Poland’s CD Projekt Announces New ‘The Witcher’ Installment

A bird flies in front of the CD Projekt logo at its headquarters in Warsaw, Poland January 21, 2020. Picture taken January 21, 2020. (Reuters)
A bird flies in front of the CD Projekt logo at its headquarters in Warsaw, Poland January 21, 2020. Picture taken January 21, 2020. (Reuters)
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Poland’s CD Projekt Announces New ‘The Witcher’ Installment

A bird flies in front of the CD Projekt logo at its headquarters in Warsaw, Poland January 21, 2020. Picture taken January 21, 2020. (Reuters)
A bird flies in front of the CD Projekt logo at its headquarters in Warsaw, Poland January 21, 2020. Picture taken January 21, 2020. (Reuters)

Polish video games maker CD Projekt said on Monday work on the long-awaited next installment of its "The Witcher" series had started.

It did not provide details on the development timeframe or release date.

The medieval fantasy series debuted in 2007 and the newest game, "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt," premiered in 2015 to critical acclaim and helped the Polish studio gain worldwide recognition.

CD Projekt also announced a technology partnership with Epic Games, adding the new Witcher game would be developed with Unreal Engine 5.



OpenAI to Raise $40 Billion to Boost AI Efforts

A keyboard is placed in front of a displayed OpenAI logo in this illustration taken February 21, 2023. (Reuters)
A keyboard is placed in front of a displayed OpenAI logo in this illustration taken February 21, 2023. (Reuters)
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OpenAI to Raise $40 Billion to Boost AI Efforts

A keyboard is placed in front of a displayed OpenAI logo in this illustration taken February 21, 2023. (Reuters)
A keyboard is placed in front of a displayed OpenAI logo in this illustration taken February 21, 2023. (Reuters)

OpenAI said on Monday it would raise $40 billion in a new funding round led by SoftBank Group at a $300 billion valuation to advance AI research, expand computational infrastructure and enhance its tools.

SoftBank would provide 75% of the funding, according to a person familiar with the matter, with the remainder coming from Microsoft, Coatue Management, Altimeter Capital and Thrive Capital.

OpenAI said it looks to deliver increasingly powerful tools for the 500 million people who use ChatGPT every week.

Investor enthusiasm for the artificial intelligence sector has surged significantly in recent years, driven by widespread adoption of chatbots and the emergence of sophisticated AI agents.

Enterprises have integrated AI solutions to streamline their operations and enhance customer experiences, while venture capital firms compete to back promising AI startups.

San Francisco-based OpenAI had closed a $6.6 billion funding round in October, which valued the company at $157 billion. The new funding round would nearly double the valuation of the AI startup.

"OpenAI has very ambitious plans on many fronts and needs a lot of capital to achieve these goals," D.A. Davidson & Co analyst Gil Luria said.

"The list of investors wanting to support that scope has shrunk and may be largely limited to SoftBank, which itself may not have the necessary capital."

OpenAI is partnering with SoftBank and Oracle to establish a network of data centers under the $500-billion Stargate project, aimed at powering artificial intelligence workloads in the United States.

Microsoft-backed OpenAI also plans to revamp its structure, saying it would create a public benefit corporation to attract more investment and resources while balancing shareholder interests with public benefits.

OpenAI must transition to a for-profit company by the end of the year to secure the full $40 billion funding led by SoftBank, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday.

With the latest funding, OpenAI will join the ranks of the most valuable private companies, such as SpaceX, China's ByteDance and Stripe.