text interview = http://venturebeat.com/2012/06/10/the-witcher-developer-cd-projekt-red-talks-cyberpunk/

Some interesting tidbits in there. Sounds like this is still has a lot of time left in development, I really wonder if this will be a next gen console game. Would probably look so good with CDPR's tech as a result.

Also says it'll be DRM free and will not be a PC exclusive, with even a potential Mac version.

As long as not being PC exclusive doesn't mean they slack on the technical end of things to make it work. But CDPR knows how to love its audience.

Next-Gen and CDPR = WIN

I have absolute faith in them with this one.

DRM free? Now that's an intelligent move. When developers just accept that piracy is a thing and push hard for a good experience to those who buy it, whilst of course having faith in their product and it actually being a good product, with good developer support, they won't only make great money, they'll get a good reputation.

When you're angered that 5 out of 10 people buy the game and the remaining 5 pirate it, and you damage your product trying to disallow those 3 to pirate it, you end up losing the 5 you started out with.

When you're happy that 5 out of 10 bought it and you support your product and make a good name for yourself, you'll end up with 6 customers if not 7 out of 10, in the future. You will have good profit.

This is easily a next gen game, not coming out until 2015.

Hell, Witcher 3 will be next gen and it's coming out late this year or early next year (I'm assuming the date).

Really excited to see what they do with open world in these two games. Interesting new direction for them.

Yeah it's 2015 at the earliest so of course it's next gen. The witcher 2 version 2.0 has no DRM too. You can install it as many times as you want on any PC and it doesn't require a disc to play.

And they must have made a decent chunk of change from their games thus far to be staffing up for some ambitious sounding projects like Cyberpunk and another Witcher.

@Benny said:

And they must have made a decent chunk of change from their games thus far to be staffing up for some ambitious sounding projects like Cyberpunk and another Witcher.

Witcher 1 sold 2 million. As I last saw, Witcher 2 sold 2.2 million. It flopped pretty bad on 360, I think 30k first month, which is a shame.

The numbers don't blow you away and they deserve more, but a big reason they can be so successful is because their budget costs are so low being a Polish studio. A similar game by a US studio would probably cost 3 times as much.

@Benny said:

And they must have made a decent chunk of change from their games thus far to be staffing up for some ambitious sounding projects like Cyberpunk and another Witcher.

Witcher 1 sold 2 million. As I last saw, Witcher 2 sold 2.2 million. It flopped pretty bad on 360, I think 30k first month, which is a shame.

The numbers don't blow you away and they deserve more, but a big reason they can be so successful is because their budget costs are so low being a Polish studio. A similar game by a US studio would probably cost 3 times as much.

@ArtisanBreads: Wasn't it released on 360 like a year after the PC version? Something tells me that the sequel to a PC only game which isn't universally known (like CoD, Bioshock or the like; The Witcher strikes me as more of a niche title), had a comparatively low marketing budget and whose main fans have already played it isn't going to pull in staggering numbers at any point on a system that gets a release a year later.

I agree with your conclusion and the fact that the game deserved even more sales, but 2.2 million sales to a little known (outside of the PC RPG market, at least) Polish developer is probably a massive windfall. I don't know what their sales targets were, but they probably smashed them, especially for the first game.

@Brodehouse: Exactly, and I think anyone giving CD Projekt Red the 'Eastern Bloc' label probably haven't played The Witcher 2, totally up there with the 'AAA' devs of the western world in terms of quality and polish. Also Polish.

@ArtisanBreads said:

@Benny said:

And they must have made a decent chunk of change from their games thus far to be staffing up for some ambitious sounding projects like Cyberpunk and another Witcher.

Witcher 1 sold 2 million. As I last saw, Witcher 2 sold 2.2 million. It flopped pretty bad on 360, I think 30k first month, which is a shame.

The numbers don't blow you away and they deserve more, but a big reason they can be so successful is because their budget costs are so low being a Polish studio. A similar game by a US studio would probably cost 3 times as much.

They probably make most their money off of GOG and their publishing activities in Poland. Just like how Valve makes most its money off Steam. I'm sure being a Polish studio they probably broke even on The Witcher 2, but I can't see it being a runaway success for them.

DRM-free on PC?

Um yeah, good luck with that. At least they should have console sales.

Witcher 2 made an awesome 360 port. Hard to believe it flopped. That's a shame.

@squidraid said:

Witcher 2 made an awesome 360 port. Hard to believe it flopped. That's a shame.

it flopped on 360?

@KittyVonDoom said:

DRM-free on PC?

Um yeah, good luck with that. At least they should have console sales.

You mean like those 2.2 million sales they got on DRM free Witcher 2?

If it's gonna be DRM Free it's a sure Pre-Order from me.

It's been five years.

@howardian:hey "still a ways off".

At least I can tell 5 years ago me Witcher 3 was a big hit and CDProjekt got the success they deserved.

Well, we know from that corporate strategy document from last year(?) that it'll be released in the 2017-2021 "release window."

So that's something.

I don't know why devs announce games so early. I barely even care about CP 2077 anymore.

Because announcing a game early drums up a general sense of excitement that reflects off of the developer. It's basically the same with movies where you announce some novel or idea as optioned, then go dark for years. After a while you start hearing about pre-production, actual production, and then they go dark again during post-production, until it's time for marketing to work their ad-magic.

You'll get that excitement back once they roll out teasers, then trailers, and finally previews.

I find it morbidly melancholic, the fact that many people die over the years while having a WIP game or a movie on their "upcoming" wishlists. Many people who witnessed the reveal have/will not live long enough to play the release.

Cyberpunk was revealed and had the trailer made in part to recruit people to make the game. They said that at the time. It was before there was any game.

Think this wait is bad, think how long it might till we get another proper mainline Final Fantasy release. They haven't even announced one yet, XV is being actively supported late into its life in a way none of the games were previously, and they have a massive probably decade long FF project in the works with FF Vii remake

I have bad feeling the earliest we might see a FFXVI might be 2023, but fear it might be more like 2030 if they wait till after Vii Remake and another MMO FF game are done....

@slag: At least Square Enix stays solvent promoting all their other awesome franchises like Tomb Raider and Hitman!

@ripelivejam: lol! ouch man, that's cold.