The Witcher 3 Would Be "Impossible" on PS3/Xbox 360

[StewShearerOld]

The Witcher 3 Would Be "Impossible" on PS3/Xbox 360

According to CD Projekt Red CEO Marcin Iwinski, big "sacrifices" would be necessary to bring The Witcher 3 to older consoles.

Thanks to the launch of the PS4 and Xbox One, 2013 saw several fairly prominent cross-generation game releases. It's a practice that some developers seem <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/130345-MGS-V-Ground-Zeroes-Dated-Xbox-Exclusive-Mission-Revealed>happy to embrace for the time being, likely in an attempt to maximize profits as the new gaming generation takes its initial steps forward. Not every game will be receiving that treatment however and, in some cases, cross-generation releases might even be "impossible."

CD Projekt Red's The Witcher 3 is apparently such a game. "[On PS3 and Xbox 360] it would have to be a different game--a smaller game, not an open-world game, or with terrible loading times, with sacrifices in graphics," said CEO Marcin Iwinski. Iwinski similarly shot down any suggestions that the The Witcher 2, which was ported to the Xbox 360 in 2012, will ever see a PS3 release. "The Xbox 360 was a more powerful and easier-to-code-on platform than PS3, so that would have taken us another year or year-and-a-half." In other words, PlayStation fans will need to wait for The Witcher 3 to finally get in on the series.

While this is likely to be disappointing for a number of gamers, it's not really all that surprising. From the get-go it's been made clear that The Witcher 3 is being designed to <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/125067-The-Witcher-3-Features-36-Alternate-Endings>vastly expand on the experience of the series' previous iterations. Seeing as CD Projekt Red already had to make graphical sacrifices to get The Witcher 2 on Xbox 360, it just makes sense that The Witcher 3 would be too much for the aging consoles to handle.

Source: <a href=http://www.mcvindia.com/news/read/interview-marcin-iwinski-co-founder-cd-projekt/0126959?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+mcvindia%2Fstream+%28MCV+India%3A+Home+Stream%29>MCV India


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[SonOfVoorhees]

I doubt that, its the graphics that make it impossible, not the game itself - we have seen many huge games before. Or is this game bigger than Skyrim or even GTA5? If you think about it, Farcry 3 was released on the 360 even though a PC quality version would have been impossible - they just lowered the graphics, the story and gameplay was the same. I will pick up Witcher 3 at some point, though i hope it lives up to its hype more than Witcher 2.

 

[Alpha Maeko]

Having a complicated and graphically impressive game run on <512 MB of RAM is already an impressive thing for modern games.

I'll be interested to see what happens when devs really sink their teeth into the depths of the new consoles resources. (preferably for a game that isn't already planned to be crippled by a cross-platform requirement. New game, new engine, new ideas. No ties to the inferior generation holding it down.)

And, before you go wagging your finger at me, yes, I am indeed of the PC Master race.

 

[Objectable]

DELETE ME

 

[SanguiniusMagnificum]

Great, all the decisions that I've made in the Witcher 2 won't matter after all!!! So, technically seen the only people that will get the whole "Witcher" experience (Witcher 1,2 and 3 with imported savegames) are going to be the PC gaming glorious master race.

That really makes me sad. No, seriously, I honestly enjoyed The Witcher 2 on my Xbox 360 and seeing as it ended on a huge cliffhanger I'm just disappointed that I won't be able to continue Geralt's story without shelling out a minimum amount of 400 euro to upgrade to the next generation. I don't want to, I actually quite like this generation!

 

[UNHchabo]

The Witcher 3 Would Be "Impossible" on PS3/Xbox 360

From what I hear, The Witcher 2 was impossible [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2011/05/25] for many people, regardless of platform.

 

[Shadow-Phoenix]

Well this makes me somewhat sad, Xbox get's just Witcher 2, Playstation get's next to nothing and the PC gets to have them all, the cake and gets to eat it.

Yeah I'm not terribly thrilled at the turn of recent events but I really would like for those with PS3's and 4's to be able to have all 3 since it's only fair that Xbox at least got 2.

Also I foresee witcher 3 getting port blames in the future to cover up bad decision making since that's the latest excuse on the block.

 

[Clowndoe]

Read: We're too lazy to actually bother porting it.

Thanks for clearing that up. I'm glad we have someone here who's an expert on what programmers can and can't do based on a few screenshots from a game.

 

[Rad Party God]

The Witcher 3 Would Be "Impossible" on PS3/Xbox 360

From what I hear, The Witcher 2 was impossible [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2011/05/25] for many people, regardless of platform.

Wasn't that addressed on the Enhanced Edition? and wasn't the 360 version based on the Enhanced Edition?.

OT: Well... that sucks. I don't know how "big" CD Projekt wants the game to be, but Witcher 2 was already pretty huge without being truly open world. It seems they want to chew more than they can swallow, I don't blame them for skipping last gen's hardware.

 

[teebeeohh]

yes, feed me, feed me your tears
i never thought the tears gamers shed in regards to porting issues were this good.

