Message I have just sent to Marcin Iwinski
Hi, Witcher community. Last few days I spent by preparing an article regarding this issue which I sent to Marcin Iwinski few moments ago. And I know that I'm kind of late but I would like to share my stance with you as well.
Almost four years ago, I told myself there is almost no one who spread The Witcher love with other people from Czech Republic and Slovakia. And thus my work for The Witcher community began.
From a little community supporting The Witcher 2 before its release which almost nobody knew about to the community with the biggest active fanbase in The Witcher history. Now even some huge gaming editors know about my fanpage, I maintain stable partnership with one of the biggest Slovak gaming website and a lot of small communities and websites is interested in support from my side. I’m constantly receiving huge amount of positive feedback. It’s mostly caused because of my dedication – Witcher is part of my life, I spent most of my free time by collecting info and materials from your games and posting it on my fanpage, but not only that – I care about my fans, try to respond on every question or request, I want to be friendly, helpful and fair.
As a fan who is constantly supporting not only your games, but as well you as a company – I often write an article fully focused on how great CD Projekt RED is, not many fansites about other games are doing it – I think I have a benefit to have right to criticize your decision for once. Yes, I write you because of adding physical content to the Xbox One’s Collector’s edition of The Witcher 3: Wild hunt.
DID YOU ACTUALLY FULFILL YOUR PROMISES?
Unfortunately, I don’t think so. In the article made by Eurogamer, there was not specifically mentioned which kind of exclusive platform content you had in mind – though you probably meant only in-game content which I respect and I don’t want to be overly nitpicky. But there is still this “we treat all gamers equally”. When I buy a game, especially a boxed collector’s edition, part of this product isn’t only software which I install to my computer/console, but also a box and other things stored in it. Let’s say I’m a PS4 player (though I’m not, just mentioning examples). I will receive my collector’s edition which cost me exactly as much as Xbox One’s Collector’s edition. Though my box doesn’t contain two items which Xbox’s CE contains. My experience from received product is therefore a bit smaller in comparison to the other platform, but the price is the same. If my CE was priced lower, I would say that this kind of treatment is probably fair (still not completely equal though). However, nothing like this did happen (or just yet didn’t).
WHY DID IT HAPPEN?
As we could notice from the beginning of TW3’s marketing campaign, third installment of videogame story about Geralt of Rivia is more Xbox-oriented. Standalone there is nothing bad about it. As far as I know, Microsoft team was very friendly to you and they have helped you with the development of the game for Xbox One since its beginning. That’s great thing and I assume that Sony did worse job regarding this. I also assume that more important factor has been your appearance on Microsoft’s E3 conference twice in a row. If your appearance there was allowed only in exchange of something from you, then I dare to say that you lost a part of your own sovereignty and independency and you probably shouldn’t show your game on Microsoft’s stage. If you have done this just because you see in Xbox One and Microsoft as a partner the biggest area for growth, then it’s maybe worth considering if this move was worth this PR mess and potentially breaking one of your principles (which is just a matter of point of view). I truly believe that The Witcher 3 would earn enough for the future titles even without those exclusivities. But I will speak about it a little bit later. Additionally, I know nothing about your financial balances so those are only my assumptions based on known facts and my estimations.
WHAT EXACTLY IS THE FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEM?
When I pre-ordered my collector’s edition back in June, conditions for everyone were equal. As a collector I was happy because it was the richest edition of The Witcher 3 I could have get. However, situation has changed after two months. Now my collector’s edition is significantly devalued in comparison to Xbox’s CE. The problem is, my possibilities of solving this situation are limited – I can express my disagreement by canceling pre-order and sticking with basic retail/digital edition or leave it as it is. I don’t like the first option and the second one is also far from being ideal. Because CE’s are (at least in our region) sold out for all three platforms, as a PC/PS4 gamer I don’t have a chance to obtain this leather map and two decks of cards. My possibilities have been limited. As I collector, I have not been treated equally, although there was an option of equal treatment.
HOW SHOULD HAVE YOU SOLVED IT?
Either leave it how it was, or ideally add these exclusive physical items to other CE’s. However, I’m not a fool and I know that your agreement with Microsoft most likely don’t allow anything like that. So I’m going to calculate with the option that your presence on Microsoft’s conference was necessary because of TW3’s marketing, though I don’t believe it. I stand by the opinion that you could have come up with other exclusive which would not collide with the interest of PC/PS4 gamers. How about release of special limited Witcher themed Xbox One with bundled The Witcher 3? I’m sure something like that would be successful, especially in Europe where it could raise interest about both TW and Xbox. But maybe this was stupid idea, after all I’m not a marketing idea generator. There is even a possibility that there was no other option than giving Xbox version better CE. I assume that a deal about something like that was not made in past couple of days so it would be fairer if you announced XO’s CE being richer from the beginning. As a PC player, I would more likely grab CE for Xbox One and install the game on my computer from GOG. However, I cannot do this now.
