Former BioWare Producer Warns CD Projekt Red of AAA Risks

Former BioWare executive producer Mark Darrah has warned that CD Projekt Red could face significant financial risks as the cost of developing large AAA games continues to rise.

In an interview featured in the Summer Eternal Anthology and covered by Rock Paper Shotgun, Darrah discussed how increasingly specialized development teams have made modern game production more expensive and complicated.

He estimated that delaying a project involving 500 developers by just one month could add between $5 million and $10 million to its development budget.

Darrah also suggested that CD Projekt Red's ambitious games may need to sell between 15 million and 20 million copies to become profitable. However, these figures are his personal estimates, not official financial targets confirmed by the Polish developer.

His comments come as CD Projekt Red continues working on The Witcher 4 and Cyberpunk 2, both of which involve large development teams and substantial production resources.

Darrah also highlighted Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 as an example of a different development approach, with Sandfall Interactive maintaining a relatively small internal team while outsourcing parts of production.

Despite his concerns, CD Projekt Red remains profitable. According to the company's official financial results, it generated 435 million PLN in revenue and 249 million PLN in net profit during the first half of 2026.

Darrah's warning focuses on the long-term risks of increasingly expensive AAA projects rather than suggesting that CD Projekt Red is currently experiencing financial difficulties.