Witcher 3 delayed till 19 may

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MorgothPl

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Just got the info from CD Projekt. THey say, that they want to avoid all the glitches in "large and complex game", they decided to move the release from February to 19th May 2015. Guess everone now is scared not to make Ubi of them :)
 
Damn, that is quite the delay. Sucks too, I think a lot of people were looking forward to this in early 2015.

If it means it's not a buggy POS on release, though, then so be it.
 
Its for the best. Making me wait and getting it right at first try is better than making me feel i was robbed.
 
Yea... I can't say I'm happy about the delay, but delay >>>>>>> buggy game.
 
If this means I get a bug free awesome out of the box experience, then I can wait an extra 2 months.
 
pothb said:
Yea... I can't say I'm happy about the delay, but delay >>>>>>> buggy game.
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I've heard this so many times, but I cannot agree. Whatever is released will inevitably be bugged, and we'll get patches to correct it. Release three months later, and that's just three more months (or possibly 2, assuming they actually do put that time to good use) that it'll take to get a bug-free product. As an engineer, I can tell you that getting a "round on the ground" is invaluable, even though your trajectory may be wildly off the first time.

The long and the short is that true game debugging just can't really be done without releasing the game to the target audience.

Blizzard games are probably the only exception I can think of.

I have to shake my head at this delay, especially after the "No More Delays" comment back in May of 14...

edit: I can't help but wonder if this isn't at least partially influenced by the award of "most anticipated title" they just won at the 2014 Game Awards. "Hell, if we're the most anticipated title, delaying is only going to create further stir and more pre-orders, so why not?"
 
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This really puts me in limbo now in terms of a video card.

With this delay and previous ones (eg. Batman) all the "next gen" games I'm actually interested in now won't really start hitting until 6 months off. Currently stuck a on a 5770 which isn't really enough but don't really want to buy a higher end video card for games that 6 months+ out.
 
most of you guys were gonna be busy playing GTA V or something else anyway...it's actually good the release is spaced out further away.
 
Luckily, Dragon Age Inquisition is absolutely daunting in size and GTA5 is coming next month, too.
I'm disappointed, but it's not the end of the world.
Hopefully this cuts down on the "number of days from release Tuesday before the game is mosly playable™"
 
hmmmm perhaps I'll play the first two in the meantime. I've never played them but was planning on picking up tW3, based on the previews so far.
 
As others have mentioned, it's better to wait and have the game fixed, than ending up doing an Ubisoft.
 
I ended up buying a package of Witcher 1 & 2 + a pre-order for Witcher 3 for $50 during the Steam Summer Sale. Maybe they'll have another sale like that in a few weeks?
 
I would pick this up but I still have the Witcher 2 unfinished which isn't the steam version.
 
Selfishly speaking, excellent. Should be more polished, and it puts the release past my dissertation defense. Thank god. ;)
 
This is awesome news for me. I'll finished school the week before the release! Last semester of my B.S. degree = saved.
 
Neon01 said:
I've heard this so many times, but I cannot agree. Whatever is released will inevitably be bugged, and we'll get patches to correct it. Release three months later, and that's just three more months (or possibly 2, assuming they actually do put that time to good use) that it'll take to get a bug-free product. As an engineer, I can tell you that getting a "round on the ground" is invaluable, even though your trajectory may be wildly off the first time.
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I fully expect that when The Witcher 3 is released, there will be plenty of posts yelling along the lines of "We waited the extra time for this? It's a buggy POS!" I'm glad about the delay, but once again, I think people have vast over expectations about what is and what is not possible.
 
Well I still have GTA5 last week of January... but that is quite the delay.
Better fix those textures lol
 
I'm fine with this, will make my GPU upgrade a bit easier with this and Arkham Knight releasing in the same window.
 
They sure don't want to release this in the condition of say Gothic 3 when it was released. It delivered on content but was buggy as all get out. Took years of patching to get it playable and running smooth. Like Witcher 3 Gothic 3 was a very ambitious open world RPG developed in Europe. This title is going to make or break DC Projekt, Gothic 3 broke Piranha Bytes. I just hope they pull this baby off and haven't bitten off more than they can chew.
 
As much as I wanted to be playing this in February, I'm going to sit back and patiently wait for CDPR to do their thing. This game is going to be amazing , and I'm all about having it be as polished as absolutely possible by the time it releases.

Kudos to them for doing the right thing. Such a large delay can't be an easy decision, especially since it's not the first delay. I think almost anyone else would release buggy and unfinished and then work on fixing it up after they have everyones money.
 