HOW SHOULD YOU FACE THIS SITUATION NOW?
Somehow. I’m afraid that your official statement didn’t solve the problem entirely. If you pass this situation in silence, people will soon stop complaining about it but they will remember it. It’s by far not only about two decks of cards and leather map. It’s a moral problem, it’s about your principles, and trust of some of your long-term fans is in a danger. If you lose it, you will lose a huge part of what kept you alive in your hard times. In times when fans were your only support and big partners were not interested in CD Projekt RED because it was not profitable enough.
Now, I would like to mention some of the often arguments supporting your decision and try to question their correctness.
- “Who cares about cards, game is the only important thing”
Yes, the game itself is absolutely the most important thing. But I didn’t pay almost 4 times more just for DVDs with game on it. I’m The Witcher freak willing to pay for the best edition. Gwent is just the thing I would definitely play if it was available to me. And I don’t calculate with eBay or other places because it is not an official way to get these items.
- “Microsoft paid for this physical content so what’s the problem?”
The final word had always the publisher and this is CD Projekt RED worldwide in case of The Witcher 3. The problem is, you don’t deliver the product for all platforms with the same physical content, but you deliver it with the same price – this is the only thing which is eventually important for gamers. When I buy a console/computer, I don’t buy some negotiating skills of Sony/Microsoft/anyone else with it, I buy only a piece of hardware and with exact specifications and its software equipment. We were ensured (and I trust it) that this is not going to happen, but what if any platform holder pays for exclusive DLC? He paid for it, so is it alright? We will agree that it’s not. But theoretically there is not a big difference between those two examples.
- “Retailers all around the world offer physical exclusive content and nobody cares!”
Well, I care but I don’t think it’s equally large problem. We must distinguish developer/publisher (same company in your example) and retailer. Developer’s goal should be delivering the best possible game which will ideally successfully compete with other games in terms of quality/fun/any other value. If the developer delivers his product to more than one platform, his goal should be to bring the best experience across all of those platforms and ideally make no difference between values of each versions. Retailers, on the other hand, have more or less similar offer of products and their only way to compete other retailers is to offer better prices/services/exclusive content (you can get for example hand-painted mug if retailer wants to convince you this way to buy from him!). So yeah, CDPR cooperate with some of the retailers which are capable of negotiation about additional physical content. This also brings the inequality but this time it does not limit any platform – everyone can choose retailer which he will buy from without the need of platform switching. It’s true that there can be a problem with the shipment of the game if you choose a retailer from the other part of the globe, but this is mostly doable and it’s not that costly as switching to other platform or even buying two versions of the game. There is also an option to buy Xbox One’s CE plus base boxed PC/PS4 version, use this base version to run the game so you have full-fledged PC/PS4 CE and then you can sell the base Xbox version from CE. But I’m skipping this option because it’s not a standard approach plus XO’s CE is already sold out.
- “And what about Steam and GOG and their exclusive PC content?”
Steam and GOG offer exclusive digital content because given platform (PC) allows that. You can hardly browse through PDF artbook or print paper toys on console. Speaking about competition between Steam and GOG within one platform, the situation is even easier for customers than in case of retailers described above – every market had different prices (not only their height, but even if they are regional or worldwide) and it’s up to every PC player to decide which version with which exclusive content (doable only on his platform) he will buy – he can even cancel his current preorder and order somewhere else anytime he wants – there is always enough of digital versions of the game. If different console markets would offer different additional content specific for their console, for example online play subscription, avatars, console stickers (whatever, I suggest stupid things now), I would totally not care.
- “PC gets higher graphic options, modding tools or discount for owners of previous games so what’s the problem with Xbox getting cards?”
Again, this is the problem of possibilities and limitations of each platform. It’s right and admirable that you treat every platform equally in terms of the game itself – in this case it does not mean that the game looks the same on PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4, but that you try to fairly push all those platforms to their limits. And thus PC version will get higher graphic options and modding tools because this platform allows it, but Xbox version will receive support for Kinect and SmartGlass and PS4 will receive special use of its gamepad, because these platforms allows those features for change. This approach cannot be more appropriate. The same way, PC players will get W3 discount on GOG or Steam if they own previous games. I think that loyalty discount is a great thing but it’s hardly possible on consoles – there is no W1/W2 on PS4/XO (yeah, right, The Witcher 2 has been released on Xbox 360 but I’m not sure if loyalty discount is technically possible in this case). In contrast to those examples, there is no limitation of PC/PS4 platforms which would make obtaining cards and leather map impossible for owners of Collector’s edition on those platforms.
- It’s correct that CD Projekt RED wants to repay a favor for Microsoft’s propagation of the game!
