The co-founder of CD Projekt Red, Marcin Iwinski, has taken to LinkedIn to announce the CD Projekt Red is donating 4 million PLN (roughly $950,000) towards a Polish NGO named ‘Fundacja Wielka Orkiestra Świątecznej Pomocy’ in order to combat the spread of COVID-19 across Poland. CD Projekt Red is one of the largest Polish development studios located in Poland, and have already announced that they’ve dispersed from the standard office to continue the crunch for Cyberpunk 2077 from their respective homes; a decision that families likely appreciate.
Half of the sum is allegedly coming from the board of directors of CD Projekt Red, and the other half is coming from the company itself.
They are the latest video game studio to offer monetary stipends to health organizations in an attempt to stem the rapid rise of COVID-19, which sees an equally exponential rise in citizens needing health care. With medical centers needing beds and keeping staff on location longer than usual, many charities have been attempting to raise funds to help quell the pandemic. Ndemic Studios similarly donated to an NGO, $250,000.
WOŚP (polish non-profit charity), CD Projekt Red (game developer) and Coca Cola Poland created a fundraiser to help fight with the #coronavirus. They’ve gathered so far around 25M polish zloty (almost 6M dollars) which will be spend on the medical equipment.
— 5SOS Updates! (@Global5SOS) March 25, 2020
It’s the latest philanthropic move by the beloved studio responsible for a plethora of appreciated works; from GOG and their strict no-DRM policy for games offered in their storefront to the critically acclaimed Witcher series that has resulted in the spread of the Polish-based myths and legends penned by Andrzej Sapkowski, to the upcoming massively hyped Cyberpunk 2077.
Yet the actual news is that this shines a light on the plausible monetary cushion that CD Projekt Red has developed over the years, with GOG playing a large role along with their previously developed games.
Cyberpunk 2077 has notoriously been delayed by months as developers looked at the finishing project, and decided that more work would be needed to bring the title up to their standards. In spite of Cyberpunk 2077 being delayed until September due to refinement, which will inevitably make the studio an obscene amount of money, CD Projekt Red had both the ability and philanthropic desire to ensure that their fellow countrymen would be well-taken care of, to the best of their ability.
Their total estimated capital is over $8 billion dollars, and CD Projekt Red is the second largest game developer in Europe, thwarted from the number one slot only by Ubisoft, which based in France. As gaming looks to be one of the very few industries that will likely see profit in this pandemic, it is great to see that they’re turning around and caring for their community.
