If you’ve heard an unlikely rumour about EA buying CD Projekt Red today, the news that several company employees (including the founder) profess no knowledge of this ‘deal’ might help you rest easy.
A different and more anonymous employee (allegedly, though an invoice/pay stub was provided by way of evidence) of CD Projekt Red kicked this whole thing off, saying that he’d seen EA representatives meeting with ‘top management’ and that the only possible reason for them being there was to purchase the studio. Which seems like a bit of a stretched conclusion to reach, but there you go.
In response to this, Marcin Momot tweeted the following:
@astreamz Just bumped into Marcin IwiĹ„ski – it was new to him. I guess the "informer" has better insight than the @CDPROJEKTRED founder. 🙂
— Marcin Momot (@Marcin360) September 14, 2015
Technically that only dismisses “a publishing deal”, not a take-over.
However, over on the company’s forums, another employee casts doubt on the ‘evidence’ provided and reminds everybody that since The Witcher 3 is sold on Origin (and various EA games sold through GOG), EA people can visit the office fairly often.
The wildly contrasting values of the two companies over issues like DRM and DLC make such a deal seem rather far-fetched.
It’s sensible never to absolutely rule anything out in the strange world of videogames, but this rumour didn’t seem to have much weight behind it. The employee, by his or her own admission, pretty much just saw some EA people visiting the office. That might have been a sign of some doomsday purchasing scenario, but it’s quite an assumption to make without further proof.