Some people also recognize that “getting the mostest money possible in the short run” can be short-sighted.
Fortunately for CDPR, the path to the most money is the one they are already on. CDPR publish their own games. They made absurd bank - likely 9 figures, although 10 is possible (yes, that’s right, a BILLION DOLLARS) - on the Witcher 3 PC release alone. In 2016 they said it had sold 10M+ copies across all systems.
“Everyone has a price” is a phrase that is low on substance.
This has nothing to do with CDPR being “darlings to many on this board”, you cotton-headed nini-muggins. It has to do with the actual history of the company and all the shit they have said, and are currently saying. It has to do with the facts of CDPR’s existence - the 33M+ copies the Witcher Series has apparently sold across all systems.
Cyberpunk 2077 was announced in 2012. It’s been in development for over 6 years as of this time. It is closer to release right now than it is to the midpoint of it’s development cycle. It might be two years from being in our hands, but that’s nothing given how long they’ve been working on it.
Nobody thinks that Sony and Microsoft aren’t trying. Of course they are. They can try all the want. The Witcher 3 alone sold 7M+ copies on consoles (as of 2016ish, anyway; and “consoles” being PS4/Xbox 360). I can’t speak to the price for all those sales but I can speak to them still making CDPR absurd amounts of money.
Everybody thinks that the big barrels of cash they are offering are likely to be inadequate given that Witcher 3 allegedly sold over 7M copies on consoles circa 2016. The only sell to use on CDPR is risk mitigation. The problem with that sale is that CDPR are their own publisher and The Witcher series has already sold 33M copies world wide, apparently. CDPR has already purchased each employee one money hat for every day of the year.
The price is likely to be exorbitant on a level that even Sony and Microsoft would say “my, that’s exorbitant”. And even if Sony or Microsoft is willing to meet it, it still may not be worthwhile for CDPR to do it. Because while there is always risk - the game could turn out to be garbage, although I doubt that - they’ve already made a zillion dollars doing this.
They love story telling, single player gaming, and the PC. The quality of their games (even the super quirky Witcher 1), and their gamer-friendly stances on a number of issues, have certainly earned them widespread adulation. And deservedly so. Microsoft can Sony can pitch whatever they want. CDPR can literally sit in those meetings and just light large piles of cash on fire and say “whatever”. CDPR are in a very rare position.
They may decide to go for a console exclusive. But it seems unlikely to the point of comedy.