Between CDP being labeled as someone who breaks their promises and delays games over being labeled as someone who rushes their games to keep the said promise, I much prefer the former. It's not as if I am desperately waiting for TW3 to play anyway (haven't even played TW2 yet...)
 
I am perfectly fine for publishers pushing delays, especially when they are announced in advance. I prefer a polished day one game over hitting some arbitrary date.
 
Neon01 said:
I've heard this so many times, but I cannot agree. Whatever is released will inevitably be bugged, and we'll get patches to correct it.
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There's a huge difference between a game with couple of bugs, compared to a game that is riddled with em.

I prefer the delay, because to me, it seems like they value quality. Lots of companies seem to forget that, look at Ubisoft and EA, a game every year, and ass creed got 2 this time right? If football had more seasons a year, I'd bet EA would've done that many times over.

Also, when a company delays a release to fix things, or work on things, they aren't getting paid for their game. It sucks for them, and quite frankly, it's probably a good motivator to get on it. On the opposite side, companies that does the opposite, tend to do "just enough" then stop patching, or worst, just go with the idea that, they already got your money, they don't need to do anymore. Sadly, there are many gamers that would go back like little puppies after being stepped on over and over again. It's tempting... like EA with DA3. I know I'm tempted but I'm resisting it pretty well.

EDIT: By the way, I'm resisting buying it. I'd play it if a friend gets it. Just thought I'd make that part clear.

That's how I view it anyway.
 
pothb said:
There's a huge difference between a game with couple of bugs, compared to a game that is riddled with em.

I prefer the delay, because to me, it seems like they value quality. Lots of companies seem to forget that, look at Ubisoft and EA, a game every year, and ass creed got 2 this time right? If football had more seasons a year, I'd bet EA would've done that many times over.

Also, when a company delays a release to fix things, or work on things, they aren't getting paid for their game. It sucks for them, and quite frankly, it's probably a good motivator to get on it. On the opposite side, companies that does the opposite, tend to do "just enough" then stop patching, or worst, just go with the idea that, they already got your money, they don't need to do anymore. Sadly, there are many gamers that would go back like little puppies after being stepped on over and over again. It's tempting... like EA with DA3. I know I'm tempted but I'm resisting it pretty well.

EDIT: By the way, I'm resisting buying it. I'd play it if a friend gets it. Just thought I'd make that part clear.

That's how I view it anyway.
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They're betting that people assume that additional time spent in development translates to a more perfect game. I'm stating that it isn't necessarily true. Look to previous Witcher games as the guide, not anything done by EA (who isn't even a dev, to my knowledge) or Ubisoft. Both TW1 and TW2 were delayed, and both were massively bugged when they released (the first one especially). Hell, it was pretty much the reason for the EE re-release, which carried over to the second game as well. This is a studio that has proven that their method is to work on a game, release it when it's "good enough", and fix it over time. I'm completely OK with that, because I know what I'm buying, and they're a great studio that provides TONS of free support and content post-release. But don't be fooled into thinking it'll be any different now, no matter how many times they delay.

Also, I'm not sure why everyone has complete faith in the fact that the previous date was the true completion date, and this is going to be nothing but 3 months of bug fixing and polishing. More than likely they were just wrong about the previous date as well, and as they got close to the finish they realized they just estimated incorrectly...again. They've pretty much said as much in their statement.

Your point about the devs wanting to release quickly because they're not getting paid until they do is well taken, but keep in mind that the people in the trenches begging for more time are not the ones that are sharing in profit when the game ships. It's the publisher and owners of CDPR that are motivated to ship the game. The folks doing the work get a steady paycheck just like you and me. In fact, the odds that they will be let go only AFTER the game is complete is the more likely scenario. Believe me, as someone that makes his livelihood in the world of Government Acquisition (DoD materiel system program management), I can tell you that FIRM schedule constraints are absolutely critical to success and efficiency. Never forget that people are exactly as efficient as they need to be.

I just get tired of devs/pubs issuing release dates, slipping them, slipping them again, issuing statements that no more slips are forthcoming, and then slipping them again. Why aren't these folks held accountable? If I were their publisher or a stakeholder of any kind, I'd be furious. Take a page from Blizzard's book. Only make statements when you're good and damned ready.
 
I think you are making a big assumption if you think that recent past games are indicators that heavy-bugginess cannot be escaped. The reason those games were still bugged on release was exactly because they were NOT delayed. The difference between delaying and releasing now is that if they release now, they release a game with BOTH a large amount of expected bugs along with unexpected bugs. If they release later, at least they only have to deal with the small or even large amount of unexpected bugs, and not the large amount of expected bugs too.

