CD Projekt boss pays tribute to BioWare for helping bring The Witcher to life 20 years ago: 'BioWare has been a massive part of CDPR history'

BioWare was a legendary studio, and its shocking closure today has inspired numerous tributes from fans and fellow game developers alike. One of the most notable came from CD Projekt joint CEO Michał Nowakowski, who credited the studio for the big role it played in bringing The Witcher to life.

It's hard to overstate the impact BioWare had on computer RPGs, from effectively resurrecting the genre in the 1990s with Baldur's Gate through the creation of Neverwinter Nights, Knights of the Old Republic, Dragon Age, and Mass Effect. But less well known, outside of RPG fan circles at least, is that its influence goes far beyond that. CD Projekt, which is arguably the contemporary equivalent of BioWare, literally got started with BioWare games.

The relationship began when CD Projekt approached BioWare and Interplay about localizing Baldur's Gate for Poland; it got the gig, and the Polish release became a major hit. A subsequent deal to localize Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance fell apart when Interplay did, but CD Projekt's relationship with BioWare held firm.

"Bioware has been a massive part of CDPR history," Nowakowski wrote on X. "We befriended them when localizing and selling Baldur’s Gate games in Poland, Czech, and Slovakia. And later they were great help when lending us their engine for Witcher 1, sharing their wisdom and even giving us a spot at their booth at E3."

That was the Aurora Engine, BioWare's followup to the Infinity Engine, and was used for Neverwinter Nights, Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire, and as Nowakowski said, The Witcher, the RPG that introduced CD Projekt to the world and market the beginning of its journey to game industry powerhouse. In a 2014 interview with Polygon, CD Projekt co-founder Marcin Iwinski talked about the studio's early days working with BioWare and Interplay, and how it moved quickly to work on The Witcher after that Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance fell through: "It all started, in a way, with Baldur's Gate."

And BioWare did in fact share space with CD Projekt at E3, giving the studio a chance to show its new RPG to the world: Ryszard Chojnowski, a translator and localizer whose credits include both The Witcher and Baldur's Gate 2, shared a pair of photos showing CD Projekt's corner of BioWare's booth at E3 2004:

Nowakowski concluded, "I had a pleasure to visit them a few times in Edmonton and also host them in our Warsaw office. Very sad for the people affected, but also sad to see a legendary brand go down. Not a great day in the games industry."

Not a great day indeed.