The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - An Open Letter

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This announcement saddens me, for the following reasons:
- Big problems with development. Neogaf leaker was most probably correct (which shouldn't surprise people), the delay only solidifies it further.
- Crunch time prolonged. This is especially saddening, as devs (especially those in lower positions) will work crazy hours (which they shouldn't), and give up extra 3 months of their personal lives for this TW3 beast. This practice is disgusting, imo.
- I dislike corporate management & marketing departments. CDPR here is not excluded, it seems. Big guys decide on deadlines, estimate shit incorrectly, push for fancy PR talk years before there is even a partially working product, promise things that do not currently exist.

This delay validates our concerns regarding TW3 quality. Up until now I was only looking at this thing from the graphic fidelity POV, but now I'm afraid bigger issues seem to be hiding behind the big PR wall.

Anyway - good luck CDPR. I hope all goes well and released game will be hailed and praised. I'll wait.
 
Are you familiar with the development of Gothic 3 and PB? Because CDPR is not PB or Jowood/Deep Silver.

I am quite familiar with Gothic 3's development and PB and I also know that PB isn't CDPR (how shocking...). So will you tell me those circumstances now or not? ;)
 
I'm only comparing them to make clear that we don't have any actual information in the case of Witcher 3 (different to e.g. Original Sin). And I never said that you believe every word of this open letter. I generally said that people shouldn't follow this attitude of just believing something because somebody says. Staying critical is often way more healthy.
"All you say is just that you trust every word CDPR say in their open letter" Ok then...

Once again, you're comparing a kickstarter game to a game that isn't one. CDPR probably did tell what the issues are to Investors and maybe Investors didn't want that released. The thing with Kickstarter is that the public are the investors and games made by Kickstarter have an obligation to tell their backers details. Divinity told their investors and most likely CDPR told theirs too.
 
I'm still concerned.
I mean, rushing it out the door certainly isn't a good thing, but the fact that we're seeing multiple delays certainly isn't a good sign either as it suggests shoddy organization.
If it was a good thing, Duke Nukem Forever would've been the best game in existence.

This for a million times.
 
In the last 10 years all the games I followed and were overhyped turned mediocre. I hope TW3 to be the first game to break the curse. I wouldn't be surprised a few months from now they push the date for fall 2015. It's an ambitious project and three extra months are not that much time.

Kinda agree with that. 12 weeks isn't long at all. Fall is always a time for huge releases...and this is turning into a huge release.
 
Well, as I see it videogames are a form of art....

So I'll tell you a little story about Gaudi, he, in 1915 began the planning for the construction of La sagrada Familia possibly the mos beautiful cathedral in the world...
There were hundreds of delays during the construction and when asked he always said the same: "My boss has no rush for me to finish it"...
A man with lots of sarcasm in him if you ask me (as he meant God when refering to his boss)

So there is no need to rush an artist when he/she is at his best, even more if we modern patrons don't spend more than 40/50 bucks for copies of pieces of art such as this.

By the way La Sagrada Familia is going to be finished aroun 2030, haha...

This maybe I'm not really troubled when a delayed is announced. I'm surrounded by them
 
Well Feb 24th is my Birthday...... damn.

I've died a little......

Still a more polished game is far better so........ apology accepted CDPR.

I've used this gif before..... but someone has to change the date!



We all need a group hug I think! (Starts sobbing) I..... just..... love.... you guys so much!
 
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Well, what wouldn't be marketing at this point? Releasing game content? A demo? Those are all marketing...intended for us, their market.

Any time they talk to us, it's marketing, right?.
Yes and no. While pretty much everything is marketing before the final product gets released there is still a difference between showing actual content of the game and just telling us that it is that way imo.

The more we see from the actual game the more we could make up our own mind about it. Of course that's still up to manipulation and in no way delivers a full picture but little solid information (as seen with my own eye as to say) is still better than no information. So maybe marketing is perhaps the wrong word here. It's more about the "value" of information...

And you can't really compare a car to a video game here. A car is primarily a functional product. It's basic premise is to move people. That's bascially the sum of all its parts. And when Ford announces a car with a specific feature set you can be pretty sure that it will see the light of day like that one day. Maybe it's market entry will be delayed but that doesn't change that you can be pretty sure that the car will be exactly how it looked in the catalogue and that it will stick to all the numbers promised there. With a video game it's a lot different. A video game announced two years ago can look, feel and play significantly different from the final product. Even another beta could play significantly different from the one before. Feature can get cut in literally the last second before release. That would never happen to cars or at least only in very rare occasion in some very special circumstances. So the point is that "security" of getting what you waited for and what people promised you is much ,much higher for a product like a car than for a video game...
 
"All you say is just that you trust every word CDPR say in their open letter" Ok then...

Once again, you're comparing a kickstarter game to a game that isn't one. CDPR probably did tell what the issues are to Investors and maybe Investors didn't want that released. The thing with Kickstarter is that the public are the investors and games made by Kickstarter have an obligation to tell their backers details. Divinity told their investors and most likely CDPR told theirs too.

You still don't get my point or the point of the comparison. It's just about that we as consumers can't do anything right now than reading what they write and we could either believe it or not. Giving the circumstances I'm tending to a mixed bag. I respect them for their previous games and I think they care about their game but my experience tells me that this is at least worrying. And the longer they wait with delivering some proof that what they say is true the more this feeling will grow. As I consumer I don't really care about their internal investor policies, you know. I care about their product.
 
