CD Projekt and Optimus complete transaction

Poland-based CD Projekt and Optimus S.A. have concluded a deal this week that will see the creator of The Witcher and the owner of the classic games web site Good Old Games get a 23 million dollar injection cash once the deal is complete. As part of the deal CD Projekt will retain control of the company (CD Projekt Group) and gain control of Optimus by acquiring 50 percent of the listed company’s shares. This also makes CD Projekt a publically traded company.

“This transaction represents the full realization of the strategic goals that CD Projekt’s owners set for themselves,” said CDP Investment stockholder Adam Kiciński in a statement of the company’s official web site this morning. “Above all, we will become a publicly listed company, which denotes access to capital. That in turn will spur further company growth. The immediate financing we obtained through the deal will allow us to pursue our operational goals in troubled times. We have gained all this while retaining control of the business, which was essential to us. The added spice of the contract is that we are merging with a corporation that, like CD Projekt, has been at the center of the Polish computer market throughout its history.“

Optimus S.A. is a Warsaw, Poland-based computer company that makes PCs and providing IT solutions for companies. In the 1990s Optimus S.A. was one of the leaders of the Polish computer market.

Rise of the White Wolf Production Halted

Wide Screen Games, the developer of The Witcher for Xbox 360 and PS3, has stopped developing the ports of CD Projekt’s popular action role-playing game, according to published reports.

“Basically, after a few months of not being paid, we stopped,” said Wide Screen CEO Olivier Masclef speaking to GamesIndustry.biz. “We’ve not been paid for a few months and we had a very nasty broken payment. We had no choice but to put the product on hold. We’ve not been able to find a solution.”

The company that brought you Dead to Rights 2, says that it has not been paid for the work it has done and had been kept in the dark about milestones that Atari expected of them because CD Projekt did not communicate with them. Of course, all of this is alleged because CD Projekt and Atari are not commenting on the story.

Masclef claims that Rise of the White Wolf was due to go alpha in June but work stopped three weeks ago. This halt in production is a shame if Wide Screen is to be believed, because early pre-sales of the game were allegedly high.

“It’s unfortunate because we have very nice technology, we’re replicated all the features of The Witcher,” said Masclef. “Atari has validated the product and seen that our tech is working. And we’ve heard that the distributors have been committing a very high volume for the title, and it was extremely promising. It’s a very silly situation. I can’t disclose the budget, but it would be a profitable title if it hit the shelves. But at this stage it will not.”

We’ll continue to follow this story as it develops.

The Rundown: Dec. 5, 2008

Fun Fact: Christian Bale, tough guy caped crusader in The Dark Knight and humanity’s last hope in the upcoming Terminator Salvation, played the dancing and prancing newspaper boy, Jack ‘Cowboy’ Kelly in the 1992 musical Newsies. Kind of puts his tough guy persona into question… Here’s all today’s lesser stories..

Remains of the Day
CD Projekt co-founders, Michal Kicinski and Marcin Iwinski, have been named Ernst & Young Entrepreneurs of the Year and will represent Poland in the world’s final competition in Monte Carlo next June. “Entrepreneur of the Year” is an international initiative promoting the best entrepreneurs around the world, with more than 10,000 candidates each year. The contest has been organized annually since 1986 and over 30 countries participate. In the United States, where the competition was born, the Ernst & Young awards are often referred to as the business Oscars.

CD Projekt earned this honor by being the largest games distributor in Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary, with more than 135million PLN (approx. $43 million) in annual revenue. But to the rest of the world, the company is know best for its excellent action RPG, The Witcher. The company also recently launched the classic DRM-free games site, Good Old Games.

Read the rest of this entry »