BioWare veteran developer Mark Darrah warns that CD Projekt Red has entered the ultra-large-scale game sector, placing it in a precarious position. He personally estimates that the company's current games may need to sell 15 to 20 million copies just to break even.
Mark Darrah previously served as co-director of Dragon Age: Origins and executive producer of Anthem. In an interview with Summer Eternal Anthology, he discussed the escalating financial risks of large-scale games, arguing that mega-projects like GTA 6 are influencing the entire industry, with some developers and publishers beginning to chase "the next Grand Theft Auto."
In his view, reducing the pursuit of massive-scale titles could make room for projects that can succeed with sales of 3 to 4 million copies. He cites Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 as representative of this direction and states that he does not wish to participate in projects that must sell 50 million copies to avoid losses.
CD Projekt Red is currently advancing multiple projects simultaneously, including The Witcher 4, Cyberpunk 2, and Project Hadar, with Project Hadar having moved from world-building to partial prototype testing. The cost and sales thresholds proposed by Mark Darrah are his personal judgments, not official financial guidance from CD Projekt Red, nor do they indicate any definitive conclusions about the success or failure of specific projects.