{"id":1389736,"date":"2025-11-11T16:00:25","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T16:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/PetmGiWjLGgbbXouttdmgJ"},"modified":"2025-11-11T16:00:25","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T16:00:25","slug":"cd-projekt-was-worried-people-wouldnt-really-get-dark-fantasy-as-a-concept-and-then-game-of-thrones-became-the-biggest-franchise-on-earth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/cd-projekt-was-worried-people-wouldnt-really-get-dark-fantasy-as-a-concept-and-then-game-of-thrones-became-the-biggest-franchise-on-earth\/","title":{"rendered":"CD Projekt was worried people wouldn&#8217;t really &#8216;get&#8217; dark fantasy as a concept, and then Game of Thrones became the biggest franchise on Earth"},"content":{"rendered":"<article>\n<p>It&#8217;s hard to imagine a time where dark fantasy wasn&#8217;t a game industry heavyweight that permeates every fiber of my being\u2014who doesn&#8217;t love tales that leave you in a moral quandary for days on end? The perceived level of complexity that you&#8217;re getting into can be challenging to overcome, but over the last decade more and more games in this vein have transformed from niche outliers to something more accessible.<\/p>\n<p><a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/uk\/baldur-s-gate-3\/\">Baldur&#8217;s Gate 3<\/a> remains one of the biggest RPG surprises of recent years. The franchise rose from a twenty year slumber, and through the power of nuanced storytelling emerged from the CRPG weeds as the undisputed champion of the genre\u2014and, in some ways, <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/games\/rpg\/after-winning-every-major-game-of-the-year-award-in-2023-baldurs-gate-3-is-now-cleaning-up-in-2024-too\/\">of all genres<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>But prior to that, at the time of <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/the-witcher-3-wild-hunt\/\">The Witcher 3<\/a>&#8216;s release, the natural comparison was, of course, Skyrim, which had recently redefined the open world RPG\u2014full of experimentation, freedom, and floating cheese.<\/p>\n<p>Skyrim may have had some decidedly dark elements, but The Witcher 3 leaned into it hard\u2014a potentially risky move at the time.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"van-image-figure inline-layout\" data-bordeaux-image-check >\n<div class='image-full-width-wrapper'>\n<div class='image-widthsetter' style=\"max-width:3840px;\">\n<p class=\"vanilla-image-block\" style=\"padding-top:56.25%;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"utiUHpByb68opim9RFv54c\" name=\"The Witcher 3_ Wild Hunt - Complete Edition_20221208092622.jpg\" alt=\"the witcher 3 family matters bloody baron\" src=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/cd-projekt-was-worried-people-wouldnt-really-get-dark-fantasy-as-a-concept-and-then-game-of-thrones-became-the-biggest-franchise-on-earth.jpg\" mos=\"\" align=\"middle\" fullscreen=\"\" width=\"3840\" height=\"2160\" attribution=\"\" endorsement=\"\" class=\"\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption itemprop=\"caption description\" class=\" inline-layout\"><span class=\"credit\" itemprop=\"copyrightHolder\">(Image credit: CDPR)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&#8220;First of all, there are always other great games on the market, secondly, you can learn from those games, but like in music videos, you need to be fresh [and] innovative. So you cannot be a copycat,&#8221; explains Adam Badowski, <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/uk\/tag\/cd-projekt\/\">CD Projekt<\/a>&#8216;s joint CEO.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We knew that [The Witcher 3] was a completely new offer for players [but] I had a lot of worries about the game as a business [&#8230;] The whole development was expensive and challenging, plus, we had only one game in development back then, and Witcher is dark fantasy. I remember that it wasn&#8217;t that popular, and I was worried if people would understand the concept of dark fantasy.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Standard fantasy and high fantasy have always been successful, but dark fantasy narratives were less common: &#8220;High fantasy was super, super well known and appreciated by players. Everyone played World of Warcraft, but something has changed after Game of Thrones.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s impossible to deny the impact Game of Thrones has had on bringing such grand storytelling to more mainstream audiences, increasing the appetite and palatability of dark fantasy&#8217;s morally ambiguous themes\u2014even FromSoftware saw a boost with <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/what-did-george-rr-martin-do-for-elden-ring-anyway\/\">Elden Ring<\/a> thanks to a whisper of George R.R Martin&#8217;s name. &#8220;[Suddenly] people understood that they really liked that dark fantasy. So [Game of Thrones&#8217; success] was a great moment for me, that&#8217;s [when I thought] okay, okay, there&#8217;s great potential.