CD Projekt Red's parent company, CD Projekt Group, releases a financial report that confirms that The Witcher 3 is still profitable nearly a year after its release.

While the upcoming release of The Witcher 3: Blood & Wine can make it easy to forget, CD Projekt Red's record-shattering entry into the Witcher series is nearly a year old already. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt debuted in May 2015 and immediately became a shining example of how the RPG genre can evolve in the modern era of gaming, and it's no surprise that financial success quickly followed for CD Projekt Red. Once the overwhelmingly positive critical reception of The Witcher 3 became common knowledge, it was simply a matter of time before the Poland-based developer began collecting more than a trophy case's worth of Game of the Year awards.

Despite all of the above, however, it might surprise gaming fans to learn that The Witcher 3 is still a profitable title after almost a year on the shelves. CD Projekt Group reported its first quarter earnings for 2016 today (January 1-March 31), and the company made nearly $8.4 million in profit. CD Projekt Red itself profited $8.8 million this quarter, up from last year's $1.7 million during the 2015 period wherein The Witcher 3 had yet to release. CD Projekt's Adam Kicinski commented on why he believed the company was thriving:

"Good RPGs continue to sell for years and we know how to animate sales and pique gamers' interest."

Kicinski went on to say that The Witcher 3: Blood & Wine, the game's final expansion, was expected to be "very well received", which is likely an understatement given the game's pedigree up until this point. Most of CD Projekt Red's sales can be tied directly to either The Witcher 3 or its first expansion, Hearts of Stone, both of which featured content that received recognition for being some of the best moments in gaming of 2015.

All of that success has likely made it much easier for CD Projekt Red to comfortably pursue its next project, a Cyberpunk 2077 game that has been described as more ambitious than The Witcher 3. That will be no small feat, given the fact that The Witcher 3 contained well over 100 hours of gameplay, but if there's any studio that has earned the right to claim something so brash it is CD Projekt Red. That doesn't mean, though, that Witcher fans will definitely have to mourn the end of the game series – a Witcher 3 dev recently suggested the team wants to do more with The Witcher series at some point in the future.

Are you surprised that The Witcher 3 is still so profitable? Do you agree with Kicinski that good RPGs sell "for years?" Let us know in the comments below.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Hearts of Stone are available now, while The Witcher 3: Blood & Wine releases on May 31, 2016 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

Source: CD Projekt Red