CD Projekt
Despite the rather bumpy start of Cyberpunk 2077, the big animals from CD Projekt Red received very generous bonuses. The co-CEOs Marcin Iwiński and Adam Kiciński were each remunerated with 24 million zloty, which corresponds to almost 5.3 million euros. Lower-ranking employees received bonuses ranging from around 5,000 euros to 20,000 euros, depending on their seniority. However, many employees expected a higher sum and might have received it if Cyberpunk 2077 had been postponed again.Recommended editorial content Here you will find external content from [PLATFORM]. To protect your personal data, external integrations are only displayed if you confirm this by clicking on "Load all external content": Load all external content I consent to external content being displayed to me. This means that personal data is transmitted to third-party platforms. Read more about our privacy policy . External content More on this in our data protection declaration. The high payments for Marcin Iwiński and Adam Kiciński can be traced back to the extremely successful year 2020, in which CD Projekt Red was able to record a growth of 500%. This was due, among other things, to the 13.7 million sold units of Cyberpunk 2077.
When asked whether it is appropriate to pay out such high bonuses despite the controversy over Cyberpunk 2077, Kiciński replied:
"We and the company made this money. More profit means higher bonuses. We get results, we get bonuses, that's the contract we have."
This is in stark contrast to Activision Blizzard, which recently cut CEO Bobby Kotick's salary and bonuses in half. Although CD Projekt Red would like to raise the earnings of the employees with the lowest salaries in the company a little, the discrepancy between the earnings of the CEOs and the other employees remains huge.
Source: Bloomberg
CD Projekt Bosses Set To Receive Big Bonuses Despite Cyberpunk 2077 Launch Problems
The CEOs and other board members at CD Projekt are set to receive big, multi-million dollar bonuses this year, despite the difficult and problem-filled launch of Cyberpunk 2077.
CD Projekt co-CEOs, Marcin IwiÅ„ski and Adam KiciÅ„ski, are each set to get an end-of-year bonus of 24 million zloty (approx. $6.3 million), according to the company’s annual report.
Meanwhile CD Projekt board member and director of Cyberpunk 2077, Adam Badowski, is to be awarded $4.2 million in bonuses.
As explained in a new Bloomberg report, these bonuses come via CD Projekt’s profit share system, in which 20% of the company’s annual earnings is split up and awarded to staff members. 10% of profit is shared among the board of directors, while the other 10% goes to employees. In a statement to Bloomberg, CD Projekt explained that 865 employees were part of this profit share system, with $29.8 million shared among them. Meanwhile, five board members will share $28 million.
Talking to Bloomberg, some employees revealed that they were expected to receive between $5,000 and $9,000 in bonuses. More senior staff could get closer to $20,000. These do, naturally, pale in comparison to the multi-million dollar figures assigned to the board.
These kinds of figures are to be expected from a corporation, but they are called into question in the wake of CD Projekt’s disastrous launch of Cyberpunk 2077. The game, in development for years and eagerly awaited by fans, launched in a buggy state that was considered near unplayable on PlayStation 4. That led to a reported 30,000 refunds and Cyberpunk 2077 being removed from sale on the PlayStation Store.
By releasing Cyberpunk 2077 in its difficult state rather than waiting for it to be ‘complete’, CD Projekt suffered a steep stock price fall. Considering their disastrous decision, the board was asked during a recent investor call if it were “appropriate” that such large bonuses were awarded.
“We earned this money and the company earned this money, of course, but more net profits, more bonuses,” KiciÅ„ski said. “So well, we have results, we get bonuses, and that’s the contract we have.”
At the CD Projekt financial briefing earlier this month, the company said that Cyberpunk’s launch “has been a huge lesson for us that we shall never forget.” Despite this, 2020 was the company’s best year. Going forward, the company plans to change the way it markets its games to help avoid another Cyberpunk-style situation.
Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer.