CD Projekt Red Finally Admits To The Witcher 3 Downgrade

Was The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt downgraded from its original debut build in 2013? That's the question that gamers have been discussing fervently for the past couple weeks. Although how much of a difference there is between the early alpha and final build is still up for debate, there is no more arguing about whether or not there was a downgrade of some sort, because CD Projekt Red has confirmed it.

Speaking to Eurogamer CD Projekt Red co-founder Marcin Iwinski stated the following:

 

If you're looking at the development process, we do a certain build for a tradeshow and you pack it, it works, it looks amazing. And you are extremely far away from completing the game. Then you put it in the open world, regardless of the platform, and it's like, 'Oh shit, it doesn't really work.' We've already showed it, now we have to make it work. And then we try to make it work on a huge scale. This is the nature of games development.

 
Iwinski continued:

 
Maybe we shouldn't have shown that, I don't know, but we didn't know that it wasn't going to work, so it's not a lie or a bad will – that's why we didn't comment actively.
 

Look, I get it. It's extremely difficult to make a game that is visually progressive. The thing I don't understand is why it took until now for CD Projekt Red, a previously reputable developer, to address it. Actually, I do understand. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt had over 1.5 million pre-orders and CD Projekt Red didn't want to raise any suspicion before release.

In a lot of ways The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is still a feat, but it's not the top-tier PC benchmark that many were hoping for. No, not with its current state of instability and lack of optimization. Sadly, myself along with many others purchased new hardware with this game in mind. Now we're left wondering what developer will come along to remind us that developers aren't always of questionable character, and that multiplatform games on PC aren't doomed to a future of second-class citizenship.

The Witcher 3's v1.03 patch has hit PC. Graphics remain the same, but at least performance is being improved.

 


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