Company News Atari Europe will publish The Witcher

[Ausir]

Tags: Atari; Witcher, The

<a href=http://thewitcher.com>The Witcher</a>, <a href=http://cdprojekt.com>CD Projekt's</a> upcoming cRPG based on Andrzej Sapkowski's books will be published by Atari Europe throughout Europe and Asia. Here's the press release:
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WARSAW, POLAND&#8211; 31 August 2006 &#8211; Atari Europe and CD Projekt Sp. z.o.o. today announced that the companies have entered into a publishing agreement for The Witcher, whereby Atari will market and distribute CD Projekt&#8217;s upcoming fantasy role-playing game throughout Europe and Asia in Spring 2007.
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The Witcher transcends traditional fantasy role-playing by throwing players into a unique world rife with political intrigue, in which the lines between good and evil are blurred, with players taking the role of Geralt, a legendary monster slayer and master swordfighter with supernatural abilities and reflexes. The Witcher presents a fresh approach to traditional role-playing, blending an expansive, twisting plotline &#8211; in which the impact of individual decisions can drastically alter the outcome of the game &#8211; and fast-paced combat against a wide variety of foes.
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&#8220;The talented and passionate development team at CD Projekt has invested an enormous amount of time and love into The Witcher, resulting in a tremendous game that blends stunning graphics and engaging combat with an extraordinary traditional role-playing experience,&#8221; said Cyril Voiron, Marketing Director, Atari Europe. &#8220;We are excited to reinforce our commitment to delivering the best role-playing games in the world by bringing this highly impressive title to gamers in Europe and Asia and we&#8217;re working towards The Witcher becoming the RPG of 2007.&#8221;
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&#8220;We are delighted to begin a long and mutually beneficial relationship with Atari, a publishing partner that shares our commitment to delivering a top-quality role-playing game,&#8221; said Michal Kicinski, Joint CEO of CD Projekt. &#8220;We are very much looking forward to working with Atari to bring this distinctive fantasy world that we love to a broad audience.&#8221;
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The American publisher is yet to be announced. I for one hope it's <i>not</i> Atari.
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Spotted at: <A HREF="http://www.gildia.com">Nowa Gildia</A>

 

[Admiral Rimjob POOBUM]

The Witcher transcends traditional fantasy role-playing by throwing players into a unique world rife with political intrigue, in which the lines between good and evil are blurred, with players taking the role of Geralt, a legendary monster slayer and master swordfighter with supernatural abilities and reflexes. The Witcher presents a fresh approach to traditional role-playing, blending an expansive, twisting plotline – in which the impact of individual decisions can drastically alter the outcome of the game – and fast-paced combat against a wide variety of foes.

Haven't really been following the game. Is this bullshit or not?

 

[suibhne]

The Witcher transcends traditional fantasy role-playing by throwing players into a unique world rife with political intrigue, in which the lines between good and evil are blurred, with players taking the role of Geralt, a legendary monster slayer and master swordfighter with supernatural abilities and reflexes. The Witcher presents a fresh approach to traditional role-playing, blending an expansive, twisting plotline – in which the impact of individual decisions can drastically alter the outcome of the game – and fast-paced combat against a wide variety of foes.

Haven't really been following the game. Is this bullshit or not?

Hard to know how well everything's implemented, but no, it's not bullshit (with the possible of exception of "drastically" - no idea on that, but they have announced a handful of multiple endings which they say are actually distinct and they've given examples of consequences for different player choices).

 

[sheek]

Does it really matter who the publisher is? Would Atari manage to negatively influence gameplay at this late stage of development?

 

[Halenthal]

Influence it? Atari would kill it. Two patches and that's all you'll get from Atari, whether the devs want to do more or not.

 

[Spazmo]

In other news, Silver Style and The Fall are still seeking a North American publisher, to which I can only say Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha fuck you Carsten.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

I'm not sure why he can't. Their last game sold 400,000 copies or something.

 

[Kraszu]

Influence it? Atari would kill it. Two patches and that's all you'll get from Atari, whether the devs want to do more or not.

Atari is only publishing game, not giving money for it.

 

[Ausir]

Yes, in case of The Witcher the situation is better than in case of e.g. ToEE, since the development itself is funded by CD Projekt, not Atari.

 

[Elwro]

Told ya three days ago, but who would listen?

