The Witcher 3 is still making CD Projekt heaps of cash

The Witcher 3 developer, CD Projekt Red, is still reaping the rewards that come from releasing a critically-adored RPG. 

As shown in the Polish company's financials for the first quarter of 2016, the CD Projekt Group, which includes the game developer CD Projekt Red and the GOG.com digital distribution platform, pulled in 87 million polish zloty (PLN) ($22.5 million) in revenue for its first fiscal quarter ended March 31 -- more than triple the 25.5 million PLN ($6.59 million) it brought in this time last year. 

Year-over-year profits leapt to 32.56 million PLN ($8.42 million); a stark contrast to the 5.21 million PLN ($1.35 million) loss the company reported in Q1 2015. 

Looking solely at CD Projekt Red’s game development operations, quarterly year-over-year revenues rose to 68.1 million PLN ($17.6 million) from 6.59 million PLN ($1.7 million), while profit increased to 34.15 million PLN ($8.83 million) up from a loss of 4.88 million PLN ($1.26 million).

Since launching in May 2015, The Witcher 3 has picked up a plethora of industry awards, taking home the top prize at The Game Awards and The Game Developer’s Choice Awards, and has sold close to 10 million copies worldwide. 

Back in March, CD Projekt revealed the game cost an estimated $81 million to develop over three and a half years, and went on to give an incredibly detailed breakdown of how it distributed that cash. 

Despite those huge development costs, the game sold over 6 million copies in its first six weeks, allowing the studio to turn a profit of $62.5 million in the first half of 2015.