عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Technology

CD Projekt Shares Slump After It Says ‘Witcher IV’ Won’t Come Out in 2026 

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) 
TT
20
TT

CD Projekt Shares Slump After It Says ‘Witcher IV’ Won’t Come Out in 2026 

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) 

Shares of CD Projekt fell nearly 13% in early trading on Wednesday after the game developer said the premiere of "Witcher IV" was scheduled for after 2026, fueling fears of an even longer wait for the new instalment in the blockbuster series.

Analysts had previously said they expected the game to debut anywhere between 2026 and 2028.

"The Witcher IV", developed under code name Polaris, is the first instalment in a new trilogy expanding the universe of CD Projekt's blockbuster medieval fantasy franchise that has sold more than 75 million copies to date.

Finance chief Piotr Nielubowicz said the video game maker would not announce a precise launch date yet, but indicated the post-2026 timeframe "to give more visibility to investors".

The confirmation that the game will not be released before 2027 is "not a big surprise", analyst Grzegorz Balcerski from Trigon said in a note, adding the brokerage's previous forecast assumed a premiere in the second quarter of 2027.

Shifting expectations for the premiere beyond 2026 may also raise speculation that the game might debut even after 2027, considering postponements of new releases are common in the industry, Balcerski added.

"Lack of management confidence to commit to 2027 should also disappoint, even though we believe that the actuary assumptions used in the annual report suggest that this is currently the internal base case," JPMorgan analysts said in a note.

The stock was down 11% as of 0940 GMT, on track for its biggest one-day drop in two years and the worst performer on Europe's benchmark STOXX 600 index.

Up to Tuesday's close, it was up 20% since the beginning of 2025.

CD Projekt said in November that "Witcher IV" had entered full-scale production. The company's joint CEO Michal Nowakowski said at the time that it typically takes five to six years to develop a big ticket AAA game from the time early ideas are first discussed.

It had announced the works on the new "Witcher" saga back in March 2022.

Most Viewed

 
Technology

Rise in 'Harmful Content' Since Meta Policy Rollbacks, Survey Shows

The logo of Meta is seen at the entrance of the company's temporary stand ahead of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland January 18, 2025. (Reuters)
The logo of Meta is seen at the entrance of the company's temporary stand ahead of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland January 18, 2025. (Reuters)
TT
20
TT

Rise in 'Harmful Content' Since Meta Policy Rollbacks, Survey Shows

The logo of Meta is seen at the entrance of the company's temporary stand ahead of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland January 18, 2025. (Reuters)
The logo of Meta is seen at the entrance of the company's temporary stand ahead of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland January 18, 2025. (Reuters)

Harmful content including hate speech has surged across Meta's platforms since the company ended third-party fact-checking in the United States and eased moderation policies, a survey showed Monday.

The survey of around 7,000 active users on Instagram, Facebook and Threads comes after the Palo Alto company ditched US fact-checkers in January and turned over the task of debunking falsehoods to ordinary users under a model known as "Community Notes," popularized by X.

The decision was widely seen as an attempt to appease President Donald Trump's new administration, whose conservative support base has long complained that fact-checking on tech platforms was a way to curtail free speech and censor right-wing content.

Meta also rolled back restrictions around topics such as gender and sexual identity. The tech giant's updated community guidelines said its platforms would permit users to accuse people of "mental illness" or "abnormality" based on their gender or sexual orientation.

"These policy shifts signified a dramatic reversal of content moderation standards the company had built over nearly a decade," said the survey published by digital and human rights groups including UltraViolet, GLAAD, and All Out.

"Among our survey population of approximately 7,000 active users, we found stark evidence of increased harmful content, decreased freedom of expression, and increased self-censorship".

One in six respondents in the survey reported being the victim of some form of gender-based or sexual violence on Meta platforms, while 66 percent said they had witnessed harmful content such as hateful or violent material.

Ninety-two percent of surveyed users said they were concerned about increasing harmful content and felt "less protected from being exposed to or targeted by" such material on Meta's platforms.

Seventy-seven percent of respondents described feeling "less safe" expressing themselves freely.

The company declined to comment on the survey.

In its most recent quarterly report, published in May, Meta insisted that the changes in January had left a minimal impact.

"Following the changes announced in January we've cut enforcement mistakes in the US in half, while during that same time period the low prevalence of violating content on the platform remained largely unchanged for most problem areas," the report said.

But the groups behind the survey insisted that the report did not reflect users' experiences of targeted hate and harassment.

"Social media is not just a place we 'go' anymore. It's a place we live, work, and play. That's why it's more crucial than ever to ensure that all people can safely access these spaces and freely express themselves without fear of retribution," Jenna Sherman, campaign director at UltraViolet, told AFP.

"But after helping to set a standard for content moderation online for nearly a decade, (chief executive) Mark Zuckerberg decided to move his company backwards, abandoning vulnerable users in the process.

"Facebook and Instagram already had an equity problem. Now, it's out of control," Sherman added.

The groups implored Meta to hire an independent third party to "formally analyze changes in harmful content facilitated by the policy changes" made in January, and for the tech giant to swiftly reinstate the content moderation standards that were in place earlier.

The International Fact-Checking Network has previously warned of devastating consequences if Meta broadens its policy shift related to fact-checkers beyond US borders to the company's programs covering more than 100 countries.

AFP currently works in 26 languages with Meta's fact-checking program, including in Asia, Latin America, and the European Union.