CD Projekt RED is an 'Acquisition Candidate' Following Cyberpunk 2077 Issues, Says DFC - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 03 April 2021 / 6,509 Views
After many years of waiting CD Projekt RED launched Cyberpunk 2077 in December. The game was nearly unplayable on last-generation consoles, the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and stock prices for the company quickly dropped.
Research firm DFC Intelligence in an analysis says that following the problematic launch of Cyberpunk 2077 the company is now an "acquisition candidate."
"CD Projekt stock dropped 50% in December," said DFC Intelligence. "This is unacceptable for a company launching a flagship, defining product. A larger public company would have been able to avoid this with basic public relations and marketing.
"The irony is that while CD Projekt’s reputation has been stained, Cyberpunk 2077 is likely to still be a huge long-term success. The bugs should eventually be fixed, and many consumers are still interested. There will be opportunities to rerelease the game for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S/X.
"Unfortunately, CD Projekt’s reputation has been tarnished. The company now becomes one to watch as an acquisition candidate. This was clearly the case where the marketing and publishing of a larger company would have worked wonders.
"Prior to the launch of Cyberpunk 2077, Microsoft was frequently mentioned as a potential purchaser of CD Projekt. However, Microsoft acquired ZeniMax for $7.5 billion in September 2020 so they may not be in a rush to do another big acquisition.
"An acquisition of CD Projekt would be a risky bet. Even as the stock has fallen, CD Projekt is valued about the same as ZeniMax or French publisher Ubisoft. However, there could be several company’s willing to take that risk."
Cyberpunk 2077 is available for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, and Google Stadia. Next-generation versions of the game will launch for the Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 in the second half of 2021.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
More Articles
" This was clearly the case where the marketing and publishing of a larger company would have worked wonders".
Except no, we've had many a time like that, and as a result, we've still had games come out as buggy and incomplete messes like Fallout 4, 76, NMS etc. It doesn't matter how big of a wallet the publisher has, you can still fuck things up via the inside and execs meddling around.
"A larger public company would have been able to avoid this with basic public relations and marketing...This was clearly the case where the marketing and publishing of a larger company would have worked wonders."
I don't think marketing was this game's big problem...
Wasn’t CDPR already touted as the largest game publisher in Europe?
That would be Ubisoft.
They're from France.
No, they were saying that CDPR was now bigger than Ubisoft.
They said CDPR was bigger than Ubisoft for a while (https://www.gamereactor.eu/cd-projekt-red-is-the-biggest-video-game-company-in-europe/), though I doubt they will keep the top spot after the Cyberpunk debacle.
It depends on how much honestly, anything more than 2 billion is a massive big stretch.
I don't think anybody but MS would even consider spending that much. Unless Google and Amazon want to make some mega purchases. But their efforts have been small thus far.
Hell no... I don't care how much you hate Cyberpunk 2077, CDPR is still important as an independent company, sometimes going against the more predatory industry ideas. It would die as a subsidiary of Activision, Microsoft or whatever.
Cyberpunk 2077 is going to hurt the company a lot, which makes me worried for GOG. If Projekt Red ever gets bought out, that will go with them, and it's one of the few places to buy games without DRM strings attached.
It'll also mean that GoG will no longer have it's own studio making games for it's very own store. It'll just be another store, in a sea of stores selling 3rd party titles.
Nearly every other client on PC is run by a company that also happens to make games (save for itch). CP not having CDPR would surely cripple them as a company and a client over the long-term. (which is bad for PC gaming).
I wouldn't put them above 100 million to be honest
Huge risk but it might pay off whoever "buys" them
As I often say when this comes up: imagine Nintendo purchasing them. The reaction on the internet would be hilarious.
What is DFC intelligence? Do they have a record of being correct?
Microsoft lurkin' around somewhere...
I doubt that. They already have a TON of RPG producing studios now. Why purchase a studio that exclusively (as of now) makes games in genres redundant with what your studios are already working on? The Outer Worlds and Fallout both are futuristic-gone-wrong settings, and Elder Scrolls/Avowed are ancient/middle aged settings.
Far more sensible for another company to buy them up than Microsoft. Perhaps Sony should, since MS will basically have a monopoly on Western RPG's before too long.
Fair enough. CDPR does make RPGs which fits Microsoft's style. Witcher 4 exclusive to Xbox and PC would be crazy. Microsoft doesn't have to buy CDPR but they're worth a trillion dollars. Money ain't much to them lol. Now CDPR under Sony's umbrella would be interesting but Sony doesn't need them. If Sony is going to make an insane acquisition which Mr. Jim Ryan hints at, I'd like it to be on the level of say ... a SEGA. Now that would shake up the industry on the levels of Microsoft purchasing ZeniMax. SEGA would give Sony a huge push in Japan as well...
I don't know, they might not buy it for their games, but they do still own GOG. They might be interested in strengthening their position within the PC market by purchasing that, even if it's not the biggest online distributor out there. And it's not like Microsoft is short on money to spend on the long game...
As I often say when this comes up: imagine Nintendo purchasing them. The reaction on the internet would be hilarious.
It would be great for Microsoft's Xbox brand if they bought them. We know Microsoft's imperialistic tendencies with their acquisition of gaming companies, so this is a large possibility. Although, would they run into some legal situations? This goes a bit against the competition philosophy of Western Liberalism.
That^ This is complete non-sense. CD Project Red is not in trouble at all.
If they are an acquisition candidate now, then it was already before the launch of Cyberpunk 2077.
The issue with the games suck but will have no impact at all on the company value.
Seriously, the social medias and the over-reaction to anything this days... The majority of people making "projection" and assumption have no clue about what is really going on and how businesses work... And they are mixing their gamer/fan/entitled feelings with business management...
Nice analysis, and I fully agree with you. The company is still extremely overvalued, simple as that. Is microsoft or others wanted to acquire a company they can find better deals for a much better market price. But it is worth keeping an eye on it as if cyberpunk does not recover and the shares drop even more then it might be a REAL candidate for an acquisition. Now Im curious, Im going to take a look at their balance sheet.
Essay Pro