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"product\"><a data-dimension112=\"0bddbd25-5831-401d-9322-079d4fb2bb78\" data-action=\"Deal Block\" data-label=\"The Witcher 4\" data-dimension48=\"The Witcher 4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><\/p>\n<figure class=\"van-image-figure \" >\n<div class='image-full-width-wrapper'>\n<div class='image-widthsetter' style=\"max-width:396px;\">\n<p class=\"vanilla-image-block\" style=\"padding-top:100.00%;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"UiHQzGbgDWuTSBXL62v4Fd\" name=\"ciri-geralt-square\" caption=\"\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/cd-projekt-was-worried-people-wouldnt-really-get-dark-fantasy-as-a-concept-and-then-game-of-thrones-became-the-biggest-franchise-on-earth-1.jpg\" mos=\"\" align=\"middle\" fullscreen=\"\" width=\"396\" height=\"396\" attribution=\"\" endorsement=\"\" credit=\"\" class=\"\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/will-there-be-a-witcher-4-heres-what-we-know\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-dimension112=\"0bddbd25-5831-401d-9322-079d4fb2bb78\" data-action=\"Deal Block\" data-label=\"The Witcher 4\" data-dimension48=\"The Witcher 4\" data-dimension25=\"\"><strong>The Witcher 4<\/strong><\/a>: What we know about Ciri&#8217;s story<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/the-best-witcher-3-mods\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Witcher 3 mods<\/strong><\/a>: Good hunting<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/the-witcher-books\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>The Witcher books<\/strong><\/a>: Where to start<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/witcher-3-console-commands-cheats\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Witcher 3 console commands<\/strong><\/a>: Cheat death<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/movies-tv\/the-witcher-season-4-netflix\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>The Witcher season 4<\/strong><\/a>: Hemsworth&#8217;s debut<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/games\/the-witcher\/cd-projekt-was-worried-people-wouldnt-really-get-dark-fantasy-as-a-concept-and-then-game-of-thrones-became-the-biggest-franchise-on-earth\/\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s hard to imagine a time where dark fantasy wasn&#8217;t a game industry heavyweight that permeates every fiber of my being\u2014who doesn&#8217;t love tales that leave you in a moral quandary for days on end? The perceived level of complexity that you&#8217;re getting into can be challenging to overcome, but over the last decade more and more games in this vein have transformed from niche outliers to something more accessible. Baldur&#8217;s Gate 3 remains one of the biggest RPG surprises of recent years. The franchise rose from a twenty year slumber, and through the power of nuanced storytelling emerged from the CRPG weeds as the undisputed champion of the genre\u2014and, in some ways, of all genres. But prior to that, at the time of The&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"excerpt-more\"><a class=\"blog-excerpt button\" href=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/cd-projekt-was-worried-people-wouldnt-really-get-dark-fantasy-as-a-concept-and-then-game-of-thrones-became-the-biggest-franchise-on-earth\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1389737,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[336],"tags":[748,34,945],"class_list":["post-1389736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pc-gamer","tag-games","tag-rpg","tag-the-witcher"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>CD Projekt was worried people wouldn&#039;t really &#039;get&#039; dark fantasy as a concept, and then Game of Thrones became the biggest franchise on Earth | Arcader News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It&#039;s hard to imagine a time where dark fantasy wasn&#039;t a game industry heavyweight that permeates every fiber of my being\u2014who doesn&#039;t love tales that leave\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/cd-projekt-was-worried-people-wouldnt-really-get-dark-fantasy-as-a-concept-and-then-game-of-thrones-became-the-biggest-franchise-on-earth\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"CD Projekt was worried people wouldn&#039;t really &#039;get&#039; dark fantasy as a concept, and then Game of Thrones became the biggest franchise on Earth | Arcader News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It&#039;s hard to imagine a time where dark fantasy wasn&#039;t a game industry heavyweight that permeates every fiber of my being\u2014who doesn&#039;t love tales that leave\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/cd-projekt-was-worried-people-wouldnt-really-get-dark-fantasy-as-a-concept-and-then-game-of-thrones-became-the-biggest-franchise-on-earth\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-11-11T16:00:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/cd-projekt-was-worried-people-wouldnt-really-get-dark-fantasy-as-a-concept-and-then-game-of-thrones-became-the-biggest-franchise-on-earth.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/cd-projekt-was-worried-people-wouldnt-really-get-dark-fantasy-as-a-concept-and-then-game-of-thrones-became-the-biggest-franchise-on-earth\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/cd-projekt-was-worried-people-wouldnt-really-get-dark-fantasy-as-a-concept-and-then-game-of-thrones-became-the-biggest-franchise-on-earth\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\"},\"headline\":\"CD Projekt was worried people wouldn&#8217;t really &#8216;get&#8217; 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