FILE PHOTO: Boxes with CD Projekt's game Cyberpunk 2077 are displayed in Warsaw, Poland, December 14, 2020. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/File Photo
GDANSK (Reuters) -Polish video game developer CD Projekt posted a bigger than expected 44% jump in first-quarter net profit on Tuesday, driven by higher game sales.
Net profit reached 100.1 million zlotys ($25.6 million) compared with analyst expectations of 76 million zlotys.
Sales revenue for the period rose 30% year over year to 226.8 million zlotys, mainly due to continued strong sales of Phantom Liberty, a feature expansion of the flagship game Cyberpunk 2077.
The company has no major game releases planned for the next couple of years. It now needs to invest in new projects, finance chief Piotr Nielubowicz said in a statement.
"This is something we’re well prepared for, owing to our cash reserves which we have accumulated over the years," he said. "We also count on continuing strong sales of our back catalogue."
The company's new projects include the first instalment in a trilogy expanding on its blockbuster "The Witcher" medieval fantasy franchise.
The project, code-named Polaris, which had 407 people working on it as at April 30, is scheduled to enter production in the second half of the year. Analysts expect it to debut in 2026 or 2027.
The team working on the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel under code name Orion consisted of 56 developers as of April 30.
In April, CD Projekt was presented with the Evolving Game award for Cyberpunk 2077 at the BAFTA Games Awards 2024.
"We are very happy to receive such a prestigious industry award. We see it as vindication of our hard work on Cyberpunk 2077 over the past three years, as well as on its well-received Phantom Liberty expansion", Joint CEO Michal Nowakowski said in the statement.
($1 = 3.9103 zlotys)
(Reporting by Adrianna Ebert; Editing by David Goodman, David Holmes and Rod Nickel)
