The Witcher series currently has two main RPGs not available on PlayStation consoles: The Witcher 1 and The Witcher 2 Assassin of Kings. While both of CD Projekt’s games would undoubtedly earn some serious coin, it could be impossible.
The Witcher 1 and The Witcher 2 Assassin of Kings are missing from PlayStation, despite the fact that they would undoubtedly sell very well. CD Projekt Red, developers of The Witcher series, actually planned to release both formative RPGs on the PS3, but had issues with both. Let’s get into the how and why.
What happened to The Witcher Rise of the White Wolf on PlayStation?
The original Witcher game from the then fledgling CD Projekt development team from Poland released its RPG based on Andrzej Sapkowski’s fantasy novels in 2007. With a beast slayer tied to a prophetic fate he hated, it only came to PC, before a 2008 Enhanced Edition release on the same systems would exponentially improve the game with additional animations. It was positively received at the time, although it now feels very dated in terms of graphics and gameplay. Built on Bioware’s Aurora engine and the beginning of Geralt of Rivia’s story in the video games, it’s still conspicuously missing from PlayStation, despite coming out during the PS3 era.
However, it was planned. The Witcher Rise of the White Wolf is licensed by CD Projekt to a French company called Widescreen Games. The PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game would be built from the ground up on the DaVinci Engine and would feature enhancements, DLC expansions, and (probably) trophies. However, not all went well. In 2009, it was announced that the project would be canceled in a dramatic and accusatory message from Widescreen Games, with CD Projekt stating that it was taking action after deadlines were missed and the expected quality bar was not met.
While missed payments and drama make for very interesting drama, it doesn’t make for a good or completed game. We’ve heard very little about the project since then, and almost nothing about restarting development. It seems CD Projekt was burned and too busy with the sequels to return to the project.
Oddly enough, the team never came back to the idea and hasn’t talked about it since. However, this fallout strongly reminds us that CD Projekt also outsourced the PS5 remake of The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt to Saber Interactive, but then had to take it in-house due to that third-party developer’s position as a Russian studio during the invasion. in Ukraine. It seems CD Projekt doesn’t like doing remasters and upgrading itself on console, but hasn’t had much luck with its partners either.
What happened to The Witcher 2 Assassin of Kings on PlayStation?
This may be a shorter story, but no less sweet for PlayStation gamers. The Witcher 2 Assassin of Kings was released in 2011 on PC and Xbox 360, but not for PS3 to the surprise of many. For most players, it was a step up from the original with more complexity and moral conundrums at every corner. It was a bit more political and had more of those fantastic Slavic roots that fans of the series had come to love. It sold particularly well, and featured the first use of the RED Engine.
Despite announcing plans to bring the game to PS3, CD Projekt never got around to it. Tomasz Gop, the senior producer, told Eurogamer that “the technology, the RED engine, is capable of doing all three: PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. We are now focused on Xbox 360. Of course that doesn’t mean we don’t like Doing PS3 later in the line, like after that. We’d like to. The size of the studio and the approach we have to the projects” was the problem. “We don’t like going 50/50. With everything we go at full speed, all the time.
“The other thing is that moving from PC to Xbox 360 was quite easy. We already have people on board who have done 360 games. Right now we are looking for a good PS3 developer, so it could happen. ” In a later interview, managing director Adam Badowski said: “There are a lot of PS3 fans who probably want to play The Witcher 2, and we know about it, so we should always consider such paths”, before again suggesting that the team would like to work on something new.
To us, despite Gop’s words on the matter, this suggests that PS3’s annoying CELL processor – the bain of backwards compatibility on PS Plus Premium – was in fact the problem. This was a developer used to PC and could easily create a port yourself (very unusual given the Rise of the White Wolf debacle) to the very similar architecture of the Xbox 360. However, the team would have to outsource the work for PS3, suggesting that the team simply decided it wasn’t worth it rather than there are console exclusivity deals.
However, with the team now full steam ahead on six Witcher projects, it seems like a piece of The Witcher history is missing from consoles, despite the fact that it would be the perfect holdover to the fourth game in three years or so. With Unreal Engine 5, we imagine the process of a remaster would be much simpler. Indeed, we imagine Bluepoint would do incredibly well for PlayStation Studios.
Despite the obvious reward of mega coins, we imagine CD Projekt has plans to add its older games to the best PS4 games and best PS5 games list at some point, it will just be doubtful whether a external studio does the work. What do you think of the problems Witcher has had on PlayStation? Let us know in the squad comments, yeah
0 Comments