Anyway, does this mean Atari can tell CD Projekt "The Witcher has to go to the shelves now!" or not?

 

[Deacdo]

Potentially yes, though it depends on the agreement. It also means they can say, "OMG! It's violent! Tone it down so we can get a 12+ rating!"

 

[Curois]

which is very bad in this case. Polish fantasy is much more harsh, adult and ragged than your average american fluffy dragon fantasy. And now the possibility exist that the game can't actually be like that because then it wouldn't get a 12+ rating.

 

[sheek]

If you're a pessimist, yes... it would mean that.

 

[Halenthal]

Influence it? Atari would kill it. Two patches and that's all you'll get from Atari, whether the devs want to do more or not.

Atari is only publishing game, not giving money for it.

The publisher:

authorizes the patches
pays for patches
QAs the patches
releases the patches
has final say over a patch being produced or not

Check out Atari's recent history on games and patches. Look at Master of Orion 3, for example, or even Sid Meier's Pirates!, also.

 

[Elwro]

Atari will market and distribute

Is this the same as "publishing"? I'm pretty sure if CD Projekt want to make a patch, they'll do it - because they fund the project.

 

[Dhruin]

Given that CD Projekt is self-funded and is a publisher themselves, I doubt they would sign a contract with those limitations.

 

[Ladonna]

These guys should start by having an in house ordering system. Mail order like Teudogar, or Digital river download (I say Digital river because you don't need a key everytime you reinstall the game).

Why they keep getting caught up with big publishers who hate decent RPG's is beyond me. Try a smaller mob first, let word of mouth do some work and if theres a clamour, the big boys will be begging for their product.

 

[Awakened_Yeti]

looks like the first Gothic clone is gonna make it to market

 

[tarkin]

I would like more Gothic clones if You ask me.
But can You elaborate on that? How is it a Gothic clone?

Games are called diablo clones because of hack'n'slash combat, "go kill everything that moves" questes to name a few features.
How would that work in Gothic clones? Cool story, fine NPC's, action-oriented combat, living, mature world? If thats the case then i don't mind.

 

[Volourn]

"The publisher:

authorizes the patches
pays for patches
QAs the patches
releases the patches
has final say over a patch being produced or not"

Not neccesarily true. It all depends on the contract between the publisher, and developer.

Just like at BIO and Atari with NWN. Even aftera Atari forced BIO to cancel the PM program, BIO is STILL patching the game. WOWSERS!

So, no, as per usaal a Codexer is retarded.

It's all about the contract. And, remember, Atari is only the distributer in Europe. Who (if anyh) is doing so in NA? What happens if the one doing NA disagrees with Atari? Hmm..

In essence, you don't know what you are talking about. None of us do since we don't know what the contract between the two companies say.

Dumbass.

 

[Awakened_Yeti]

i didnt say it was a bad thing - but it really looks like its "gothic inspired" ... have a look at the feature list, and the screenshots

 

[Calis]

In essence, you don't know what you are talking about. None of us do since we don't know what the contract between the two companies say.

Dumbass.

True, but from a consumer standpoint, that matters exactly zero. The publisher is the one selling you the game. Therefore, the publisher is the one we complain to if the product needs fixing. If the publisher is unable to find a developer that can get a finished product to them in the time allotted, and they still decide to sell said product to me, they are the logical party to complain & whine to. They can't hide behind "but the developer didn't deliver what they promised, in the time they promised!" or "The developer wants me to pay for their patch-making hours! Bastards!" either. They sold me the game, they get to make sure I get my money's worth. How they arrange for this with the developer, is their business. Regardless of developers making patches in their spare time, the track record of a publisher when it comes to supporting a product they sell is a relevant one.

 

[Volourn]

"Therefore, the publisher is the one we complain to if the product needs fixing."

Oh really? You better go read the BIO boards. That would squash the little myth above.

 

[Calis]

Just because people actually are complaining to the developers doesn't mean they're complaining to the right people. I do know that the way I present the consumer/developer/publisher relationship is somewhat utopistic though, but in principle, I stand by my point: the publisher is the one who sold you the game, the publisher is the one you should complain to to get stuff fixed.

 

[Volourn]

Huh? No. The publisher does not sell you the game in most cases. The store does/ The publisher sells the game to the store.