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When it comes to popular culture, Polish video games are among the most well-regarded worldwide. While movies like “Ida” or music composed by Penderecki or Pawlik are recognized by critics and peers, they’re niche products. Meanwhile, Polish video games are played by millions worldwide By Jacek Ciesnowski   [caption id="attachment_78424" align="alignleft" width="300"] Image: Dying Light (Techland)[/caption] The history of Polish video games wouldn’t be the same if proper intellectual property laws existed here during the communist era and the first few years after its fall. The humble origins of the sector were in copying others. Homemade clones of the Pong video game were popping up left and right. Popular magazines dedicated to home electronics published whole schematics on how to make such a machine in your home. The first Polish video game consoles, made in the 1970s and 80s were mostly carbon copies of the Magnavox Odyssey machine. Lack of intellectual property laws did not only mean copying others, but learning from them as well. Anyone that had a computer at home in the late 80s and early 90s, flocked to a special market in Warsaw where hardware and software was sold. Just like the one on ul. Grzybowska in Warsaw, where each weekend hundreds of future coders and developers flocked to get the latest piece of software. Only thanks to piracy games, could they be up to date with the current trends, as legal software was either absent or too expensive. Out of the underground The gaming scene, remained underground for most of the 90s. A number of Polish games were released during that period, but the vast majority of them were only published locally. Probably the first Polish-made game distributed worldwide was a real-time strategy title, Earth 2140 released in 1997. Fast forward to the present day. The Polish video game market is valued at $280 million and is the second biggest market in CEE (behind Russia) and the 23rd worldwide. Over 13 million Poles are gamers according to Newzoo. Of the currently operating game developers, the best-known, and one of the oldest, is CD Projekt RED, founded in 1994. Like most of current developers it started as a distributor of foreign titles and their biggest competitors were pirates. “A pirated computer game worth £15 was being sold for £3, roughly 48 hours after its release,” said CD Projekt co-founder Maciej Iwiński. The company’s lucky break came in 1998, when they distributed a popular role-playing game – Baldur’s Gate, which sold 100,000 copies, an astounding result for the Polish market. Thanks to its success, the company was asked to distribute one of the games sequels – Baldur’s Gate Dark Alliance. The only problem was that it was a console game and those were not popular in Poland at the time, so the producers asked CD Projekt to convert the game into a PC version. And, although ultimately the deal fell through, they caught the bug and decided to start developing games. “We realized that we are just the middle man, selling someone else’s games,” said Adam Kiciński, CD Projekt CEO. They were afraid that they are an easy takeover target and expanding their portfolio could prevent them from being aquired. So they decided to make their first game. “We devoted all the money we had and then some [to reaching this goal],” Iwiński said. They set their eyes on the Witcher series of fantasy books written by Andrzej Sapkowski, often called the Polish Tolkien. His books are immensely popular in Poland, so there was great cross-over potential locally. “He’s in a league of his own. If you say ʻSapkowski’ it means top-class – there is nobody else like him,” Iwiński said. Worldwide it was a different story, Sapkowski’s name was not well-known abroad, so in order for the product to be successful globally, it had to be good. This was not an easy task, especially for a company with no developing experience under its belt. Five years and PLN 20 million later, the Witcher hit the shelves and placed CD Projekt RED on the map. The second installment solidified CD Projekt as a top video game developer and to this day, both Witcher games have sold over 6 million copies worldwide, won over 300 awards and are being used on every occasion as a flagship example of an innovative Polish export product. Analysts expect Witcher 3, set to hit the shelves by the end of May, to sell 4 million copies. The studio is also developing another game – Cyberpunk 2077, which will be the first CD Projekt game without Witcher in the title, with a planned release date in 2015. Right now, with two games in the Witcher series and a third just around the corner, WSE-listed CD Projekt is a two-headed beast. One branch is the game development business (CD Projekt RED), the other is an online distribution service GOG.com (formerly Good Old Games), which brought the company PLN 73.6 million in revenue in 2014. From dictionaries to zombies Another major game developer is Techland. Founded in 1991, it’s even older than CD Projekt RED and just [caption id="attachment_78425" align="alignright" width="300"] Image: This War of Mine (11 bit studios)[/caption] like its more famous peer, it started as a distributor. Soon after, the studio started publishing their own simple games, translators and other educational software. Revenue from these products helped fund their more ambitious gaming projects, first of which was Crime Cities released in 2000, a game that was in production for six years. “Back in those days, making video games was not our main source of income, although it was definitely our main expenditure. Educational software was what brought us the cash needed to develop games. This was always a lengthy process,” said Techland founder Paweł Marchewka. Eventually, the company developed its own game engine (Chrome in 2013) to be used in their own productions as well as sold to other developers. This put the company on the map as a serious game developer, at least locally at first. Its first major global success was in 2006 when Call of Juarez was released and sold 1 million copies. Its sequels sold even better. This year, the studio has released its biggest blockbuster so far – Dying Light. Released in January, it sold over 3 million copies so far. It was even the top selling video game in the US in January, outselling such franchises as Grand Theft Auto or Call of Duty. In 2013, the company opened its branch in Canada. “Starting a studio in Canada opens up a wide range of new opportunities in the realm of game development,” said Marchewka, adding that it gave the company access to “a deep talent pool of educated employees.” It’s education, stupid This last aspect (education) has been the sector’s problem for years. While there were always video game enthusiast who would give an arm and a leg to work in the industry, they had no place to learn the craft. The companies, run by self-taught people as well, often had to hire internationally, because it’s hard to make highly-acclaimed games with enthusiasm only, you need skills as well. This is slowly changing as more schools and universities offer game development courses and majors. The last of the major game developers is Warsaw-based CI Games (formerly, City Interactive). Founded in 2002, the company, just like Techland and CD Projekt RED, is listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. The company started developing budget games for the first few years of its existence, with the big break coming in 2010 with the release of Sniper: Ghost Warrior, which, along with its sequel, has sold over 5.5 million copies worldwide. The third installment is currently in the works. However, the company’s most ambitious project was Lords of the Fallen. Its budget reached PLN 42 million and CI has sold nearly 1 million copies so far. The game was made by German studio Deck13 and produced by the Polish company and it won numerous awards for both, German and Polish, game of the year. CI Games and Deck13 recently parted ways due to unspecified complications and the Polish company has developed an internal team to work on the sequel. The video game sector in Poland is truly unique. There aren’t that many Polish-made products that are this popular worldwide. The studios that formed years ago in someone’s garage or a spare room are now listed on the WSE and they’re still being run by the same people and not by multinationals. What’s most important is that they’re all innovative companies – something that is lacking in the Polish economy.