenue tax which is probably pretty good since CD projekt Red is making good money. They try to incentivize people to stay and pay taxes and keep jobs in their country. I wish people would learn about business 101 and how your taxes and grants work before you just say stupid stuff.

[Fist4achin]

@ Pandamobile

I do agree that MP games can be very lucrative, but I think those are usually the ones built around MP ideas, not MP tossed in as an afterthought. I am interested in just how long Overwatch remains significant in gaming. MP games like Starcraft have different lasting power because of the strategies/teams involved. I just think the majority of gamers are so fickle because of shorter attention spans and the next great thing following behind (name your current game)...

[Pandamobile]

Overwatch is a Blizzard game, so expect it to still have an active playerbase 5+ years from now if Blizzard stay active in supporting it.

[Angeljuice]

"In Polish Currency terms, that's 28+ million dollars just for them."

What does that even mean? Poland don't use dollars as currency (it was Zloty when I was there). Do you mean 28 million Zloty? Because that doesn't make it more than $7m (just a different denomination).

Certain things are much cheaper in Poland, but others are more expensive.

[sullynathan]

They've been wanting to do this multiplayer stuff with their new game

[kraenk12]

That's really cool even if the Polish government is pretty despicable otherwise. Right winged bastards.

[ShaunCameron]

The state subsidizing business is not a right-wing idea, though.

This is an indirect state takeover of business.

[hiredhelp]

Yeh but im sure knowing goverments they are going to recoup the money, games industrys is huge buisness model now matching that of movies.

[bluefox755]

I'm not usually a fan of corporate welfare, but as a gamer, I'll make an exception for this. Besides, it's not my tax dollars.

[Aurenar]

7 millions are not enough. CDP deserves more than 7 billions.

[Angeljuice]

If they needed $7bn to research multiplayer and seemless city mechanics they'd be in serious trouble.

[MatrixxGT]

Looking at comments here is exactly why the gaming community is a joke to the rest of the world.

Since so many of you think you know how to run a country all of a sudden and add to it that the money should have gone to anything but video games. How about you take the money you spend on games and donate it to charity or feed the helpless. Surely your money could be better spent by being a SJW hero.

[ShaunCameron]

SJW's, like the average limousine liberal, are not gonna sacrifice their own comfortable lifestyles or their own lives for such a cause. They care about the poor only when it suits them.

[riibhu]

Well said.

[Brohan]

This is pretty cool

[medman]

Congrats to CD Projekt.

[rezzah]

Funding to make a new engine?