As for the issue of employees not having an incentive to do a good job in a timely manner, well that is an entirely different issue. The company has multiple projects, not just The Witcher, so whether they actually do so or not, they can move people from one project to the next. But there are all kinds of factors that affect employees' productivity. They do not have to release unfinished games on strict deadlines in order to motivate employees. If they do, there are serious flaws in their company that is causing that motivation/incentive problem.

Edit:
I do agree though that a lot of "ETAs" are complete made-up BS right from the beginning though, especially ones coming from Kickstarter and Early-access games.
 
so a 6 month total delay (counting both delays)...the first delay I didn't mind since they promised it would not be delayed further...now I'm wondering if they got too ambitious with this open world and bit off a bit more then they can chew, especially in regards to GPU horsepower...so what will they have to downgrade- graphics? map size?
 
Fine with me, gives me plenty of time to run through Witcher 1 and 2 again before it comes out.
 
Sad news, I was waiting for this game that look so good in the video. Something like Shadow of Mordor. Can't wait.
 
polonyc2 said:
so a 6 month total delay (counting both delays)...the first delay I didn't mind since they promised it would not be delayed further...now I'm wondering if they got too ambitious with this open world and bit off a bit more then they can chew, especially in regards to GPU horsepower...so what will they have to downgrade- graphics? map size?
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Maybe the delay is so that they don't have to downgrade and can optimize more.
 
Neon01 said:
They're betting that people assume that additional time spent in development translates to a more perfect game. I'm stating that it isn't necessarily true. Look to previous Witcher games as the guide, not anything done by EA (who isn't even a dev, to my knowledge) or Ubisoft. Both TW1 and TW2 were delayed, and both were massively bugged when they released (the first one especially). Hell, it was pretty much the reason for the EE re-release, which carried over to the second game as well. This is a studio that has proven that their method is to work on a game, release it when it's "good enough", and fix it over time. I'm completely OK with that, because I know what I'm buying, and they're a great studio that provides TONS of free support and content post-release. But don't be fooled into thinking it'll be any different now, no matter how many times they delay.
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Witcher 1 was their first release, so it's hard to judge them on their "techically" first try. As for Witcher 2, I didn't really have much trouble with bugs. I don't think this delay will make it bug free. If a game like Witcher 3 can be bug free, I would be amazed, considering the supposed size of it.

The thing is, neither of the witcher games went crazy and crashed on me or just bugged the hell out. I didn't play them on release, though, so take that with salt, if you will.
Neon01 said:
Also, I'm not sure why everyone has complete faith in the fact that the previous date was the true completion date, and this is going to be nothing but 3 months of bug fixing and polishing. More than likely they were just wrong about the previous date as well, and as they got close to the finish they realized they just estimated incorrectly...again. They've pretty much said as much in their statement.

Your point about the devs wanting to release quickly because they're not getting paid until they do is well taken, but keep in mind that the people in the trenches begging for more time are not the ones that are sharing in profit when the game ships. It's the publisher and owners of CDPR that are motivated to ship the game. The folks doing the work get a steady paycheck just like you and me. In fact, the odds that they will be let go only AFTER the game is complete is the more likely scenario. Believe me, as someone that makes his livelihood in the world of Government Acquisition (DoD materiel system program management), I can tell you that FIRM schedule constraints are absolutely critical to success and efficiency. Never forget that people are exactly as efficient as they need to be.
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True, they get steady paychecks, but often times, on these type of projects, they do get bonuses. I'd agree with you about the efficiency, but considering what i hear about people working 100 + hours, I don't think it's quite a lets do it tomorrow type of decision.
Neon01 said:
I just get tired of devs/pubs issuing release dates, slipping them, slipping them again, issuing statements that no more slips are forthcoming, and then slipping them again. Why aren't these folks held accountable? If I were their publisher or a stakeholder of any kind, I'd be furious. Take a page from Blizzard's book. Only make statements when you're good and damned ready.
Click to expand...

I used to think that about release dates, but I think people put out release dates, for reasons. One being that they believe that is the time they will finish. Another is to motivate themselves to finish it by then. Pressure tends to help in that circumstance.
 
