DISC WORLD
LINEAGES EXPLORED
THE WITCHER TOOK FIVE YEARS AND MORE FUNDING THAN THE BUSINESS STRICTLY HAD TO FINISH
CD Projekt Red is a phenomenon that could only have occurred in Poland—and only, really, in the ’90s. It’s a time that explains more than the studio’s ludicrously anachronistic title. This was not just the golden age of the CD-ROM, but the golden age of piracy, too—at least in the former Eastern Bloc. Under communist rule, without legitimate access to Western retailers or any copyright law to speak of, Polish PC gaming culture grew in the street markets, where games were sold for $3 a pop—according to the excellent reporting of Eurogamer’s scholar, Robert Purchese.
