CEOInterviews.AIGIT 2013 - wywiad z Adamem Kicińskim z CD Projekt - o Wiedźminie 3, Cyberpunk 2077 i DRM

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Interviewer0:00

Today at Game Industry 2013, your company's name comes up very often. Definitely the most often so far. I've been wondering all this time whether it's because of such a great success, that The Witcher is not just a good game that sells well and satisfies investors, players, and critics, etc., but also it's become a kind of showcase of Poland. There was that incident with Barack Obama, very often on Reddit there was that topic, I'm sure you heard about it. What does Poland associate with? Polish vodka, nice landscapes, The Witcher. Do you feel any pressure from that? PR-wise, everyone is watching your every move.

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Adam Kiciński0:40

We feel enormous pressure, but not from that. What you're talking about is the effect of wanting to deliver phenomenal products. Now we feel enormous pressure because of the expectations for The Witcher 3. We build those expectations ourselves, of course, so it's not a surprise. We are very happy that The Witcher 3 is anticipated as a breakthrough in the genre, but it does put a lot of pressure on us. Only after delivering a phenomenal game do people say we are a showcase of Poland, etc. That doesn't happen by itself; we don't actively pursue that. It's the result of our business activities, of producing games. The Witcher was associated with PCs for a long time, and that was also a Polish thing because in Poland people played on PCs for a long time due to availability and price. Let's not be afraid to say it, also due to piracy, because it was incomparably easier. You won the hearts of players with a very healthy, liberal approach to that topic.

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Interviewer1:54

You removed DRM from The Witcher 2, and I know there will be no DRM in The Witcher 3 either. In this industry, where I assume everyone knows each other, do you get any signals from, say, publishers abroad who think that doesn't work, that it's stupid? There are publishers who still think DRM is the way to go, which is nonsense.

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Adam Kiciński2:30

In B2B relations, this topic doesn't come up much. We made it clear with The Witcher 3: no DRM, no activation, and nobody contests that anymore. With The Witcher 2, there was a bit of a tug-of-war with our publishers. Initially, it had DRM because it was forced on us in a way; we gave in to pressure from our business partners. Then we quickly removed that DRM. We didn't need to learn any lessons; we knew it was pointless. But we thought, okay, we introduced it at the very beginning, and that's enough. Besides that, we are known for our stance on DRM.

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Interviewer3:21

In that case, if the Xbox had those DRM measures that were planned, I as a player, not just as a person who writes about games, thought they were incredibly restrictive. Did you have any chance to push Microsoft on that? After all, you were the star of Microsoft's presentation. And it's kind of funny that after the E3 presentation, everyone said it was hopeless, they didn't mention any of those restrictions.

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Adam Kiciński3:56

But honestly, we knew as much about Microsoft's plans as everyone else did. They didn't share details. We are in close relations with both Sony and Microsoft, but that concerns mainly the technological layer. We had early access to technology, but on commercial topics like DRM, that will come later. So I don't want to comment on something that wasn't an issue, because Microsoft withdrew from those announcements anyway. So we're happy.

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Interviewer4:39

Maybe a more technical question, but I think it might interest fans. On PC, you can choose any language version. When you buy on GOG, there are many versions. Can we expect the console version to also have English and Polish options?

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Adam Kiciński5:01

We aim to always deliver to as many people as possible. Philosophically, if we have an English version, why shouldn't a Polish player have that option? But I don't know the details, I wouldn't want to say something that later doesn't happen, because there are sometimes constraints like disk size, etc.

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Interviewer5:29

The Witcher franchise has new life now. There was a previous attempt in the form of that unfortunate film made by TVP. I know you don't have the film license, that question has been asked many times, but if you had the license, would you want to make a film, for example with Tomasz Bagiński? That's a topic that comes back on forums. They'll make a trilogy, then an MMO, some spin-off, then a film, and that's it for The Witcher.

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Adam Kiciński6:00

Apart from advertising or promotional films, we haven't made any films so far. We don't have expertise in that area. Would we like a good film to be made? Probably yes, because I'd gladly watch it, but it would have to be something truly outstanding, because the Witcher brand is perceived very well, it's a very high-quality brand. So if someone ever considered making a film, I'd dream it would be the best.

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Interviewer6:31

Your studio is mainly associated with the RPG genre. RPGs, The Witcher 3, Cyberpunk. Can we expect you to try some other directions, experiment a bit, or will you stick to being known for complex story-driven games?

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Adam Kiciński6:53

We are definitely specialists in RPGs, that won't change. But whether our specialization will be... It's hard to say. There are things I can't say, there are things I don't know yet. Maybe something... We are specialists.

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Interviewer7:17

The Polish government is increasingly interested in games. The best example is the award you received, and that they are talking about the economy. Aren't you afraid that they will want to interfere in game production in Poland? Because we know what happens when politics gets involved.

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Adam Kiciński7:39

No, I don't think so. First, I think the government is not interested in games in that way. They just want the economy to be competitive and develop well. Good for them for trying, some effectively, others less so, but their intentions are probably good. One of the factors of economic competitiveness is innovation, and we are very innovative, so we fit into that theory. Supporting or promoting, because really the support for us is that once in a while we get promoted for innovation, and that's it. So I don't think it's about gaming as such.

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Interviewer8:25

Now about Cyberpunk. Cyberpunk is not just a pen-and-paper system, as you mentioned in the Q&A session. It wasn't that mega popular, more for hardcore fans. I played it myself. In Poland and Europe it's less known, mostly Americans because it's an American system. Here, fantasy is more popular. So, do you intend to rely on the Witcher's known approach of having many pop culture references, including Polish ones, like 'Za wolność'?

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Adam Kiciński9:04

In The Witcher 3, we draw from various sources. We're becoming a bit... there's a Polish note here and there, but elsewhere a Scandinavian note appears. And in Cyberpunk, there will probably be a lot of American subculture, necessarily. The literature... I can't, of course I can't reveal anything about Cyberpunk. I won't say anything more than what has been said so far. But what I said before, it will be an American game, clearly an American product, but made in Poland and with our own touch.

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Interviewer9:43

Last question, because I don't want to drag it out. It seems that your two biggest brands come partly from literature, The Witcher directly, and Cyberpunk in the sense of RPG literature. So it's a way of storytelling. Considering we have many great science fiction and fantasy writers, this topic often comes up from fans. Have you ever considered making game versions of, say, Jacek Dukaj's stories or others?

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Adam Kiciński10:17

We consider various things, but right now we have two very big topics, and that saturates our thinking about additional brands. It doesn't necessarily have to be Polish literature, but we like to base things on what already exists. But for now, The Witcher and Cyberpunk for the coming years, I think that satisfies our ambitions.

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Interviewer10:42

Thank you very much, thanks.