Company News More Witcher Gossip - Everyone blames everyone else

[DarkUnderlord]

Tags: CD Projekt; Witcher, The

First up, the cancellation of the Witcher Console Edition has been confirmed. <a href="http://www.vg247.com/2009/04/29/confirmed-witcher-suspended-thanks-to-cd-projekt-failing-to-meet-payment/">By the guys who were out-sourced to do it and they blame CD Projekt</a>:
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<blockquote>“After having a payment being broken by CD Projekt - a big payment that we were supposed to receive - and after having committed to the project but not being covered financially on it for three months, I hold no choice but to put the team on hold,” said Widescreen boss Olivier Masclef in a phone interview this afternoon.
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Masclef also said CD Projekt’s deal with Atari was out of kilter with Widescreen’s agreement with CD Projekt in terms of milestones.
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The suspension came after a meeting between the three parties, called by Masclef.</blockquote>
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If you read <a href="http://www.vg247.com/2009/04/29/confirmed-witcher-suspended-thanks-to-cd-projekt-failing-to-meet-payment/comment-page-1/#comment-67964">down in the comments though you'll find this gem</a>:
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<blockquote>It is sad that we cannot talk with WSG in normal business way, but communicate through media. It is absolutely not our style of making business, and we answer here as we feel forced to do this to clarify the unclear information:
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1. All payments were done on time according to milestone plan.
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2. Truth is that payments were later than originally planned but this was solely due to delays in production. The delays were growing in the project due to WSG continued to miss the deadlines.
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3. Delays and risks of further development by WSG were unacceptable by CD Projekt (this happened even though CDProjekt RED was constantly increasing main team involvement to help in the production). The most important fact is that development process didn’t make planned release date possible and moreover propositions of the new release date were changing few times. Besides the schedule, technical incapability created a risk of missing planned quality which is absolutely unacceptable. And this brought an end in our cooperation with WSG.
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4. Currently the works are on hold. We are evaluating all possible options to continue the production.
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Making this decision was extremely difficult and sad as we know that many people are waiting for this project. We do our best to find a way out of this situation. But final decision must guarantee high quality of the product, otherwise we won’t continue the production no matter what consequences it will bring. We are committed to the highest quality of all our games, and this is unnegotiable for us.
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So no matter what the final decision or solution we will find, please be sure that it will be the best for the game quality, and satisfaction of gamers, which is the most important for us!
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Michal Kicinski
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Joint CEO
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CD Projekt Group</blockquote>
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If you want further reading, there's a Polish interview (English translation at the bottom) <a href="http://polygamia.pl/Polygamia/1,95338,6556537,Ekskluzywny_wywiad_z_Michalem_Kicinskim.html">over on Polygamia</a>:
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<blockquote><b>From what you're saying, I gather that WSG is hugely responsible for this situation. In spite of that, the company accuses you of not paying and blames you for suspending the project.. Can you explain what happened, from your perspective?</b>
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WSG behaves in a way that is far from our business ethics. But their accusations are serious and, what is most important, untrue that is why we published a correction under the article on vg247.com. We paid for all the milestones on time, just after they had been accepted. Of course, it was later than planned, because the milestones were presented for acceptance with delays and they were inconsistent with the specification.</blockquote>
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Awesome. This must be one of those "moral grey areas" that makes The Witcher so great. Which faction will you side with?
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Thanks to <b>Dandelion</b>, <a href="http://www.gamebanshee.com">GameBanshee</a> & <a href="http://www.rpgwatch.com">RPGWatch</a>.

 

[racofer]

 

[Stereotypical Villain]

"I rarely see witchers but still don't stare. Want to see my stock?"

 

[Deleted member 7219]

Awesome. This must be one of those "moral grey areas" that makes The Witcher so great. Which faction will you side with?

CDProjekt, because Atari keep pissing me off and Widescreen Games have a horribly generic name.

 

[Turok]

i have a widescreen screen. So i am with then.

 

[oldschool]

I don't like this "moral gray areas" business. Which one is light side please?

 

[Turok]

I don't like this "moral gray areas" business. Which one is light side please?

You are too simplistic.

 

[POOPERSCOOPER]

So they paid on time but they didn't? I don't get what he is saying.

 

[Stereotypical Villain]

So they paid on time but they didn't? I don't get what he is saying.

"Wise dwarves are rare."

 

[Turok]

What i understand is they pay only when they see the milestone done, looks like widescreen miss some of then so the pays get delayed until was done.

