Yesterday brought the disappointing news that CD Projekt Red had delayed The Witcher III: Wild Hunt by another three months, forcing the upcoming threequel off its February spot and into May. Now, however, the revered Polish studio has elaborated on its decision to postpone the conclusive chapter, stating that the reception of poorly polished games led the team to carve out an additional twelve to ensure the same scenario didn’t befall Wild Hunt.
In an interview with Eurogamer Poland, CD Projekt Red touched upon the status of the sequel and why compromising on a release date will ultimately prove to be the best for the gargantuan RPG in the long run.
“Gamers …” he said (in a translation supplied by Eurogamer Poland), “took our decision very well. [The] market is afraid of badly polished games on next-gen platforms. We want to disarm the opinion that [The Witcher III] doesn’t exist. It will be closed by the end of the year in line with the schedule.
“There’s a lot of small errors though, because the game is huge. It’s the only reason behind the delay. We didn’t assume it will be this big. Only after putting all the pieces together it turned out it’s bigger than the two first put together. Let me remind you: it’s open and not linear. We are just learning how to play it and we have to catch the little pieces. We know what to do, we just have to do it. We don’t want to release the game with bugs that undermine the gameplay.”
Given the recent slew of games arriving half-baked at launch — DriveClub, Assassin’s Creed: Unity and Halo: The Master Chief Collection in particular — it should come as no surprise that CD Projekt Red chose to delay The Witcher III: Wild Hunt to prevent what could well be its magnum opus being overshadowed from day one. We can only hope that the studio’s method of approach sets a precedent for other developers in the industry.
The Witcher III: Wild Hunt will conclude the epic saga of Geralt of Rivia when it arrives on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC on May 19, 2015.
