How Piracy Created CD Projekt Red

How Piracy Created CD Projekt Red. How did a company famous for The Witcher and Cyberpunk 2077 begin in the pirate markets of 1990s Poland? Before CD Projekt Red existed, co-founders Marcin Iwiński and Michał Kiciński sold cracked Western games at Warsaw street markets. Copyright barely existed. Piracy was the only real “distribution.” That experience shaped everything about the company, legal localization, The Witcher series, GOG’s DRM-free philosophy, and their famous “carrot not stick” approach to pirates. This video explores how Poland’s wild post-communist game scene accidentally created one of the most player-friendly studios in the industry. Chapters: 00:00 – Intro 1:55 - Title 2:44 - Chapter I The Copy 8:09 - Chapter II A game, A book, and a Bad Guess 12:07 - Chapter III The Only Promise that Matters #CDPR #TheWitcher #GamingHistory #VideoEssay