Hackers sold The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 source code

The hackers who managed to steal data from CD Projekt Red earlier this week have announced that they’ve already managed to sell the source code for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Cyberpunk 2077.

The developer and publisher confirmed the data breach earlier this week on Twitter. They added that they would not be giving into the hacker’s demands, and were in the process of recovering all the information that had been encrypted.

The sale of this source code that the hackers allegedly got hold of was captured by Kela, a cyberintelligence firm. A number of other game’s source codes were listed, and the hackers now claim that they’ve accepted an offer for them.

The hackers say that the offer they received came from outside for the auction and came with the provision that further distribution would not occur. That’s why the code was delisted shortly after. This may have been a wealthy good samaritan trying to support the developer, or someone looking to own something unique for personal reasons.

Among the source code listed was Cyberpunk 2077, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Thronebreaker: A Witcher Tale, and an unreleased version of The Witcher 3. This final game was mentioned in the statement that CD Projekt Red issues, but nothing further has come from it.

The starting bid for the source codes was $1 million, with a minimum increase offer of $500,000. There was also an immediate purchase option of $7 million. It would seem that the figure accepted was around $7 million, especially with the added clause.

CD Projekt Red has clarified that user data was not compromised as a part of this hack. According to the statement issued earlier this week, the hackers were able to access the developer’s systems thanks to an unknown actor. Whether this is an actor who has worked on the developer’s games, or someone posing as a member of staff, still isn’t known.

Only time will tell what is done with these game codes. It’s possible that someone wanted to see the unreleased version of The Witcher 3 alone, but owning all this source code could also be tempting for reproduction on another game to turn a quick profit. There’s no real way that anyone could make money from it though, since the code was stolen, and is a direct copy of games that are already products.