'Cyberpunk 2077' Developer CD Projekt Red Acquires Canadian Games Co-Developer

The Polish company has bought Digital Scapes to create its first Canadian studio in Vancouver.

Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt Red has acquired Vancouver-based Digital Scapes to create its first Canadian studio for games development.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Poland-based CD Projekt Red has collaborated with Digital Scapes on game development since 2018, including on the open-world, role-playing adventure Cyberpunk 2077 game. "We believe that the hugely talented Digital Scapes crew is the perfect foundation upon which to build a wider CD Projekt Red Vancouver team," Paweł Zawodny, head of production and CTO at the Polish company said in a statement.

Digital Scapes, as it brings around 12 existing games creators to the new CD Projekt Red Vancouver studio, will join development teams for the Polish company based in Warsaw, Kraków and Wrocław and jointly collaborate on upcoming projects.

Launched in 2012, Digital Scapes as a video game development studio focuses on AAA multiplayer, console and PC gameplay product, with its creators working on titles like Dying Light, Company of Heroes, Dead Rising, Mass Effect and Prototype, in addition to Cyberpunk 2077. The merger with Digital Scapes also aims to help CD Projekt Red avoid a repeat of the problems, including significant bugs and glitches, around the rocky launch of the long-anticipated Cyberpunk 2077 game product.

"While we remain as ambitious as ever, we are also aware of areas which call for improvement. Our new strategic development framework will enable us to optimize intragroup processes – especially those which concern development of videogames – and will secure the group’s further dynamic growth," Adam Kiciński, CEO of CD Projekt, said in his own statement.

Vancouver, on Canada's west coast, is bursting at the seams with Hollywood movie and TV production, but has also quietly raised its profile as a global video game development hub. Games makers with studios in Vancouver include Electronic Arts, Relic Entertainment, SkyBox Labs and Kabam.