Announcing Gwent and bolstering Xbox One Collector’s Edition of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

[ShenGAME]

Huh ? The game will be the same across all platforms . The only thing being discussed here is the physical content ie the addition of a cloth map and a deck of cards in the collector`s editions .

Exactly this. Could people now please calm down? The major parts of the CE are also the same across the platforms -and- the game stays the same no matter what edition you are going to buy.

 

[Warlegend]

Maybe we can finally start talking about gwent in the game itself. ^^ I'm pretty curious how the card collecting will be implemented.

Pretty excited for this feature, as it reminds me of my Pokemon-Card "Addiction" or other collecting-madness in childhood

 

[Whispers_of_Winter]

First I'd like to say that the most important content of any edition is the game itself.
But to be honest the ONLY reason I didn't pre-order a physical collector's edition for PC was the lack of cards (even before they announced there would be some in the XBox CE).

EDIT: Well, just ordered the CE for PC to show my support for the only bigger company left which give their heart to make great games.

 

[Reod]

First I'd like to say that the most important content of any edition is the game itself.
But to be honest the ONLY reason I didn't pre-order a physical collector's edition for PC was the lack of cards (even before they announced there would be some in the XBox CE).

When pre-orders went up there wasnt info about cards.And then PC CE's sold out pretty fast.
And you didnt pre-order cos there wasnt any cards in time when THERE WASNT ANY CARDS or any info about them...

???

 

[Whispers_of_Winter]

That's what I said, so I don't understand your point. I collect cards in RL and TW II had a card deck, so I bought the CE additional to the digital edition. W III had no cards (for PC CE) so I didn't buy the CE. That has nothing to do with the XBox CE now. Just saying if the PC CE had / has cards, I'd buy it. I only pre-ordered the digital edition several weeks ago.

 

[Reod]

That's what I said, so I don't understand your point. I collect cards in RL and TW II had a card deck, so I bought the CE additional to the digital edition. W III had no cards (for PC CE) so I didn't buy the CE.

Ok now i understand(I collected MtG while back) .But its kinda diffrent situation because if MS didnt pay/order those deck we would not see them in any CE anyway and you wouldnt buy CE right?

And in that way you now have slight chance getting them other way.But i would wait because i think if that card game will become popular ingame feature they will realese it as a CGI , so as a ingame feature it can work as testing grounds.But thats my thoughts.

 

[Halbaron]

I pre-ordered a PC collector's edition (and a GOG edition on top of that), and, of course, I'm a bit disappointed that I won't be getting these extra two physical decks of cards and the cloth map.

However, you guys are blowing this way out of proportion.

First of all, Marcin Iwinski's words about no exclusive content were taken out of context. What he said was that the game won't have any exclusive content on any platform. This still holds. After that he said that they will do something in terms of marketing cooperation. Now clearly Xbox 1 edition of CE was selling much worse than all other CE editions, and, on Microsoft's request, CDPR had to try to do something to fix that, to oay Microsoft back for the publicity gains due to the presence on Microsoft's stage during the E3's. And trying to solve this problem with some exclusive physical content (when there already were some precedents of exclusive physical contents provided by some retailers) is, in my opinion, the best way to do it.

All these talks of CDPR losing all trust and becoming the new EA or Ubisoft, are, frankly, gross exaggerations. Adding two trinkets to one CE is a much lesser sin than cutting substantial chunks of game content out of the game and selling it separately/providing it exclusively on some platforms. So, please, stop these comparisons, they are way out of proportions.

Now to address people who are saying that they "are not getting the full contents of the collector's edition for $150". Why didn't you feel the same when some retailers started providing exclusive additions, like Amazon.de did? If you're not living in or close to Germany you can't get the exclusive comic book, why didn't you feel cheated by that, that you're not getting the "complete" collector's edition? Also, when you made your CE preorder, you knew what it will have inside, and you will be getting the full contents that were promised. Why are you so jealous of some people getting a few things on top, for which the owner of their platform of choice paid? This is a bit childish, frankly. And if you want these decks and the cloth map so badly, you can always buy them later on ebay, or just order the Xbone collector's edition and then swap the actual disk of the game with the version you need.

