CD Projekt Red has celebrated the 19th anniversary of The Witcher with a look back at the unusually direct role BioWare played in getting Geralt of Rivia's first video game adventure off the ground. The developer described the original 2007 RPG as the realization of an ambitious effort to adapt a hugely respected fantasy book series, while emphasizing that the project's earliest days would not have unfolded in the same way without help from the Canadian RPG specialist.
In a social-media message marking the occasion, CD Projekt Red pointed to three major forms of support: access to BioWare's Aurora Engine, knowledge shared by BioWare's team, and space at BioWare's E3 booth. Those contributions came at a pivotal moment for a company that was moving from game publishing and localization into the far riskier business of making a large original role-playing game.
The anniversary note is also a reminder that the histories of two major RPG names crossed long before The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt became a global phenomenon. BioWare's work helped establish many of the production and presentation tools that gave the first Witcher its foundation. CD Projekt Red, meanwhile, used that opportunity to begin a journey that would eventually turn Geralt into one of gaming's most recognizable protagonists.
From Polish distributor to aspiring developer
Before it built games, CD Projekt was a Polish PC-game distributor operating in a very different market environment. In a 2017 interview with NoClip, CD Projekt co-founder Marcin Iwinski recalled an era in which widespread piracy shaped expectations around software in Poland. The company sought to distinguish itself by delivering official localizations with a level of care and quality that unofficial copies could not match.
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One of its biggest early opportunities came through a publishing agreement for the original Baldur's Gate, BioWare's 1998 breakout RPG. The agreement was a substantial gamble for the young company. Iwinski said CD Projekt and fellow co-founder Michal Kicinski were deeply worried that the initial commitment of 3,000 units could sink the business if sales did not materialize.
Instead, CD Projekt treated the release as a major event. Its Polish edition included professionally recorded voice work, a deluxe collector-style package, and an arrangement tied to a local publisher's edition of Dungeons & Dragons. The approach paid off dramatically: 18,000 units were reportedly ordered before the game reached stores, and sales reached 50,000 during the first year.
That success did more than prove there was an audience for carefully localized RPGs. It helped give CD Projekt the confidence, contacts, and commercial basis to consider creating games of its own. Its next major leap would be the acquisition of a license that carried enormous cultural importance in Poland: the fantasy stories by Andrzej Sapkowski featuring monster hunter Geralt of Rivia.
The Aurora Engine connection
Building an adaptation of The Witcher was a much more formidable challenge than publishing an established foreign title. CD Projekt needed a production structure, a development team, technology, and a publisher willing to take a chance on a new studio. During that process, it established the development-focused subsidiary CD Projekt Red, a name that would later come to represent the wider company itself.
BioWare became a key part of the technical answer. CD Projekt Red licensed the Aurora Engine, the technology used for BioWare's Neverwinter Nights. While the eventual first Witcher had its own identity, systems, setting, and presentation, licensing an established engine gave the emerging developer an essential starting point rather than requiring it to build every underlying tool from scratch.
Engine licensing was only part of the relationship. CD Projekt Red's anniversary message stresses that BioWare also shared expertise. For a studio attempting a big, choice-driven fantasy RPG for the first time, access to the experience of a developer already associated with landmark role-playing games was meaningful support.
The story became even more consequential when CD Projekt Red traveled to Edmonton about a year later to present its Aurora-powered version of The Witcher to BioWare leadership. Iwinski has recalled that the demonstration was a stressful prospect, especially because the build was not in ideal shape. In a fortunate moment for the visiting team, the troubled demo performed when it mattered and was able to make its case.
CD Projekt Red says BioWare's technology, shared knowledge, and early public support helped transform its adaptation plans into Geralt's first interactive adventure.
An E3 booth for an unknown studio
BioWare's response went beyond a business arrangement. Impressed by the early project, the studio invited CD Projekt Red to present The Witcher at a shared E3 booth. It was an enormous visibility opportunity for a small team that had little name recognition outside Poland.
That booth placement put the first Witcher alongside BioWare's own high-profile work on Jade Empire. At the time, the contrast was striking: BioWare was already an established RPG developer, while CD Projekt Red was an emerging creator seeking to persuade publishers, press, and players that its ambitious adaptation could compete in a demanding genre.
In retrospect, the shared showcase has taken on extra significance. Jade Empire remains a notable part of BioWare's catalog, but The Witcher would grow into an enormous franchise. CD Projekt Red went on to produce two further mainline games starring Geralt, with The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt becoming its defining mainstream success. BioWare, for its part, found mass-market success through series including Mass Effect.
Neither outcome was guaranteed at the time of that E3 appearance. The early Witcher was a project from a developer still learning how to make games at scale, using licensed technology and pursuing an adaptation that had special resonance with its domestic audience. BioWare's willingness to offer technological and promotional support helped it reach a much larger stage.
A legacy that reaches beyond one game
The anniversary message arrives as BioWare's legacy continues to be discussed by players and developers. The studio's influence is visible not only in its own long-running series, but also in the work of teams shaped by its games, tools, and personnel. CD Projekt Red's connection is especially tangible because it was not merely inspired by BioWare's RPGs; it received practical assistance at a formative point in its history.
That relationship began with the publishing success of Baldur's Gate in Poland and later developed into an engine license, advice, and shared convention space. It is a chain of events that illustrates how the games industry's largest success stories can be built through a mixture of commercial risk, technical collaboration, and a few well-timed chances.
There is also an intriguing historical what-if behind the two companies' relationship. CD Projekt and BioWare's paths were closely enough aligned that there was once the possibility of CD Projekt assisting BioWare with a challenge to Steam. That idea never became the defining chapter of either company's story, but it underlines just how connected their histories were during the PC gaming industry's changing early-2000s landscape.
For CD Projekt Red, however, the 19th anniversary of The Witcher is chiefly an opportunity to remember where its defining series started. Long before Geralt became the lead of an internationally celebrated open-world RPG, he was the center of an uncertain first project from a newly created development studio. BioWare's Aurora Engine, experience, and faith in the project helped give that first adventure its chance.
As the original game reaches another milestone, CD Projekt Red's message makes clear that it does not view the rise of The Witcher as a story of isolated success. It is also a story of the RPG community, a publisher-turned-developer willing to take a risk, and a more established studio that helped an ambitious newcomer bring its vision into playable form.
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