The Console Witcher is Dead, Long Live Witcher 2

[Jason]

Tags: CD Projekt; Witcher, The

Citing unnamed (and possibly imaginary/drunk/high on Robitussin) inside sources, <a href="http://www.gamebanshee.com/news/static/EkupAuuElEaevQKOPt.php" target="blank">GameBanshee</a> is claiming that the rumors of <b>The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf</b> being cancelled are true, but a cross-platform The Witcher 2 is in the works.
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<blockquote>GameBanshee has learned from an inside industry contact that The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf has indeed been cancelled.
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Details are sketchy, but the following facts have been confirmed: after the release of The Witcher, CD Projekt Red took the financial obligation of starting 3 projects simultaneously, a console port of The Witcher, and two more titles based on The Witcher intellectual property, one of which was The Witcher 2.
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As the financial crisis hit, the studio was affected as well, finding itself incapable of managing all three projects and forced to lay off a significant portion of its staff. The third Witcher IP project was cancelled, and its entire crew was let go or left of their own volition. A second round of layoffs followed as The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf was cancelled, including around two dozen people losing their jobs yesterday.
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All funds and manpower have been redirected to a single project, The Witcher 2, which will be a multi-platform title for PC and consoles. </blockquote>
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Spotted at: <A HREF="http://www.gamebanshee.com/">Kharn</A>

 

[Brother None]

Fine, I'll name my source!

It was Robert Boyle.

 

[Jason]

Hmmm, North by Northwest was a pretty good movie so it must be true. Damn you and your Robert Boyle trump card!

 

[aries202]

I still think this is sad as a lot of people did lose their jobs at CD RED Project; not overstretching yourself may be the lesson to learn here, if anything.

Glad we're getting a Witcher 2, though
Sad about the people that were let go

 

[DraQ]

I still think this is sad as a lot of people did lose their jobs at CD RED Project; not overstretching yourself may be the lesson to learn here, if anything.

Yes, that's sad.

Glad we're getting a Witcher 2, though

I hope they incorporate some of the better content from scrapped projects into it. Also, I have enough faith in CDPR, to be willing to buy TW2 without pirating it first or requiring informed opinion from trusted sources.

Its multi-plataform, which means that its going to be massively consolized.

If you like The Witcher, then say goodbye. Its going to get the console treatment.

I doubt it. Poles are not some western braindead faggots, you see. :wink:

 

[Jeff Graw]

Lay off the guys working on an original title to fund the sequel?

 

[Stereotypical Villain]

Multi-platform? I smell biowhorism.

 

[Micmu]

The Witcher 2, which will be a multi-platform title for PC and consoles.

Lalalalalala

 

[Crolug]

IF CD Projekt will survive the crisis at all. Word is they are on the edge of bankruptcy...

 

[Ausir]

Lay off the guys working on an original title to fund the sequel?

They laid off the guys working on the port, not an "original title" to fund the sequel.

 

[Turok]

The best thing they can do now is take the engine of the canceled game and use it for witcher 2. That engine looks much and play better than the aurora.

 

[racofer]

All funds and manpower have been redirected to a single project, The Witcher 2, which will be a multi-platform title for PC and consoles. </blockquote>

It's dead, Jim.

 

[DarkUnderlord]

Interesting they'd dump the console port to focus on the Witcher 2 instead. I'd have thought the console port was further along and wouldn't have been all that far from release. Oh well, at least we'll get something new now rather than another re-hash.

As the financial crisis hit, the studio was affected as well, finding itself incapable of managing all three projects and forced to lay off a significant portion of its staff.

See, now if they hadn't wasted all that money on the Enhanced Edition... I'm guessing they intended to fund the projects through their other game sales and they've dropped off too much. Though three Witcher projects seems a bit much too chew on all at once.

What was the third Witcher title anyway, a DS port?