GearChoices said:
As for the issue of employees not having an incentive to do a good job in a timely manner, well that is an entirely different issue. The company has multiple projects, not just The Witcher, so whether they actually do so or not, they can move people from one project to the next. But there are all kinds of factors that affect employees' productivity. They do not have to release unfinished games on strict deadlines in order to motivate employees. If they do, there are serious flaws in their company that is causing that motivation/incentive problem.
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I'm not arguing that at all. I was disputing the assertion someone else made that their employees (the folks doing the "real work", that is) are motivated to release the game by financial sales incentives. Obviously there are many other reasons they do what they do for a living.

pothb said:
I used to think that about release dates, but I think people put out release dates, for reasons. One being that they believe that is the time they will finish. Another is to motivate themselves to finish it by then. Pressure tends to help in that circumstance.
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Of course. I agree with your points here (thus my comments about having firm deadlines), but those deadlines shouldn't be announced to the world until they're confident they can be met. Their leadership, publisher, and stakeholders should be managing them internally to firm schedules.

It's clear to see why they make announcements to the public - pre-orders. No one is going to pre-order anything if they know your game is well over a year out. This type of tactic is used to generate buzz and additional sales. While there IS a line you can cross and lose sales, they obviously realized just recently that they're not that close to it since they just won "Most Anticipated Game of the Year". They're just cashing in on this award and giving themselves some more time. They even said as much in their announcement (referenced the award)

The date is what it is. I'm just a little shocked when 9/10 of the people posting here are saying "whew, thank God this is delayed".
 
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I'm guessing Cyberpunk 2077 is likely pushed back as well. Wonder if this is going to be a 2017 release basically.

Neon01 said:
The date is what it is. I'm just a little shocked when 9/10 of the people posting here are saying "whew, thank God this is delayed".
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It really does depend on your circumstances. If you have other stuff to play in the meantime, GTA V for example, it might even be a good thing as there are now no conflicts.

At the same time for me I'm not really all that interested in GTA V and this delay instead puts it next to Batman: AK which along with the Witcher 3 are my two most anticipated by far this year.

Video card purchase being tied to these releases makes it worse for me :p (would've been great if Batman and Witcher kept Feb releases so maybe GPU bundles!)
 
Neon01 said:
The date is what it is. I'm just a little shocked when 9/10 of the people posting here are saying "whew, thank God this is delayed".
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I don't think anyone is happy about the delay. That doesn't mean you can't accept it and trust that it's in the best interest of the game. CDPR is, to many, the holy grail of PC gaming. They make great games that push the limits of what our insanely expensive PC's can handle, have a PC first attitude, are anti-DRM, and their post release support with both patches and free DLC is unmatched. If ever there we're a developer whom I can trust to make decisions in my best interest, it's CDPR. So, if they feel the game needed to be delayed in order for me to experience the game as they envision it on release delay, I can accept that.

Compare it to say... GTA V. When it was announced that the PC version would be two months behind the console version, people raged hard. Every post was about how R* hates PC, are trying to sabotage the game, get people to buy the game 2 or 3 times over, etc. Everyone was pissed. The difference? Rockstart has never had a PC friendly attitude... people have been saying "fuck these guys" in relation to their PC releases for years, so it's just easier to keep bitching about them and go about your day. I know the situations aren't exactly apples to apples, but it does none-the-less show that the attitude a developer shows towards the PC community mirrors how the PC community is going to treat the developer.
 
Neon01 said:
Of course. I agree with your points here (thus my comments about having firm deadlines), but those deadlines shouldn't be announced to the world until they're confident they can be met. Their leadership, publisher, and stakeholders should be managing them internally to firm schedules.

It's clear to see why they make announcements to the public - pre-orders. No one is going to pre-order anything if they know your game is well over a year out. This type of tactic is used to generate buzz and additional sales. While there IS a line you can cross and lose sales, they obviously realized just recently that they're not that close to it since they just won "Most Anticipated Game of the Year". They're just cashing in on this award and giving themselves some more time. They even said as much in their announcement (referenced the award)

The date is what it is. I'm just a little shocked when 9/10 of the people posting here are saying "whew, thank God this is delayed".
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No, that's true. They probably need a better judge of their ability to get things done... but I think that's in everything. So, I can't fault them, at least, more than most other things. Consdering the amount of work they need to do, I fault them less.

As for preordering... you basically just ignored kickstarter. :D Almost everything in there has a release date of more than a year.

And no one is "glad" about it being delayed. We're just happier that it's being delayed instead of being released like Ass creed Unity, as a recent example. Can you imagine Witcher 3 released like that slughtering house game, or garry's incident or even Skyrim? I don't know if they have quite the leeway that Bethesda has.
 
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