Polish developer CD Projekt Red has released The Witcher 3 to critical acclaim, but the game’s creators have released a patch to address criticism over visuals in the final version of the game not being up to par with those showcased in a 2013 Spike Video Game Awards trailer.
When asked by Eurogamer reporter Robert Purchese whether console editions of The Witcher 3 impacted the graphical quality of the PC release, co-founder Marcin Iwinski of CD Projekt Red responded, “Developing only for the PC: yes, probably we could get more [in terms of graphics]… but then we cannot afford such a game.” This latter statement refers to the larger revenue that developers make by creating both PC and console versions.
Iwinski explained, “We do a certain build for a tradeshow… it looks amazing… then you put in the open-world… and it’s like ‘oh shit, it doesn’t really work.’” The developers rationalized the graphical downgrade with utilitarianism; CD Projekt Red’s studio head, Adam Badowski, said they traded flashy visuals like the trailer’s fire and smoke effects for functionality.
The co-founder stated that the studio “didn’t see [the graphical changes] as a problem… we are not hiding anything.” On Wednesday, May 20, a patch to improve The Witcher 3’s graphics was released for PC and is awaiting certification for consoles.
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