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Why CD Projekt Worried Batman: Arkham Knight Could Crowd Out The Witcher 3

CD Projekt CEO Michał Nowakowski recalled fearing that Batman: Arkham Knight would dominate retail promotion during The Witcher 3’s 2015 launch window. The comments describe marketing and shelf-space anxiety, not a quantified sales forecast.
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CD Projekt’s concern was not a documented forecast that Batman: Arkham Knight would outsell The Witcher 3. In a 2025 interview, joint CEO Michał Nowakowski recalled fearing that Rocksteady’s game would “just roll over us” by winning retailer promotion and shelf space during the games’ overlapping 2015 launch period.

Did CD Projekt think Batman: Arkham Knight would outsell The Witcher 3?

Not according to the account that has surfaced. PC Gamer’s 2025 interview with Nowakowski describes anxiety about competing for marketing visibility and retail placements, not a formal or quantified prediction about which game would sell more over its lifetime. The distinction matters: “they’re gonna just roll over us” was his recollection of the team’s reaction to a major competitor, not a sales forecast.

Nowakowski said the team wondered whether CD Projekt could execute marketing “on par with, with the biggest out there?” The reported comments are retrospective remarks reproduced by PC Gamer, rather than a contemporaneous forecast document or a full independently published interview transcript. Read PC Gamer’s interview report.

Why was CD Projekt worried about Batman: Arkham Knight?

Retailers controlled valuable promotional space

The worry was partly about the practical limits of retail marketing. Nowakowski described retailers such as GameStop deciding which game to promote during a given window: “Whether they’re going to give it to this game or that game, it’s kind of their bet, and it could kill or elevate your game depending on the decision.” CD Projekt had discussed the issue with retailers in the US, UK, Germany, and other major markets, according to PC Gamer.

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That makes the story less about a direct contest between two games’ quality or eventual sales totals and more about visibility at launch: promotional windows, store placements, and whether a smaller publisher could command attention alongside a high-profile release.

The release windows initially overlapped

Arkham Knight was initially scheduled in the same launch window as The Witcher 3, then moved from May to June 23, 2015. The delay did not remove CD Projekt’s concern about retail placement. The interview report also says Warner Bros. was involved in the distribution picture for both titles—handling The Witcher 3 distribution in the US and Europe and publishing and distributing Arkham Knight. Those details are reported as part of the interview account, not established here from contract documents.

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What happened to The Witcher 3’s sales?

CD PROJEKT reported that The Witcher 3 had sold six million copies in its first six weeks after release. The company’s August 26, 2015 summary also put the game’s total budget at 306 million PLN and said boxed editions were available in 109 countries. CD PROJEKT’s 2015 release summary.

CD PROJEKT Group’s FY 2015 results later reported 798 million PLN in group revenue and 342.4 million PLN in net profit. The same results page said more than 20 million copies had been sold across the Witcher trilogy; that figure was for the trilogy as a whole, not The Witcher 3 alone. CD PROJEKT Group’s FY 2015 results.

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Can the two games’ sales be compared from these figures?

No. The reported six-million figure is for The Witcher 3 in its first six weeks, while the “over 20 million” figure covers all three Witcher games by the FY 2015 reporting period. Neither is a lifetime total for a head-to-head comparison with Batman: Arkham Knight. The interview explains what CD Projekt feared before launch; it does not establish that fear as a quantified sales prediction or supply comparable lifetime totals for both games.

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