There are a lot of people saying that they know for sure that this step from CDPR shows that they will soon end up where Bioware and the likes did, that they have seen this path countless times, and with certainity even if CDPR is not that bad now, they will start spawning paid DLC and platform-exlusive game content quite soon. Now, this is a very weak logic. All these "countless times" happened when some developer (like Bioware) was bought out by some giant company (like EA). This is not what's happening. In our case, CDPR needed some publicity. A lot of people discovered The Witcher 3 due to CDPR's presence at Microsoft's stage at the last two E3's. For this CDPR needs to pay Microsoft back with something. And adding few trinkets to Xbone CE is the least evil way to do this, as I argued above. Microsoft didn't _buy_ CDPR, it's just marketing cooperation. CDPR isn't going to start sliding downhill like Bioware did. CDPR is still a small independent company, with high values. But they had to make this compromise between their high values and the publicity they needed. This doesn't mean that they will start becoming worse and worse soon (or ever). If The Witcher 3 sells well (which is very probable), they will get enough money to be able to avoid any such compromises. Remember, they almost went bankrupt two times (after the release of the first game and after the release of the second game).

To conclude, please, have some faith in CDPR and stop being so jealous. This is coming from a person who preordered a PC collector's edition.

I totally respect the argument that because of the long and difficult process of making the last chapter of an epic series - and going as far as I know the first time Open World, too, what can be difficult - CD Projekt needed to get financial support. It's logical, we live in a world where concurrence is hard.
What I think, is that the time for announcing such a cooperation is just very difficult. As I said somewhere above, bringing this to publicity just a few days after the announcement of this XBOX-exclusive edition of Tomb Raider made some people worry.
Well, of course nothing is for free and of course it's part of a Microsoft strategy to show their strength by announcing exclusive editions in a short term, but I'm simply not sure if it is even the best for CD Projekt. It was obvious that there would be discussions about it, especially after such a short term.

Furthermore, I don't like the argument with the special offers. They simply do not belong to the Collectors Edition. But I understand, what you want to say: Sometimes you have to give something up to get something in reward. I'm still not sure if one can compare such offers with adding new things to the CE only for Microsoft, but I see your point and - as I stated above - I respect, what you want to say.

The only thing I would like to ask you, is to respect the people, who are worried, too. It's not all black and white and not all the people, who criticize this step only want to spam. I feel somehow attacked, sorry to say this. It's more that - I can only speak for myself, of course - some people maybe care so much about CD Projekt and what they stand for - for not trying to earn more money by selling more DLCs, as you said - that they worry about what this step might mean for the future of CD Projekt. It's an important step to cooperate with Microsoft and of course not only CD Projekt will get benefits by this. I think we can only wait, what it will mean for the future.

This is what I wanted to show, when I said that it's not only about a few cards. It's maybe - only maybe! - about the further way of the studio.
And to make it clear: Of course I don't want CD Projekt to end just like BioWare and I don't see it now to happen.
I only fear what will happen, when CD Projekt is - with the help of Microsoft - as succesful as you say. As I already said: We have to wait.

EDIT: To be totally honest, it's simply somehow frustrating to see that even CD Projekt needs to give up a piece - may it be big or small - of its independence, because they need financial support. This shows me that we don't live in Utopia. Maybe it's somehow naive to think that CD Projekt could stay completely independent forever, but I liked the thought.

Second Edit: Yeah, I think, that's, what it is basically about. Frustration. Disappointment not about CD Projekt in particular, but about how the gaming industry works in common. Maybe we understand each other better now.

 

[Whispers_of_Winter]

@ Reod: As I said in my edited post, this has nothing to do with the current announcement. It's just a general statement of mine. I prefer digital editions in general. But for a card deck which can't be bought seperately I'd buy the CE.

EDIT: @ Reod: This may be illogical, but I wouldn't buy the XBox CE for the cards, only the PC CE, since that's my only gaming platform. I'd like to see CDPR selling those cards separately one day, but I'm pretty sure this won't happen, since all the XBox CE buyers would complain about their loss of exclusivity then.

 

[Fuz.702]

Huh ? The game will be the same across all platforms . The only thing being discussed here is the physical content ie the addition of a cloth map and a deck of cards in the collector`s editions .

A collector's edition is all about physical content. A person who is willing to pay more than the double price of the game for collector's items has every right to feel pissed.
Of course people who weren't interested in the CE in the first place are fine with it.

The meaning of the word "content" is not even a debate:

content
[kon-tent]
noun
1.
Usually, contents.
something that is contained:
the contents of a box.

It's basic english.

You may be fine with it, ok, I get it. But this it's absolutely NOT treating "all gamers equally", no matter how much you try to twist the words - lawyer-y style - to give them another meaning.

