CD Projekt has sold its DRM-free PC storefront GOG to its original co-founder, Michał Kiciński, for 90.7 million Polish złoty (approx. $25.2 million). Kiciński is also co-founder of CD Projekt itself, and currently holds 10% of share capital in the business.
Kiciński co-founded GOG in 2008, and it has operated within the CD Projekt Group for over 17 years. Selling GOG “fits” CD Projekt’s long-term strategy, according to a FAQ posted online. CD Projekt, the Polish company behind smash hits The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077, wants to focus on video game development and other projects, it said. CD Projekt is currently developing The Witcher 4 and Cyberpunk 2.
“Selling GOG fits CD Projekt’s long-term strategy,” reads the statement. “CD Projekt wants to focus its full attention on creating top-quality RPGs and providing our fans with other forms of entertainment based on our brands. This deal lets CD Projekt keep that focus, while GOG gets stronger backing to pursue its own mission.”
Kiciński commented: “From the very beginning, GOG has always been built on strong values and clear principles. When Marcin Iwiński and I came up with the idea for GOG, the vision was simple: bring classic games back to players and ensure that once you buy a game, it truly belongs to you — forever.”
GOG will operate independently, it said, and continue with its DRM-free philosophy. Following the sale, CD Projekt and GOG signed a distribution agreement that specifies the terms of future cooperation, including a plan to release CD Projekt Red’s upcoming games on GOG.
“CD Projekt and GOG share the same roots and values: freedom, independence, and a genuine sense of ownership,” Kiciński continued. “I believe that CD Projekt, with its exceptional AAA games, will stand, as always, behind the GOG offering — making GOG the best place on the planet to purchase The Witcher and Cyberpunk games, both existing titles and the new ones we all anticipate so much.
“As a mature gamer, I often play classic games myself and deeply admire the creativity behind many of them. I truly believe that well-crafted classics can deliver as much joy as new releases. When it comes to pure playability, timeless games often prove to be really the safe choice, especially in a market flooded with gazillions of low-quality smaller games. Beyond preserving classics, GOG has always sought out new games with a retro spirit. I am personally involved in the development of a few games like that and they will certainly make their strong appearance on GOG in 2026.”
Michał Nowakowski, joint CEO of CD Projekt, added: “with our focus now fully on an ambitious development roadmap and expanding our franchises with new high-quality products, we felt this was the right time for this move.
“For a long time now, GOG has been operating independently. Now it’s going into very good hands — we are convinced that with the support of Michał Kiciński, one of GOG’s co-founders, its future will be full of great projects and successes. We would like to thank the GOG team for years of fruitful cooperation and wish them all the best. And to the GOG community, I say ‘see you around,’ because our upcoming releases will naturally be available on GOG as well.”
GOG has long competed with Steam for the hearts and minds of PC gamers by leaning on its no-DRM policy, although Valve’s platform remains the overwhelming market leader. In the FAQ, the question ‘is GOG financially unstable?’ is asked. The answer, officially, is no. “GOG is stable and has had a really encouraging year,” reads the statement. “In fact, we’ve seen more enthusiasm from gamers towards our mission than ever before.” GOG hit the headlines recently for getting behind indie game Horses after Valve banned it from Steam.
It sounds like from a user point of view, nothing changes here. As for CD Projekt, it can now strip out GOG from its business, which at latest count employed 1,335 staff. In The Witcher franchise it has the aforementioned The Witcher 4 as part of a new Witcher trilogy with Ciri as protagonist, The Witcher Remake, and Project Sirius. Cyberpunk 2 is also in development, as is Project Hadar, a new IP.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
