‘The Witcher 3’ Delayed Again, But For All The Right Reasons
The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt was already pushed back once by CD Projekt Red from the hot holiday fall sales period to late-February 2015. The PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC release received another delay Monday, as the developer seemingly wants to avoid the pitfall of bugs and glitches experienced by major AAA recent releases such as Assassin’s Creed Unity, Halo: The Master Chief Collection, and DriveClub.
CD Project Red announced the delay on The Witcher Facebook page, where they called it an “ambitious game.” The studio is aiming to provide “an incredible experience, an epic adventure in a vast, completely open fantasy universe.” That ambition will push the game back, though for all the right reasons.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – An Open Letter (New Release Date) http://t.co/yAmvQNf9tf pic.twitter.com/Hpzc1W78Md
— The Witcher (@witchergame) December 8, 2014
“The sheer size and complexity of ‘The Witcher,’ key features of the title, have had a decisive impact on production,” CD Projekt Red wrote. “Now, nearing the end of our work, we see many details that need to be corrected. When we release the most important game in our studio’s history, we must be absolutely sure that we did everything we could to limit any bugs to a level that will allow you to enjoy the game thoroughly.”
The studio continued, “With this in mind, we took another look at current workloads and what they mean for the team. Even though everyone is working at full speed, we concluded that we need another 12 weeks, so we are shifting the release date of ‘The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt to May 19th, 2015.”
One of the top comments in the Facebook post is from Chris Rigoutsos who wrote, “Better late than buggy! Good luck!”
I can’t help but agree after the recent spate of buggy game releases that have not only provided disappointing experiences, but seemingly wasted gamer’s time and money. Assassin’s Creed Unity’s issues are so bad that Ubisoft decided to give away all the planned DLC for free and give a free game to Season Pass purchasers. Sony has done the same with DriveClub. Meanwhile, 343 Industries has hinted at making it right with Halo: The Master Chief Collection owners.
Games rushed out to meet the holiday sales period is a common refrain for the games industry, especially with yearly titles such as Assassin’s Creed. It seems extra noticeable this year due to the depth and length of the problems experienced by gamers. This may be due to the added complexity and work required for the current generation of consoles, but that excuse is still a hard sell for consumers who plop down their $60 on a broken game that could have used extra development and testing time. It almost makes CD Projekt Red’s apology seem needless, as they should be credited instead for their communication and desire to release a complete experience.
“We owe you an apology. We set the release date too hastily. It’s a hard lesson, one to take to heart for the future. We know what we want to do to make Wild Hunt one of the best RPGs you will ever play. And we continue to work hard to achieve just that. So, we apologize and ask for your trust,” the studio wrote.
What do you think of The Witcher 3‘s delay? Sound off in the comments below.
[Images via The Witcher]
