Developers Upgrade Retail Release For The Witcher Enhanced Edition

[Andy Chalk]

Developers Upgrade Retail Release For The Witcher Enhanced Edition

Fans of The Witcher [http://www.thewitcher.com] are being asked their opinion of a plan to release an retail upgrade of The Witcher Enhanced Edition, a new version of the game that will feature numerous improvements and additions to the game.

The developer first revealed plans [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/81538] for the Enhanced Edition in February, saying the new release was intended to address "all the major criticisms leveled at the original release." The updated version of the game will be released as a new, stand-alone product, while gamers who purchased the original edition will be given access to the new material via a free download.

Now, however, CD Projekt Red [http://www.cdprojekt.com/] is considering the release of an "upgrade" version of the game, letting players enjoy the new content without having to deal with a massive download and also giving them the "non-digital" material that will be included in the retail box, including an updated "making of" DVD, a soundtrack CD, map of the world and more.

"We remember the promise we made, so of course, anyone who has registered a copy of the game will be able to download a free update to turn the standard version of The Witcher into the Enhanced Edition," the company said in a message [http://www.thewitcher.com/community/en/news/574.html] posted on The Witcher website. "Because of the many technical improvements and additional content (audio files of all language versions, new adventures, D'jinni editor, etc.), we realize that this will likely be a rather large file to download. That's why we've come up with the idea to meet our players' needs halfway and prepare something special for people who don't want to download it from the internet."

The company is looking at a suggested retail price of around $25 for "western markets," although details have not yet been finalized as the team is still collecting feedback from players. Fans of the game are invited to vote in a poll and join in a discussion on the forums regarding the possible release here [http://www.thewitcher.com/forum/index.php?topic=15378.0].


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[ElArabDeMagnifico]

Gotta love these guys, GoG is coming soon, and then they support their community as well as valve does, and on such a niche title I'm surprised they can afford to do it. I'm glad they decided to skip making patch after patch after patch and decided to release one big update.

 

[Andy Chalk]

Actually, The Witcher sold very well, particularly for a hardcore PC RPG from Europe, and while it may have come across as a niche title in North America, in Europe it was a pretty big deal. The Witcher franchise is also fairly big over there, so I'm told, having inspired comic books, a movie (apparently quite shitty) and a television series (slightly less shitty) to go along with the original short stories and novels. CD Projekt punched out more than 600,000 copies within three months of the game's release, which they seemed pretty pleased with.

I kind of like attributing a certain amount of their generosity to the fact that they're Euro developers, and as such, less slavishly devoted to sucking every last dollar out of the consumer's pockets than American devs. It may or may not be true, but it gives me a happy feeling to believe it is.

 

[ElArabDeMagnifico]

Oh wow lol, now I know why I saw a book for "The Witcher" (and instead of like how the game is based off the book, this time it was the other way around - the cover said "based on the video game") when I was in barnes and nobles the other night, I think it was a prequel to the game (I guess it's what happened to Geralt when he was trudging through the woods and got wounded) - Still, I didn't know that the 600k was in the first three months, I thought it took longer to get to that mark.

Heck I may pass on the free download and get the disk version because it seems like it's worth the price, that and it's starting at less than half price so either way I go it's pretty much a steal.

 

[Andy Chalk]

I'll definitely go for the retail upgrade, if I can. But as someone pointed out in the discussion on the Witcher forum, a good number of people in Canada bought the UK version in order to avoid the ridiculous ESRB censorship, so there's concerns that the North American release of the upgrade edition may not be compatible with our copies of the game. (Not sure how common that was in the US, but along with people ordering directly from UK retailers like game, at least one good-sized Canadian retailer ordered the UK version of the game for resale, rather than the standard NA release.) There are obviously still some details to be worked out, but it's something I'm very interested in.