Console Port of The Witcher On Hold

Several sources are reporting that work on The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf, a console port of the popular PC game, has officially been suspended. CD Projekt, makers of the original game, were working with WideScreen Games on the new version. WideScreen says that CD Projekt missed a significant payment for their role in the development, leading them to stop work on the game. They are emphatic that development won't continue until CD Projekt makes good on the debt, but CD Projekt says, "All payments were done on time according to milestone plan. ... Truth is that payments were later than originally planned but this was solely due to delays in production. The delays were growing in the project due to WSG [continuing] to miss the deadlines." The game's future is uncertain.

Seem to Imply Focusing on Sequel

[eldavojohn]

Well, if you're a fan of the original game, this news might be good. Instead of the port of a game you've already played they seem to imply they've refocused on The Witcher 2:

According to a number of reports, a separate spinoff game in the Witcher franchise has also been canceled, although the main followup, The Witcher 2, remains on track for PC and consoles, with CD Projekt dedicating more staff to the game.

So depending on your view of how enjoyable spin-offs and ports to consoles are to play/replay, this could be positive news. It also might be one of those rare signs that CD Projekt isn't just concerned about money money money and are willing to sack a port for fear of quality or schedule slippages. It's rare to see that, as the port is a pretty sure bet for some income on something you've already done. I also sympathize with CD Projekt as they've probably got little cash to afford a schedule slip and it's better they kill it now than later.

ZeroPunctuation review of The Witcher

[Shivetya]

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/22-The-Witcher [escapistmagazine.com]

Just how are they going to port this without removing half of it? The game was complex already and now they want to get it onto a Console? I think porting Excel or Access would be simpler.

Still, if you do enjoy these games and can put up with some harsh language and heavy sarcasm watching ZeroPunctuation reviews of game is sometimes more enjoyable than the game itself, (especially minute six of his halo wars review)

Interview with CD Projekt co-founder

[firejump]

polygamia.pl interviewed Michal Kicinski (CD Projekt co-founder) regarding the issue yesterday: http://polygamia.pl/Polygamia/1,95338,6556537,Ekskluzywny_wywiad_z_Michalem_Kicinskim.html [polygamia.pl] (partial English translation is below the original version).