CD Projekt Explains Why There Isn’t a PS3 version of The Witcher 2

GC - "Marcin Iwinski, one of the founders of CD Projekt Red, has revealed in an interview why there isn’t a PS3 version of The Witcher 2."

[Smurf1]

This is disappointing because if they can put it on the Xbox 360 they can put it on the PS3 as well. But whatever, they have their reasons.

[erathaol]

Actually there isn't a Xbox 360 version listed

Edit - Ha, I thought we were talking Witcher 3, oh well I need sleep, later.

[Vegamyster]

They said right in the article that it would have taken a year and a half to make a port due to the architecture.

[hay]

Obviously. First Witcher was using Neverwinter Nights engine, second created own vision of the engine for the PCs. The thing PC/Xbox360 have is one random access memory in comparison to divided in half for PS3.
If gutting the game for Xbox was a pain in the ass, imagine how fun would be making additional threading and changing memory use of the app/engine to support twice as fast but half as much PS3 XDR memory.

[mewhy32]

Cant wait to play this on the mighty PS4!!!!

[MadLad]

This was known for a while. They are very much a PC-centric developer, and the architecture of the PS3 was very foreign to them than that of the much more PC-like 360 . . . so they went with that.
At this point, they are still very hard into development with Witcher 3 and the idea of going back and working on Witcher 2 again is probably out of the question.
That said, it would be interesting to see the trilogy hit next-gen consoles sometime down the road. I think everyone should have access to the series as a whole. I honestly hold it as the best rpg series going at the moment.

[thekhurg]

It would be pretty freaking difficult to get the original Witcher on consoles because of the control scheme and camera angles used in that title.

[CBaoth]

Why wait though and release a trilogy on next gen consoles? I'd much rather see ports of the 1st two games on PSN/XBL before the 3rd comes out. Build momentum and hype for a great IP & maximize its earning potential by allowing console gamers access to the early ones first! CDR could outsource the ports. It's almost criminal to see the lifetime numbers of the franchise given its quality.

Square is doing the same thing with Kingdom Hearts 3 on XB1. Nintendo and Sega should've already announced the original Bayonetta will be ported over this summer before B2 releases. I still firmly adhere to the belief The Darkness 2 would've seen much higher sales if 2K had bundled the first one on PC. No ones likes to pick up a series midway through it - whether it be TV, movie, or games. They're doing a disservice to themselves now that those financial barriers have been lessened/removed by MS & Sony.

EDIT: @khurg, pretty sure console gamers can figure out push the attack button, wait for the yellow icon and push the button again. Console gamers have dealt with wonky camera angles since the dawn of 3D gaming.

[thekhurg]

Only the entire game engine required you to click on targets to attack them. It wouldn't be a port, it would have to be built specifically to work on consoles with a controller.

Considering they're working on the 3rd installemnt, plus cyber punk - it's just not feasible.

[ziggurcat]

so basically... they were too lazy.

and wrong because the X360 is not more powerful than the PS3.

[brich233]

They were late as console developers because they were mainly PC developers, and we all know PS3 had crap Architecture to develop for.

[hay]

I assume the "crap architecture" part was a metaphor.

While Sony went too far ahead with extensive threading(which is barely catching up today), and way too far out of corporate comfort zone to invest money and resources to teach small army of coders how to work with the hardware, this isn't crap architecture.

It's fairly enjoyable to work on something that oriental, but here we are, going back to "popular" mainly because of penny squeezing and lack of proper technology strategization within companies.

Seriously, if independent garage developers can handle it, it's clearly a matter of money for the business. Been there.

[brich233]

@hay PS3 had "CRAP ARCHITECTURE". There a reason why PS4 wont be using it.

[brich233]

I like how everyone edits thier original post and changes completely what they originally wrote.

[Vegamyster]

They never said it was more powerful, it was all due to the architecture.

[ziggurcat]

Quote from the dev in the article:

“The Xbox 360 was a more powerful and easier-to-code-on platform than PS3..."

So, yes, they did say that.

[Vegamyster]

@ziggurcat

Yes because of the architecture, the vast majority of 3rd party games run and look better on the 360 because they're able to get more power out, you took his words out of context.

[ziggurcat]

"you took his words out of context."

no.

the words were "more powerful and easier" not "more powerful because it was easier."

so he did, in fact, make an erroneous statement.

[esemce]

You ever heard of the phrase 'time is money' ? Studios will not undertake a project unless there is a very high chance of a profit.

These guys are quite a small team so cannot just pump out a perfect port in a few months.

[Ashunderfire86]

Dude first of all CD Projekt Red, is not that big of a team to make Witcher 2 also on the PS3. Second of all PS3 cell was a pain in the ass for many developers to develop games for (Remember how long the DLC was for Skyrim on PS3?), so why waste time and money, since there is a better looking next gen sequel to the game in development? Plus it is common knowledge that 360 is very similar to PC, so now Sony has learn their lesson, and made PS4 like PC. If they want to do a Witcher Trilogy pack, I say do it afterwards for PS4/X1. CD Projekt Red is far from lazy, and they don't nickel and dime us like those other game developers.

