FILE PHOTO: The CD Projekt logo at its headquarters in Warsaw, Poland January 21, 2020. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/File Photo
(Reuters) -Poland's biggest video games maker CD Projekt announced plans for a slew of new games in a strategy update on Tuesday as it aims to have three unique franchises.
The company, which had a bumpy time after the bug-ridden launch of "Cyberpunk 2077" game in late 2020, said it started conceptual work on an entirely original project, outside of the Cyberpunk and The Witcher sagas.
CD Project last year released an updated strategy in the midst of fixing Cyberpunk, focusing on transforming its studio after Cyberpunk's troubled rollout.
Separately on Tuesday, it announced a share buyback programme of up to 100 million zlotys ($20.75 million).
Apart from new games, CD Projekt said it planned to set up a new studio in North America, adding multi-player to the majority of future projects, and further expansion of its franchises into film and TV.
Early work on the original project, code-named Hadar, began last year, CD Projekt said, adding it was still working on basic concepts and laying the groundwork for the new franchise.
CD Projekt also said it plans to release several other games set within its core franchises, including a new trilogy in The Witcher saga code-named Polaris. The games will be released within six years, starting with Polaris.
"Our core activities and values remain unchanged. We want to create revolutionary role-playing games with memorable stories that inspire gamers," the company's chief executive Adam Kicinski said in a statement.
One such game within the Witcher series will be targeting a broader audience than the medieval fantasy universe known from the Witcher did, CD Projekt said without elaborating.
(Reporting by Anna Pruchnicka;Editing by David Goodman and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
