The Witcher - Patch Update & Other Forum Tidbits

The Witcher patch we were hoping would arrive yesterday obviously hasn't materialised but a couple of CD Projekt staffers have commented following queries on the official forums. First, Dziadu says the date was just a rumour:

Guys, guys...

Release date of the patch was jus a RUMOR:) There was no official confirmation when it comes to dates. Plese, do not ask CD projekt to keep promises which were never made

Patch is on its way but... we won't give you any detailes until we are sure that it's working properly.

Be patient guys

...then Michal Kicinski says it is close:

Just a word on the patch. It is very close to be released. The problem with the patches to such huge and complicated games is that new version of the game has to be tested nearly as precisely as the game itself before the release. So making a patch is one thing then testing The Witcher is another big task. That's why it is not so fast (we wish it would be much faster).

..and regarding pushing for the release. We actually changed the release date twice. Once internally before the release date was even announced. First final date was June, then we moved to September and made an anoucment. Then we moved to the end of November. And that was actually the latest possible date. Next was Feb-March’08 (big titles would completely cover the witcher in Q4). And we couldn’t make such a big delay. For various reasons.

But on the other hand we compared TW to other RPGs and it wasn’t in worst shape that most of the releases. Which shouldn’t be used as an excuse, but we just had to make a decission and choose lesser evil. For sure we were in more difficult situation due to the fact that it is our first project.

But we believe in perfectly polished games:) and I’m sure that every next will be bettter:)

...and finally, Dziadu talks down changes beyond the loading times:

I think it will be no surprise if I say that our patch will mainly focus on loading times. We're trying to make it as short as we can Of course, there will be huge number of minor buges fixed.

In other Witcher forum stuff, Amfamaster writes about this interesting post from Michal that reveals the toal development cost:

Thank you guys for supporting us!!! In fact, each box sold count for us and it's greatest support we can get from You!

Regarding money/budget stuff. Game so far cost us 8+ mln usd. And it wasn't a bank loan or whatever. Just money we earn on games distribution (we are not so small company: offices in 3 countries, 200+ people, 40+ mln usd yearly turnover).

Actually, this was risky, but also good and very independent way:) Our money, our vision, our game:)
That is why we could make whatever we liked, and that's why the game is so different from the standard big corporation fare (targeted to anybody between 10-99 years old and always 110% political correct etc).

BTW: it is not obvious if we earn money on the project. Actually I believe that sooner or later Witcher will bring us profit. It seems that gamers (you!) like it:) and thanks to that the game as a product will have a long lifecycle. The most important for us is that we've learnt how to make games, good games:) And now we have short but good track of records.
That gives us very very good position for future (for example for negotiations with publishers).

Good position means also greater ease of defending our vision of the future projects. That's important as we want to keep the same direction, meaning making games out of passion not marketing analysis;)

..Speaking about marketing. I know that in some countries it wasn't as strong as it should be (US for example). We're in touch with Atari and try our best to find a ways how we can improve it. But this will come with more experience and time. As it is here in Poland.

Here The Witcher since release is no1 on all charts and since last Sunday sold through 81k units!!! Which beats all the best selling records in the market. It is more than twice as much as previous biggest seller (homm5). Similar situation is in Czech, Hungary and Russia (Novyi Disk company was a publisher there but we were involved in the process pretty much).

We know how to market games. We just need to learn how to organize it on the western markets. But this will some day come...