The Catastrophic Outcome of a Leak

After a major hack in 2021, The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 have once again suffered the brunt of a leak whose consequences could be disastrous for CD Projekt RED.

As a reminder, CD Projekt RED was then the victim of a ransomware attack from the HelloKitty group. In the exercise, the source code for The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 had been recovered. Three years later, the renowned hacker group HelloGookie is making waves again. With the added bonus of another potential leak that bodes very badly for the Polish studio's two flagship games.

The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 still victims of persistent hackers

At the time, the source code for The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 were password locked. It is therefore this crucial element which has now leaked. This was recovered by the same group of hackers who attacked CD Projekt RED three years ago. He also changed his name HelloKitty to HelloGookie. Thus, a build of The Witcher 3 would have already been compiled by people with the source code of the game and the password protecting it.

This also sabotages CD Projekt RED's plans. The studio planned to make the modding kit for its in-house RED engine available to the public later in the year. As a reminder, this will be abandoned in The Witcher 4 and Cyberpunk 2, in favor of Unreal Engine 5.

The two flagship games from the Polish studio once again in turmoil? © CD Projekt RED

What consequences for CD Projekt RED?

In the event that the source code for The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 becomes public, the consequences for CD Projekt RED would be dire. The studio could be forced to remove these two flagship games from the market. This is to avoid potential security breaches or modifications for malicious purposes. Another suggestion is to make both titles open source. Modders could then profoundly modify the two games. Even better than with the modding tools expected later in the year. In any case, such a leak risks fatally affecting the sales of The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077.

However, all this is still hypothetical. At the time of writing, CD Projekt RED has not yet issued an official press release. Nothing is yet written in stone, and the situation for these two flagship games could ultimately experience a less calamitous outcome than expected. The future will tell us what really happens on this subject.