 

[AutumnalWanderer]

A collector's edition is all about physical content. A person who is willing to pay more than the double price of the game for collector's items has every right to feel pissed.
Of course people who weren't interested in the CE in the first place are fine with it.

The meaning of the word "content" is not even a debate:

content
[kon-tent]
noun
1.
Usually, contents.
something that is contained:
the contents of a box.

It's basic english.

You may be fine with it, ok, I get it. But this it's absolutely NOT treating "all gamers equally", no matter how much you try to twist the words - lawyer-y style - to give them another meaning.

Did you know that the first Witcher has at least 3 kind of different CE at that time? Probably was more, I can't remember. To be honest with you, when I saw the polish edition I was jealous. The Hungarian edition was nothing to that at all, I was jealous the Xbox 360 CE as well back in time because the medallion. But saying that the CDPR like Bioware and starting petitions is unfair and disrespectful. They are not deserv this, because the PC/PS4 CE is still rich as hell. The game will be kick ass as well. But saying that this company will support better the X1 is not true at all. The PC gamers will have modding tool, the GOG digital version not just cheaper than the Steam version, but also richer, not to mention that the game will be the SAME on every platform.

 

[Fuz.702]

Did you know that the first Witcher has at least 3 kind of different CE at that time? Probably was more, I can't remember. To be honest with you, when I saw the polish edition I was jealous.

Same, and I looked for a long time to buy it somewhere, but it was insanely expensive everywhere ("buy the cards for cheap on ebay!!1!" yeah, right).

But it's a totally different matter.
It was a starting company, they had it from the start and they never said they were treating everyone equally and they did not pictured themselves so heavily pro-consumer.

 

[BenWylde]

So much for Microsoft's "renewed focus" on Windows PC gaming earlier this year ...

I must say, it's quite a mess with exclusives lately, but I haven't expected something like this. I mean, it's a COLLECTOR'S Edition, cutting or adding things on different platforms sounds plain bad, even when I can understand the deal (even when MS is lying about gaming on PC all the time). But I still think, it would be better in the PC's CE because the game grow up on this platform, but that's not up to me to decide such things. I could understand if things are different in the standard edition, but Collector's Editions ... they're unique and limited, that's another story. I think CDPR should think this over and look for another way ...

Oh and on a side note about the various extras on different sites/services (like GOG, Steam, etc) - I'd find it quite hard to decide where to get the game as I'd like to get possibly every bonus thing as a fan. I kinda dislike that everyone has different bonus stuff and up their sleeves to get people into buying the game. And now the CE disaster ... Nope I'm not getting a console just for the cards and the better map.

Maybe we get those exclusive extras later via merchandise stuff, but I highly doubt that ...

 

[AutumnalWanderer]

Same, and I looked for a long time to buy it somewhere, but it was insanely expensive everywhere ("buy the cards for cheap on ebay!!1!" yeah, right).

But it's a totally different matter.
It was a starting company, they had it from the start and they never said they were treating everyone equally and they did not pictured themselves so heavily pro-consumer.

You will ba able to buy some witcher stuff directly from CDPR when the shop will be avaible. Just saying.

 

[Fuz.702]

You will ba able to buy some witcher stuff directly from CDPR when the shop will be avaible. Just saying.

And that will be pretty cool (well, except for my wallet). I want a mug too.
But it doesn't cancel the fact that we're paying the same price as xbone CD and getting less... and we MAY be able to pay even more to get those items.

 

[tommy5761]

A collector's edition is all about physical content. A person who is willing to pay more than the double price of the game for collector's items has every right to feel pissed.
Of course people who weren't interested in the CE in the first place are fine with it.

The meaning of the word "content" is not even a debate:

content
[kon-tent]
noun
1.
Usually, contents.
something that is contained:
the contents of a box.

It's basic english.

You may be fine with it, ok, I get it. But this it's absolutely NOT treating "all gamers equally", no matter how much you try to twist the words - lawyer-y style - to give them another meaning.

I think I know what content is and means . Thank you for the explanation though . Why should anyone feel pissed as when you had the chance to order the CE the contents were listed as to what you would be getting . You can say "treating all gamers" the same all you want but to me it`s petty jealousy . Nothing more and nothing less .

 

[jerf.674]

I totally respect the argument that because of the long and difficult process of making the last chapter of an epic series - and going as far as I know the first time Open World, too, what can be difficult - CD Projekt needed to get financial support. It's logical, we live in a world where concurrence is hard.
What I think, is that the time for announcing such a cooperation is just very difficult. As I said somewhere above, bringing this to publicity just a few days after the announcement of this XBOX-exclusive edition of Tomb Raider made some people worry.
Well, of course nothing is for free and of course it's part of a Microsoft strategy to show their strength by announcing exclusive editions in a short term, but I'm simply not sure if it is even the best for CD Projekt. It was obvious that there would be discussions about it, especially after such a short term.

