CD Projekt RED - The Best Dev of 2015

[Aubrielle]

Pushsquare.com says that CD Projekt Red is the best developer of 2015, and their argument is compelling.

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2015 has been a pretty good year for gaming in terms of pure entertainment, but it's often been soured by news of some very questionable business practices. Whether it was simple stuff like Star Wars Battlefront's preposterous $50 season pass or Deus Ex: Mankind Divided's deservedly canned pre-order strategy, there's been plenty to shake your head at over the last 12 months. For what it's worth, we reckon that one company in particular shunned the greedy nature that's sadly expected from our industry these days – we're talking, of course, about the studio behind The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, CD Projekt Red.

The Polish outfit is no stranger to treating its customers with respect. Building its name on the PC, the studio supported both The Witcher and The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings well into their respective lifespans, adding content and positively tweaking the two titles to the best of its abilities. It was with Wild Hunt, though, that the developer took its post-release support to the next level.

More information.

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[Brumbek]

I won't knock CDPR too much, but I do think their status as goodly heroes is overblown. I mean the reason they gave us Enhanced Editions of Witcher 1 & 2 was because both those games had serious, huge issues.

But I suppose in today's crazy world, you do get respect for trying to fix your buggy, broken game since many developers don't even try.

And the free DLC for Witcher 3...I don't understand why more people can't see this was a marketing campaign for the game. It wasn't because they love us. They wanted the game to remain in the headlines, and doing free DLC every week or so was a brilliant strategy.

If you really look at the quality of the free DLC, it could have easily been in the main game to begin with. It's pretty obvious they planned it out months ahead and withheld it from the main game. Smart business move, but nothing to praise really. Just my opinion.

 

[Ripper]

I agree. I like their games, but I really don't see that they've taken post-release support to the "next level". They've been patching at a commendable rate, but they also decided to abandon the promised Redkit editor they'd been talking up, releasing a very limited set of modding tools instead.

 

[zahratustra]

but they also decided to abandon the promised Redkit editor they'd been talking up, releasing a very limited set of modding tools instead.

Yup, I'm pissed off about it as well!

 

[BoboTheMighty]

Some of it was definitely already there ( cosmetics) . but hell, they've also added quests that were not done and are considerably better than almost anything in Bethesda main games.
As for Witcher I/II having huge, serious issues…that is Brumbek again being Brumbek.
With second game they also added tutorial (which they did not have to), arena mode, side quests, cinematics and more content to the third act… I'd like to see someone provide an example of any other AAA company doing the same in recent history.
Their PR needs to get their grip together, but their actions speak louder than any kind of cynicism here.

 

[joxer]

And the free DLC for Witcher 3…I don't understand why more people can't see this was a marketing campaign for the game. It wasn't because they love us. They wanted the game to remain in the headlines, and doing free DLC every week or so was a brilliant strategy.

If you really look at the quality of the free DLC, it could have easily been in the main game to begin with. It's pretty obvious they planned it out months ahead and withheld it from the main game. Smart business move, but nothing to praise really. Just my opinion.

We all see it.
But we all also know that other companies do the same marketing DLC spam with asking for more $.
CDpr just didn't do the same "you like the game? yes? fuck you gimme more money!".

Yup, I'm pissed off about it as well!

I'm not.
This game practically needs no mods.
It's not broken like hell.

 

[Branthog]

No.

I would say that a requirement of a "developer of the year" should be that they have not directly lied to their audience and fans, which is exactly what they did when they were caught out over the huge graphical downgrade in their product -- rather than just confessing to it and moving on.

 

[joxer]

I'll agree that CDpr still shouldn't be dev of the year but not because of, to me, completely irrelevant "downgradegate" caused by one of their employees.
The game in the end is so beautiful I can't find any better looking one (except Order 1886, but the question is if that title is game at all or just QTEfest tech demo).

Their biggest sin I can't forgive is advertising season pass. Not the content of it, it's expansions, real ones. But the "pass" word. It's everywhere used to scam people.
They could and they should call it expansion pack preorder or something, just not pass.

 

[Couchpotato]

So lets see they shouldn't be called best developer because of the following reasons.

1. Offering Large amounts of Free optional DLC
2. Realizing the need to downgrade just to make the game playable for most players
3. Offering pre-orders for old school expansions instead of paid DLC's

Yeah I smell bullshit here guys/gals as I applaud them for all three decisions.

 

[rune_74]

So lets see they shouldn't be called best developer because to the following reasons.

1. Offering Large amounts of Free optional DLC
2. Realizing the need to downgrade just to make the game playable for most players
3. Offering pre-orders for old school expansions instead of paid DLC's

Yeah I smell bullshit here guys/gals as I applaud them for all three decisions.

Not surprised it is being thought of us one of the best...they do get a lot(I mean a lot) of passes on this site, I think partly due to them being a European developer, choices they make like downgrading for playabililty would be piled on if Bethesda did it.

The free downloadable content was all marketing, stuff they would have put in the game anyways...but good on them.

I haven't bothered with the expansions yet because I can't even finish the main game as I lost interest after about 60 some hours...I'm sure I will go back to it but no need to pay high amounts for expansions at this point.

All in all they did a great job, but I don't see them any different from any of the other bigger houses now that they are spending so much on their games. To date they have only published 3 games if I'm not mistaken, all the witcher games...will be interesting to see how they will do with their new one they are working on. Can they afford that long between releases and keeping that big of a staff on?

 

[Toff]

Can they afford that long between releases and keeping that big of a staff on?

They also own gog.com which seems to be pretty popular.

 

[BoboTheMighty]

Not surprised it is being thought of us one of the best…they do get a lot(I mean a lot) of passes on this site, I think partly due to them being a European developer, choices they make like downgrading for playabililty would be piled on if Bethesda did it.

