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064 MAY 2015 JB Hi-Fi
STACK spoke with head of global communications
Michał Platkow-Gilewski about The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
T he CD Projekt story makes for
interesting reading. Based in Poland,
the origins of the studio stretch back to
Warsaw computer swap-and-meet markets in
the early nineties.
Adam Kiciński and Marcin Iwiński were
earning a living selling bootleg games, priding
themselves on being able to obtain the latest
triple-A titles from the West for an eager Polish
audience. The advent of CD ROM technology
proved to be a turning point for the young
gamers, who set up a business named CD
Projekt and began legally importing games
through American distribution companies.
After establishing relationships with publishers
directly, Kiciński and Iwiński took it a step further
and began 'localising' content. This was enough
to ignite the creative flame and the pair decided
to open a development wing to the company –
CD Projekt RED was established.
Having an interest in fantasy RPG, Kiciński
and Iwiński approached the Polish 'Tolkein',
Andrzej Sapkowski, who had developed the
critically-acclaimed Witcher series of books,
believing they had little to no chance of
engaging with the author. To their surprise,
Sapkowski, who had agreed to license a mobile
game based on the Witcher books, told the two
budding developers to go and get the license.
This they duly did, and now eight years later
and after three delays, CD Projekt RED are
about to release the concluding part of The
Witcher trilogy: The Witcher III: Wild Hunt.
Head of global communications Michał
Platkow-Gilewski told STACK recently that the
delays were necessary.
“It’s really unfortunate that we had to delay
the game but we see it like this – we either
release just a good game and make people say
that they could have pushed this [back] a few
months and polished it a bit, or do exactly that:
postpone the launch, squash the remaining
bugs and make this adventure even more epic.
“The things we focused on were mostly
We postponed the launch,
squashed the remaining
bugs, and made this
adventure even more epic
visit FEATURE GAMES
The wait is over, Witchers.
It’s here!