 

[RandV80]

Sounds great to me. My own personal definition of 'next gen' while it's getting kind of dated has always been a game that can't be made identical on the last gen hardware by simply lowering the graphic setting. If you can't play it because you only have a PS3 or a 360, then tough. I may be in the same boat as you as my PC's getting a little dated.

 

[Eiv]

CD Projekt are spot on with this one. Cross generation ports lead to dilution. If you want a half assed game then they really are the wrong company to be talking to.

 

[UNHchabo]

Wasn't that addressed on the Enhanced Edition? and wasn't the 360 version based on the Enhanced Edition?.

No idea, I just wanted to make the joke.

 

[Rad Party God]

No idea, I just wanted to make the joke.

Uh... Whoops... *awkward silence*

 

[dyre]

I imagine they could eventually port these games to the new generation consoles. But as of now I'm content with them doing a PC release first. Especially now that the series is getting some love from the modding community!

I doubt that, its the graphics that make it impossible, not the game itself - we have seen many huge games before. Or is this game bigger than Skyrim or even GTA5? If you think about it, Farcry 3 was released on the 360 even though a PC quality version would have been impossible - they just lowered the graphics, the story and gameplay was the same. I will pick up Witcher 3 at some point, though i hope it lives up to its hype more than Witcher 2.

Well, Witcher 2 is far more graphically intensive than GTAV or Skyrim (not including HD textures and ENBs, which to my knowledge are PC exclusive), and that wasn't even open world. Like you say, they could lower the graphics to compensate but to quote CDProjekt...

"[On PS3 and Xbox 360] it would have to be a different game--a smaller game, not an open-world game, or with terrible loading times, with sacrifices in graphics"

...so they're not really contradicting you there. It should be noted that in the full article he talks about the fact that his team simply isn't big enough to dedicate part of it to port a game while they're still in development stages of Witcher 3, but of course you wouldn't expect the Escapist to actually include that in their article since fueling the PC vs consoles bullshit is better for generating views...

Btw, just a personal tip: you should try to approach games with a blank slate attitude - expecting a game to live up to its hype is a terrible idea that only leaves people disappointed

 

[Strazdas]

I doubt that, its the graphics that make it impossible, not the game itself - we have seen many huge games before. Or is this game bigger than Skyrim or even GTA5? If you think about it, Farcry 3 was released on the 360 even though a PC quality version would have been impossible - they just lowered the graphics, the story and gameplay was the same. I will pick up Witcher 3 at some point, though i hope it lives up to its hype more than Witcher 2.

it very likely is the game itself too. and its not the size that matters. if they got NPCs with AI better than skyrim (suicidal fisting dragons, please) old consoles likely cant run them. Thats because NPC AI is very RAM demanding, and old consoles got measily 512 mb of it. This is why you had so little smart AI in games, because the consoles cant handle that at all. so it may have nothing to do with size of graphics.

Having a complicated and graphically impressive game run on <512 MB of RAM is already an impressive thing for modern games.

but they have never done either......

Read: We're too lazy to actually bother porting it.

so i guess the fact that new programs dont run on windows 95 is also because someone was too lazy, right?

 

[Amaror]

Sure i mean, when companies like rockstar and co. refuse to port to pc's it's obviously alright, serves them right these elitist pc gamers, knowing how to assemble hardware!
But God forbid some developer refuses to port to hardware that can only be described as ancient nowadays, oh those lazy bastards!

 

[not_you]

CDPR have made it quite clear that they focus on the PC platform above consoles....

It's probably one of the main reasons they build GoG...

But yeah, I don't know a lot about programming, only a basic level really... And the only thing a game needs to be impossible for a console is having to have constant access to assets that equal a size greater than 512MB...

And all things considered, it REALLY wouldn't be that hard... But again, I am not a programmer, so that was speculation...

As for actually being impossible, well, the CEO said it himself... It isn't impossible, it would be so detrimental to the game that it wouldn't be worth releasing because they'd have to skimp on content/graphics/loading times to a degree that would cripple the game to the point that it isn't good...

But yeah, let me think of a counter argument for a second...
(Rather sarcastic winging incoming)

Spoiler

"OH NO! A game developer which started off PC exclusive is refusing to port to consoles because they don't want to put in the effort..... What is the world to do? After all, PC gamers got through the world without Red Dead Redemption, Infamous, Crackdown and LOADS of other great games that this one just isn't fair!"

Sure i mean, when companies like rockstar and co. refuse to port to pc's it's obviously alright, serves them right these elitist pc gamers, knowing how to assemble hardware!
But God forbid some developer refuses to port to hardware that can only be described as ancient nowadays, oh those lazy bastards!

^
THIS GUY!
Fucking ninja'd

 

[DarkhoIlow]

Finally a dev team that has the guts to say it how it is, that the last gen consoles are so old that they won't compromise their game to try and port it for outdated hardware.

Really hope they optimize this game so I can play it on my rig at a decent quality setting. Irony here is that I'm troubled about W3 able to run on a i5 4.5ghz 8GB and 560ti and people expect this game to run on consoles with 512mb ram...yeah not gonna happen.


PS: Hey CDPR, please announce release date? Thanks!