 

[Bloodeyes]

I don't see why everyone's afraid of The Witcher 2 being consolised, the original was already pretty damn "consolised". I don't think it would need to change much to be released on consoles. It seems a little odd that TW 2 is coming to consoles before TW though, I'm guessing it will be call The Witcher: something rather than TW 2 so it's less obviously a sequal. It's how I'd do it anyway.

 

[Azrael the cat]

Hmmm...I'd rather Witcher 2 than a Witcher:console, but I'd rather that they keep their console ports as separate products to their PC arpgs. I actually appreciated the fact that they were milking the console cash cow as a SEPARATE product - gave me hope that they might recognise that console and PC markets are very different beasts. I'd have nothing against a simplified (FURTHER simplified) system for console-tards, while keeping the PC edition tuned to PCs.

Having said that, the original - whilst I loved it - was pretty consoley to begin with. Really, there's nothing that couldn't be kept in a console port, except maybe to dumb down the potion-making (though consoleys who played Oblivion put up with less intuitive crafting/shite (don't know how to do strike-through text) than that). My main worry is that we'll get a shitty console interface, or (most worryingly) they'll ditch the nice broad camera angle for some KoToR-style 'sit-on-Gerald's-ass-and-can't-see-squat' camera-work'. Seriously, I think that the guy who invented the console-rpg camera angle must have been the same guy who thought that 5-minute close-ups of the grinding genatalia, shot so that the guy's scrotum takes up 50% of the screen, ought to be the standard in hetero-porn. I've bent that way on occasion, and even I find that fucking disgusting. Not quite so bad as the NWN2/Kotor camera-angles though:-(

 

[Volourn]

Aren't ports relatively cheap? Why would they dump a game that would likely have made them a chunk of change. Morons.

And, how can they be on the brink of bankruptcy? Last I hear is that the TW sold like a billion copies. L0L

 

[Jim Cojones]

And, how can they be on the brink of bankruptcy? Last I hear is that the TW sold like a billion copies. L0L

Enough to balance the cost of two cancelled projects? Or the loss they generate as a publisher?

 

[Forest Dweller]

What was the third Witcher title anyway, a DS port?

I think it was mentioned that it was an original title. Probably a spin-off in the Witcher universe like New Vegas or something.

 

[Dionysus]

Aren't ports relatively cheap? Why would they dump a game that would likely have made them a chunk of change. Morons.

It wasn't a straightforward port AFAIK. I believe it involved a totally new engine and combat system. If they are having financial problems, then it's probably smart to get behind the new multiplatform game rather than put everything into a console gambit.

And I doubt the game will be affected by multiplatform development. The Witcher was basically a console game anyway.

 

[Turok]

Aren't ports relatively cheap? Why would they dump a game that would likely have made them a chunk of change. Morons.

And, how can they be on the brink of bankruptcy? Last I hear is that the TW sold like a billion copies. L0L

Was not a port, they where using a new engine, the figth system change a lot and they begin to make this game as a new game.

 

[Volourn]

It's a port. Fuck, the lies.

 

[Ausir]

It was mostly a port, but using a new engine, new art assets, new combat system. The original game was simply too old at this point to do a straightforward port, so they pretty much remade the game from scratch.

Michal Madej, the lead designer who left CDP last year, said recently in an interview:

It was excellent decision, if not a late one. Console version should be published no more than a year after original PC release in my opinion.

 

[yarpen]

Aren't ports relatively cheap?

They may be, if they're straight ports, which wasn't the case. Also, game wasn't really very "console" friendly, *lots* of content.
[BTW, you can change my avatar already, I left CDPR some time ago]

 

[BearBomber]

IF CD Projekt will survive the crisis at all. Word is they are on the edge of bankruptcy...

>>>It that's true that dicks from Russia will take over our game market!

 

[Midwinter]

This is really bad news. If this means we'll get a big, bloated interface with less room for text (The Witcher had lots of cool lore) and consolish combat controls, The End. The over the shoulder camera and combat made the game unplayable for me. I also pray they won't adjust (infantilize) the story and tone for the console market. I really appreciated the fact that CDP developed the game seperate for pc and console.

Well, I'm not getting my hopes up...