Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt spent heavily on R&D in 2018

The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt Red has posted its financials for the full year ended December 31, 2018, and it was a busy 12 months for the Polish company.

Although overall net revenues fell to $94.3 million from $121.2 million, and net profits dropped to $28.5 million from $52.4 million, CD Projekt still managed to invest heavily, and sank nearly $26.2 million into the development of games and new technologies. 

Overall, the cumulative balance of the firm's research and development expenditures topped $65.4 million by the end of 2018, with the studio particularly keen on scaling up its production capabilities on home soil. 

"Over the past year we greatly expanded our creative potential, both in Warsaw and at the Kraków studio," commented CD Projekt president and CEO, Adam Kicinski.

"We were also joined by a highly talented team from WrocÅ‚aw, as well as by developers from Spokko -- a newly established company currently working on a yet unannounced project targeting mobile devices. With regard to strengthening our creative capabilities, 2018 marks the most intensive period in the Group’s history."

In a separate conference livestream discussing its financials, CD Projekt also revealed The Witcher 3 together with the Thronebreaker expansion is still selling well, with the acclaimed RPG generating $28.6 million in revenue during 2018 -- that's hardly a bad showing when you consider it launched almost four years ago.

The company also seemed pleased with the performance of its Witcher spin-off, Gwent, and said it plans to bring the card battler to smartphones in Autumn 2019. 

Gwent was the most important product in terms of sales revenue for the firm's digital marketplace, GOG.com, which generated a net profit of $7,800 on $34.5 million in sales revenue during 2018 -- the rest of the cash was spent on R&D. 

Looking ahead, CD Projekt claims E3 2019 will be the most important conference in its history, which likely means we'll be seeing a lot more from Cyberpunk 2077, which was first unveiled all the way back in 2012. 

Those interested can watch the entire earning conference (dubbed in English) over on YouTube.