Furthermore, I don't like the argument with the special offers. They simply do not belong to the Collectors Edition. But I understand, what you want to say: Sometimes you have to give something up to get something in reward. I'm still not sure if one can compare such offers with adding new things to the CE only for Microsoft, but I see your point and - as I stated above - I respect, what you want to say.

The only thing I would like to ask you, is to respect the people, who are worried, too. It's not all black and white and not all the people, who criticize this step only want to spam. I feel somehow attacked, sorry to say this. It's more that - I can only speak for myself, of course - some people maybe care so much about CD Projekt and what they stand for - for not trying to earn more money by selling more DLCs, as you said - that they worry about what this step might mean for the future of CD Projekt. It's an important step to cooperate with Microsoft and of course not only CD Projekt will get benefits by this. I think we can only wait, what it will mean for the future.

This is what I wanted to show, when I said that it's not only about a few cards. It's maybe - only maybe! - about the further way of the studio.
And to make it clear: Of course I don't want to end CD Projekt just like BioWare and I don't see it now to happen.
I only fear what will happen, when CD Projekt is - with the help of Microsoft - as succesful as you say. As I already said: We have to wait.

EDIT: To be totally honest, it's simply somehow frustrating to see that even CD Projekt needs to give up a piece - may it be big or small - of its independence, because they need financial support. This shows me that we don't live in Utopia. Maybe it's somehow naive to think that CD Projekt could stay completely independent forever, but I liked the thought.

Second Edit: Yeah, I think, that's, what it is basically about. Frustration. Disappointment not about CD Projekt in particular, but about how the gaming industry works in common. Maybe we understand each other now better.

Sorry if my post made you feel attacked. Of course, I fear that CDPR might go the wrong way too, and clearly showing them that we wouldn't appreciate this is necessary.

However, the current situation doesn't seem to be a sure sign of CDPR becoming the next Bioware, as many people in this thread implied. My post was mainly addressed to them. Many of them went way too far in their statements, although I understand that it happened mostly because of raw emotions.

I share your frustration on how the gaming industry currently works. I think that we understand each other better now too.

 

[Lamaboi]

It baffles me how well-adjusted people can have such knee-jerk reactions over something so small.
I could understand all this disappointment if CDPR decided to make exclusive DLC's or delay one platform release over the other. Starting petitions and boycotting because someones platform of choice won't be getting an extra physical bonus or two seems just incredibly childish and ungrateful considering how well CDPR is treating us gamers by keeping parity across all platforms. Nothing has changed, they didn't break their promise becuase they're gonna allow everyone to play the same game regardless of the purchased edition, and this is true gamer equality.

 

[Fuz.702]

but to me it`s petty jealousy . Nothing more and nothing less .

No, it's a collector's completionism.
I would also be grateful if you didn't make such personal attacks. You're also a mod, you should try to be civil.

 

[Halbaron]

Sorry if my post made you feel attacked. Of course, I fear that CDPR might go the wrong way too, and clearly showing them that we wouldn't appreciate this is necessary.

However, the current situation doesn't seem to be a sure sign of CDPR becoming the next Bioware, as many people in this thread implied. My post was mainly addressed to them. Many of them went way too far in their statements, although I understand that it happened mostly because of raw emotions.

I share your frustration on how the gaming industry currently works. I think that we understand each other better now too.

Thanks for the explanation. Of course I`m even not with the people writing "f*ck this game" now. This is not a level at which the discussion should move.
@Lambot

I guess the discussion about breaking promises etc. is mainly about the definition of "content". Does "content" mean "ingame only" or is content everything the CE...well, contents?

 

[BenWylde]

No, it's a collector's completionism.

Pretty much this. If you collected every previous CE so far and want to get the next one as well and hear "oh dang, it's NOT complete" ... that's such a bad feeling, even when it's just small stuff like the cards.

And later at release comes a console guy around the corner with his CE and just mocks the PC CE owners "haha, I've got the one with more value console rocks" ... oh boy, I can imagine that so well.

I guess the discussion about breaking promises etc. is mainly about the definition of "content". Does "content" mean "ingame only" or is content everything the CE...well, contents?

You pretty much hit the nail here.