The free downloadable content was all marketing, stuff they would have put in the game anyways…but good on them.

They definitely did NOT finish quests like "Skellige's most wanted" during development...it took them months alone to adress issues with it. Or maybe they deliberately made it buggy so we wouldn't suspect it?
And that stunt with Hearts of Stone expansion charging it for only 10$ when they could have been honest and split it into three parts, priced 15$ a piece, just like any decent company would do.
Threw in free Gwent cards with physical copies too, thinking no one will see it coming.

 

[Sulla]

Definitely well deserved and has been long way coming.
so far all the complaints i read are childish at best and i am wondering who then should be developer of the year , i cant think of any developer coming even slightly close

 

[Brumbek]

I agree. I like their games, but I really don't see that they've taken post-release support to the "next level". They've been patching at a commendable rate, but they also decided to abandon the promised Redkit editor they'd been talking up, releasing a very limited set of modding tools instead.

I think the company that wins the patching award is Blizzard. They've release huge, I mean huge updates to Diablo 3 for free for over a year and a half now. It's to the point where many of us are shaking our heads because we'd gladly pay for the new content they are providing for free.

The lack of proper Redkit is a black mark on CDPR. If you promise something and then don't deliver, that isn't a good thing.

As for Witcher I/II having huge, serious issues…that is Brumbek again being Brumbek.

With second game they also added tutorial (which they did not have to), arena mode, side quests, cinematics and more content to the third act… I'd like to see someone provide an example of any other AAA company doing the same in recent history.

First, you perhaps don't remember Witcher 1 from 2007, Bobo. It had about 10 NPCs that repeated everywhere. It had horrible cutscenes. It had mismatched audio. The Enhanced Edition did fix huge issues, like cutting load times by 80% (still long though). If you don't consider countless crash at loadscreens, several minute load times, wrong audio, and missing/placeholder animations huge issues…

And the Witcher 2 was in 2011 and 2012…we are talking about "Best Dev of 2015". It doesn't matter what great stuff they did for Witcher 2. Still, most of the Enhanced Edition was bug fixing and adding content they wanted to include originally but had to cut. Respect to them for fixing their game, but that was 2012.

In 2015 they downgraded their game, didn't give us the promised full RedKit, and released very meager free DLC that was obviously withheld from the game. I'm sorry, but that's just reality.

I would say that a requirement of a "developer of the year" should be that they have not directly lied to their audience and fans…

An excellent point. Witcher 3 is awesome, but as a developer they're behavior was highly dubious.

Edit: to recap in case people think I'm a downer: I LOVE LOVE LOVE Witcher 3. I also LOVE Witcher 1 & 2. Love the game, strongly dislike the questionable corporate behavior. Words to live by.

 

[BoboTheMighty]

First, you perhaps don't remember Witcher 1 from 2007, Bobo. It had about 10 NPCs that repeated everywhere. It had horrible cutscenes. It had mismatched audio. The Enhanced Edition did fix huge issues, like cutting load times by 80% (still long though). If you don't consider countless crash at loadscreens, several minute load times, wrong audio, and missing/placeholder animations huge issues…

You could write an enciclopedia about issues that every Bethesda game had, still has and that they DIDN'T even bother to fix.
Point is, they went above it and for each one of their games released free content that they could easily charge for a price of an expansion.
I'm not sure what you mean by cuting it out of the game as a negative thing…every game has similar content that isn't fully developed due to time constraints, so it makes sense that they only continue to work on what they already started.
And besides their pricing, support and free content, their anti DRM policy has costed them millions in profit and they still continue to uphold it.
But let's all focus only on the negatives here.

 

[Morrandir]

And besides their pricing, support and free content, their anti DRM policy has costed them millions in profit and they still continue to uphold it.
But let's all focus only on the negatives here.

Yup, the DRM free release politics hasn't been emphasized enough. Which AAA game besides TW3 do you get without DRM?

But if this really has cost them millions in profit imho is highly questionable.

 

[joxer]

I think the company that wins the patching award is Blizzard. They've release huge, I mean huge updates to Diablo 3 for free for over a year and a half now.

Meh.
If it's about huge and turn_upside_down patching, such reward should go to League of Legends. Changes they've introduced are totally refreshing and previously "forgotten" characters* are being played like crazy once again. And they do complete game overhaul every year since the game was created.

Unlike Blizzard's alwaysonlineDRM crapware, not just patches but also the game League of Legends is completely free.

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* The new character however is OP, but it's okay, the next patch will most probably nerf her

 

[Falksi]

I think the award is 100% deserved, and that CD Projekt Red have played a vital, vital role in returning games to their core by creating games born out of a genuine passion for gaming, not market research and targets.


You can taste their love for FRPGs in every second of gameplay, and whilst EA rape and butcher devs who once had such focus, CDPR give us a glimmer of hope.

 

[rune_74]

Definitely well deserved and has been long way coming.
so far all the complaints i read are childish at best and i am wondering who then should be developer of the year , i cant think of any developer coming even slightly close

To counter what some of us said was issues, with a childish comment and then to have couch like that says plenty I think.

 

[Couchpotato]

To counter what some of us said was issues, with a childish comment and then to have couch like that says plenty I think.

So I see your trying to make it personal once again Rune.

Wonder who is holding a grudge this time?

Edit: Thanks go to crpgnut for sharing the X-mas Steam Sales.

Fallout 4---2,485,339
Skyrim-----1,565,606
Witcher 3--1,087,266
Fallout NV-1,045,848
Witcher 2---941,054
Fallout 3----853,240
Witcher 1---742,011

Link - http://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1061376145&postcount=1

Seems Witcher III is still selling well months after it's release.