You like my english???

Send me a pm and tell me how much you like it.

 

[Chefe]

WSG were handling the development of American Hare, so I can see where CDP is coming from.

 

[Satori (original)]

I don't like this "moral gray areas" business. Which one is light side please?

Widescreen, CD Projekt broke contract.

 

[fizzelopeguss]

Polacks are not trustworthy.

 

[Lurkar]

When the news first came out, CD's first comment was "Yeah, it sucks, but this kinda thing happens."

Widescreen's first response was "THEY DID IT THEY DID IT THEY DID IT IT'S NOT OUR FAULT IT'S NOT OUT FAULT IT'S NOT OUR FAULT."

Gee, who sounds guilty?

 

[Forest Dweller]

See how many work at one versus the other. Then you'll have your answer.

 

[Pseudofool]

A play: CDP v Widescreen

::aims spooge:::

::misses::


Narrator: Now, who is who?

(Audience hmmms).

 

[Crolug]

I will never take French side...

 

[Shannow]

“After having a payment being broken by CD Projekt - a big payment that we were supposed to receive - and after having committed to the project but not being covered financially on it for three months, I hold no choice but to put the team on hold,” said Widescreen boss Olivier Masclef in a phone interview this afternoon.

I don't see any "we provided the milestones on time."

 

[NiM82]

Fucking frogs were too busy striking to get any work done, probably.

 

[muds_animal_friend]

I will side with WSG if they give me 50 gold pieces. I am a lawful-evil gamer.

 

[BearBomber]

I'd like an option to fight bo sides so I can sell their equipment.

 

[mondblut]

Well, if they missed a milestone for 3 months... We kinda used to do the same, but we had decency not to whine we aren't getting paid.

 

[dragonfk]

Ofcourse I am with CDP :true patriot: .



Though in all seriousness for now it seems that WSG are to be blamed. Ill bold: for now it seems. But will see how will the drama progress. Seriously WSG aint no Troika to be forgiven for missing their milestones.

 

[MetalCraze]

Which faction will you side with?

Does it matter? In the next chapter we will still get another piece of shit game from CDP no matter the choice.

But come to think on it - I should side with CDP. I mean - the guys always deliver on time - they've been making TW for only 4 years and when they finally released it after no missed milestones we got an awesome game full of outstanding bugs, groundbreaking leaks and unequaled loading times. How much more trustworthy can you get? WSG/Atari/gamers who rate TW below 10/10 suck/at fault/etc.

 

[don_tomaso]

“After having a payment being broken by CD Projekt - a big payment that we were supposed to receive - and after having committed to the project but not being covered financially on it for three months, I hold no choice but to put the team on hold,” said Widescreen boss Olivier Masclef in a phone interview this afternoon.

I don't see any "we provided the milestones on time."

Maybe this will help:

"We paid for all the milestones on time, just after they had been accepted. Of course, it was later than planned, because the milestones were presented for acceptance with delays and they were inconsistent with the specification."

 

[Brother None]

When the news first came out, CD's first comment was "Yeah, it sucks, but this kinda thing happens."

Widescreen's first response was "THEY DID IT THEY DID IT THEY DID IT IT'S NOT OUR FAULT IT'S NOT OUT FAULT IT'S NOT OUR FAULT."

Wrong-o.

When the news first broke, CD projekt's comment was "no comment". They said nothing until Widescreen issued their press release, basically stating "we're not getting paid and we're not working for nothing. Fuck you." to which CDP replied "No fuck you, you're not getting paid because you don't work and we're not paying for nothing."

Almost seems a bit of a chicken and the egg.

If you believe either company straight-out you're a fool. They both have too many reasons to lie.

I'm not too familiar with Widescreen and it's possible they were behind on the promised state of the game. But I do know that the way CDP is trying to paint the situation, as the cancellation being WSG's fault and CDP not being in any kind of trouble at all, is false. They're in heaps of trouble and are certainly partially responsible for the mismanagement of the three Witcher projects...heck, I wouldn't be surprised to learn they stopped paying WSG because they just didn't have the money (the devs at WSG aren't the only ones who suddenly stopped getting paid, y'know?).

I find it highly amusing that so many are willing to believe CDP on their pretty blue eyes. Good for them, tho', if CDP manages to make it so that everyone believes it's all WSG's fault they'll have less trouble finding the investors they so desperately need. If true word gets out about how much shit they're in, then the shit'll just get deeper.