Yes, it’s correct to repay a favor. But it’s not correct to repay a favor by devaluating of most collector’s CE. Actually, theoretically spoken, you repay a favor by releasing the game on Xbox One – this means profit for Microsoft. This is how I imagine the whole thing – platform holders should selflessly help developers who make games for their platforms – these games automatically means profit for them. In your beginnings, you were purely PC studio and it were PC players, mostly from Europe, who supported you from the start and kept you alive. Witcher PC community did maximum for a propagation of the game. In return, you treated us absolutely exceptionally, we have received many bonuses and Enhanced editions for both games. Though I would never want to be treated better way than console players. Anyone who wants to punish other gamers because they are using other platform (whenever it’s elitist player or platform holder) is not a human with good intentions – and now I’m speaking about the whole gaming industry. I was just a little sad and disappointed by how enthusiastically (“how awesome is that?) you spoke about an exclusivity for Xbox One Collector’s edition.
- “Choose one – they will have not enough money for making more games or you will survive exclusive cards”
I must admit one thing – I don’t see into your financial balance. But I dare to say that even without this exclusivity The Witcher 3 would be huge hit which would pay for development of upcoming games without any problem. And I don’t think it’s because of two presences on Microsoft’s conference or support from any giant software company. I think it would huge hit because of your own marketing, fans who spread the game further by their passion, by a big part even media which seem to be blown away from W3 in contrast to W1/W2 which they underestimated in my eyes. Plus it will be the game itself which will guarantee its success because of exciting news which make the game more attractive for both long-term fans and newcomers. And last but not least, it’s your unique approach to fans – it has always helped you to sell your games and will do the same in the future. I also want to say that it’s not only about money – yes, certain amount of money is always necessary for making great AAA game but from some point more money doesn’t mean better game at all – and I believe you reached that point. Look at The Witcher 1 – look how awesome game was created by small studio in bad conditions and with poor resources and technology. It’s sure that now you need more money to pay more people and to live in better conditions etc., but I think it’s not such a problem. After all, passion and love are the most important values necessary for creating a masterpiece. We can everyday see studios swimming in money but eventually sinking in it – because they don’t make games with true love and they sold their souls – because they are not like you.
- “CDPR didn’t cheat anyone, you will get exactly what did you pay for.”
It’s absolutely true. But we are not in court, of course that you didn’t break any law, I indeed will receive exactly what I paid for. I think that from the text above it’s clear that this is matter of fairness and equality.
- “Collector’s edition of The Witcher 1 was regionally differentiated, why you not rage because of it?”
You were in completely different situation in times before release of TW1. The Witcher has not been known in the whole world and you were a company with insufficient worldwide influence. It was probably the best possible decision to make different CE’s so they could cover completely different demand in that times. Today, both you and your games are worldwide and it’s not necessary to differentiate the content because there is demand for it almost in the whole world.
- “They could have include exclusive DLCs which would be much worse!”
I cannot agree more. You had many possibilities how to solve this problem worse and just a few how to solve it better. I’m writing this because of the better variants but it doesn’t mean that I forgot the good things. I’m more than happy that the game itself will be identical content-wise on every single platform. It’s something unusual in these times. The Witcher 2 had problems with DLCs and DRM which was worse than this – but you solved it perfectly back then. The Witcher 3 has no DRM and pre-order DLCs and I truly respect you because of that. I just didn’t expect that the problem will move from exclusive in-game content to exclusive physical content – which is smaller problem but still a problem.
FOR UPSET FANS
The kind of discussion which unleashed here on forum is inappropriate, terrible and definitely not mature. Insulting and hating other people and CD Projekt RED is not a way to solve the problem. If you want developers to treat you right, you should also treat them right. Come on, we all (at least I hope so) share The Witcher love so please behave rationally. Comparing CDPR to BioWare/EA/whoever else is just wrong and incorrect. They don’t deserve it.
LAST FEW WORDS
I still deeply admire and respect you. I tried to express my criticism in constructive and complex way which will not hurt you – I hope my several-days effort was successful. From me, this was also a warning for the future events. I’m still going to support you and work for The Witcher community if you stay as awesome as you have always been – I could not do anything like this for any other developer, because they are just not worth it. But this work is going to be fulfilling only when I will be honest and thus expressing even my negative feelings. I think your announcement was not right and it could have been solved better and fairer. And remember that the true friend is who directly tells you what he truly thinks, not slander you behind the corner.
PS: The Witcher 3 looks absolutely gorgeous. No other game have such stunning mood, music and dialogues causing huge emotions. It all works great together and as a whole the game crush all similar games – comparing to The Witcher they look like a dull spiritless games. I cannot express how much I’m looking forward to the last part of Geralt’s story. I’m sure it’s going to be the game which combine the best from both previous games, improve on it and add new exciting features. It’s going to be a game of my dreams.
PPS: This summer I finally personally met two friends which I know because of The Witcher games. WITCHER IS LOVE. WITCHER IS LIFE. And CD Projekt RED is an exceptional life-giver. Please, stay the way you are. Stay the best.
