CD Projekt RED has a unique history in the industry, which many fans may not realize defines the company’s philosophy and why they do business the way they do. At a time when piracy was rampant in Poland, CD Projekt RED set up business to license games with Western publishers and developers, and convinced Polish gamers to stop pirating.
And no, this isn’t exactly the same thing as Valve ‘solving’ piracy as a supply issue. The reason CD Projekt RED won Polish gamers over was their official releases promised clean installs with zero DRM, which also meant the security of not worrying about viruses coming along with them.
CD Projekt RED’s VP of business development Jan Rosner talked to The Game Business about Game-Key Cards on the Switch 2. While most third-party games on the console are releasing as Game-Key Cards, CD Projekt RED is the odd exception who’s decided to bring Cyberpunk 2077, including the entirety of the Phantom Liberty expansion, completely in cartridge.
Rosner was given a prime opportunity to criticize, even trash, their peers who decided to go for Game-Key Cards, but Rosner didn’t bite. When asked if he felt CD Projekt RED could have ‘gotten away with it’, Rosner said this:
It’s not a matter of getting away with something. Nintendo at physical retail is still strong, and retail is, in general, not going anywhere. I don’t think we’ll soon experience a reality where we’re just having all games digital.
But again, it’s especially important for the Nintendo audience. We maybe could have got away with it, but is there a point? The right thing to do was to have it out on the cartridge with a plug and play experience.
Rosner did give this unsolicited advice to their peers publishing games on the console:
Do not underestimate the physical edition. It’s not going anywhere and Nintendo players are very appreciative of physical editions that are done right.
Indeed, a lot of gamers will tell you they would buy a lot of video games that are only available as a digital download if they were available as a complete game on a physical format. And we think there are more gamers who would do this than the people who believe strongly in video game preservation, or those who are capitalizing on a speculative collector’s market. Some people just want to see a shelf full of games in their room, even if they’ll give them away or sell them in a few years.
But then again, who’s to say that Game-Key Cards won’t prove to be a viable business, or find its own supporters down the line?