You still don't get my point or the point of the comparison. It's just about that we as consumers can't do anything right now than reading what they write and we could either believe it or not. Giving the circumstances I'm tending to a mixed bag. I respect them for their previous games and I think they care about their game but my experience tells me that this is at least worrying. And the longer they wait with delivering some proof that what they say is true the more this feeling will grow. As I consumer I don't really care about their internal investor policies, you know. I care about their product.
Alright, fair enough.
 
. So maybe marketing is perhaps the wrong word here. It's more about the "value" of information...

Sure and there isn't a lot here. I'm not too sure how much gameplay people want to see to get this value of information, though - I've already seen too much. Spoilers! What exactly are you looking for? For CDPR to give much-hated game journalists 20 minutes of unscripted fun?

That would never happen to cars or at least only in very rare occasion in some very special circumstances. So the point is that "security" of getting what you waited for and what people promised you is much ,much higher for a product like a car than for a video game...

Oohh..not if you know car fanatics. SOme of these people get really excited by early data releases only to be crestfallen when real world numbers turn out drastically different. That tends to be the higher end market, of course, not your family sedan. But Car and Driver makes a good living following all these details.

I've seen similar issues and complaints in all sort of fields though. Movies. Books. Computer Hardware. Rifles. I have a buddy with a thing for Nike shoes...

Anyway.

The frightening thing, and I think you hit upon it nicely, is that a video game is SUCH a complex creation. Ideas made real...and it's SO EASY to screw the pooch by missing or overpromising things. This can and does happen in other fields, of course, we're hardly alone. And, as you say, unlike most fields, we get to see things and hope for them....and then have them chopped. Stealth in Wasteland 2, for example.

It's also true that some people get really, really excited if one or two features are gone or not up to snuff and that "ruins" the whole experience. And there are a LOT of things that could be up for the chop over the next few months.

It really does come down to faith, in many ways. And no one gets angrier than the faithful who feel betrayed. Whether they were or not.
 
And what exactly is the difference to Witcher 3? Anything you list here could be said for this game as well. Witcher 3 had a massive list of feature from the beginning with a quite (over)ambitious scope of basically making the "uber RPG" nobody was able to do before...

Well, we do at least know that W3 will be released. But we have no idea in which state it will be at that time and on how much promises CDPR really delivered...

The scope has been the same since the project was announced. The scope of Star Citizen keeps increasing, and basically is more than one game in one(possible ground/ship to ship combat, more ships added, MORE MORE MORE). They both have a lot of listed features, but the scope on Witcher 3 has stayed the same (Open world RPG). Hopefully they can match it, and if not, they failed to live up to the scope. It's a little different from creep though.
 
So they should release a broken game just because they promised there would be no more delays?
Are you serious?

Would you be so kind to not put words in my mouth because that's NOT what I said.

I said that if you promise something and you fail to deliver, your future promises shouldn't be regarded as much trustworthy and also SOMETHING and I don't know what caused second delay.If you come out with plan for dlcs,promise to all major gaming outles and fans that there will be no more delays and all of the sudden you delay it for 3 more months then SOMETHING I repeat caused it.

Also Bioware promised and even showed and marketed bunch of things for DA:I and they are not in the game (one of them is keep customization,not for skyhold but for other) and now with their track record (and their BS how DA:I is for PC gamers and they even made entire video about it) I don't believe them anything.

It's not about delay for fuck's sake cause as long as I'm concerned if game needs 1 year more than fine.It's about trust,promises and whether now ANYTHING they said about game should be believed.

I love CD Projekt RED as next guy but don't mix that with mindless fanboyism.I'm raising questions (I'm not alone btw.) and so far devs have yet to make single reply and that also speaks something cause they usually would reassure us and make further clarifications.

We are waiting.....(and yes I'm entitled to this opinion as much as bunch of you will attack me with typical phrase - you're not entitled....how would you feel if I said to you that you're not entitled to tell anyone whether he/she is or isn't entitled to demand something).
 
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Dear Gamers,
Ever since we started working on The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, we knew it would be an ambitious game. We wanted, and still aim, to give you an incredible experience, an epic adventure in a vast, completely open fantasy universe.

The sheer size and complexity of The Witcher, key features of the title, have had a decisive impact on production. Now, nearing the end of our work, we see many details that need to be corrected. When we release the most important game in our studio’s history, we must be absolutely sure that we did everything we could to limit any bugs to a level that will allow you to enjoy the game thoroughly.

With this in mind, we took another look at current workloads and what they mean for the team. Even though everyone is working at full speed, we concluded that we need another 12 weeks, so we are shifting the release date of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt to May 19th, 2015.

We owe you an apology. We set the release date too hastily. It’s a hard lesson, one to take to heart for the future. We know what we want to do to make Wild Hunt one of the best RPGs you will ever play. And we continue to work hard to achieve just that. So, we apologize and ask for your trust.

Thank you for the all support you show us on a daily basis. We truly do appreciate it. It has fueled us in our passion since the start and will continue to do so.

The Board of CD PROJEKT SA

Looks like we pissed them off under "downgrade thread"
 
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