[snookiegamer]

Lookey here, lookey here...

I'm a PS3 user and I agree the Cell was alien to many developers, the learning curve was ridiculously steep. Even Sony engineers stated so.

The main problem with Skyrim was the way PS3 Ram was designed, the 360's was more in line with PC development. That's why Gaby Newell called Sony out in the early days.

Had PS3 been more developer friendly, we would have had Uncharted 2 and The Last of Us quality games back in 2008/9.

It's not 'lazy' to look at a job and say..is this worth my time financially? I think too many people look at developers as 'Islands' and there's an old saying 'No Man is an Island'. It means we all have thresholds and limits to what we can handle. This is the reason Witcher 2 missed PS3.

Maybe in the distant future, a game of the year edition of Witcher 3 could include a bonus for PS4/Xbox One >Witcher 2 HD remake?, or maybe not?

[Maxor]

Lazy? Sounds like they didn't want to waste their time with the Cell's worthless architecture.

Hell, even Sony threw it the trash heap. When Sony created the PS4, they wanted to make sure that is it the polar opposite of what the PS3 is in every way possible.

[LeoDDestroyer]

Exactly they were considering newer version of the cell for the ps4 in their development process.

[AnnaDea]

Lazy?

Did you even read the article? It is common that the Xbox 360 has architecture that is closer to resemble a PC. Nowhere do they state that the Xblock is more powerful than the PS3.

Rather is it was more easily to optimize for...

Some people should learn to read before commenting.

[TruthInsider]

You need to learn to read!

"The Xbox 360 was a more powerful and easier-to-code-on platform than PS3"

[AnnaDea]

In terms of coding!

“If you look at the Xbox 360 version launch time and compare it to the PC specs of that time, the difference is big, but if you were to add a year-and-a-half to that and compare PS3 specs to the PC specs of that time, the difference is huge. It’s mission impossible.”

Read what he means and not what he says!

Learn about context!

[Roccetarius]

Obviously it would've taken a while to code for the PS3, so they chose not to. Instead, they take their time with Witcher 3. That makes sense for a PC developer.

[Ju]

Unless of course you'd think the 80M install base has the potential to generate some profit for you. They seem to think it doesn't for some reason. Also, if the 360 is already done I doubt it takes them another year for the PS3, probably half a year. But yeah, they'd need some PS3 expert for hire during that time - or outsource it.

[PSN-JeRzYzFyNeSt]

i never heard of the Witcher, until The Witcher 3 lol dead serious. and I'm always on the internet i guess it didn't catch my attention. Or there advertising is horrible.

thats interesting how it came out for 360 and not Ps3.

what can i expect from this game? is there loot and stuff

[xfear2diex]

google is your friend

[Gregard]

There is loot (armor, weapons, etc) but it's not so focused on that. It's very story driven, with a ton of choices to make, and a gazillion different story paths depending on those choices. One of the few games where the choices are almost always in the grey area (not good vs evil) and the consequences are almost never seen until much later.

The story is epic and mature, and of good length as well. The graphics are also reaaaaaally good, especially witcher 2.

The first game is a bit old now, and was running on a different engine. But witcher 2 and 3 are using their own engine which is superb. The combat was reworked after the first game as well, where it was a bit weird.

I definitely recommend that you play witcher 2 and the upcoming witcher 3 if what I wrote above interests you. I cannot 100% recommend the first game, as it is a bit outdated now and you might not enjoy it as much. It's good if you want to know more about the story, but you don't HAVE to play it in order to enjoy 2+3. You could always find a summary somewhere online.

[Irishguy95]

It's very likely most console only peeps don't have a clue about the vast amount of amazing PC games there are. Witcher 2 is a good example of this. Most PC games get ignored on alot of sites such as N4G.

[Ashunderfire86]

Hey let me google that for you.

http://lmgtfy.com/

Type the Witcher game series in the search engine, copy the link paste it, and watch the magic happens. Works everytime.

[webeblazing]

this is mainly cansole site any good pc news usually get bashed or downplayed. most fanboys dont admit that a pc is good or look good until its on their console of choice like now

[Hellsvacancy]

So why can't we get a PS4 port of the PC version? PS4 is supposed to be much easier to develop on

[Maxor]

I agree. I wouldn't mind the Definitive Edition of the Witcher 2 on my PS4.

[Bloodjunkie]

Who needs the Witcher 2 when there will be the Witcher 3 for the PS4 :)

[vickers500]

Why not both for ps4?

After they're finished with The Witcher 3, hopefully they can get a small team together to port The Witcher 2 over to ps4 (I say small because their next project is Cyberpunk, and they don't need all their resources on one port).

The Witcher 2 would look amazing on the ps4.

[Agent_hitman]

So yeah CD project were scared about the Cell's architecture.. That's why

[CaulkSlap]

Makes sense. Can't really blame them considering they would've been developing a PS3 engine from scratch at the end of its lifecycle. With Witcher 3 being just PC/XBO/PS4 they would just get one port years late from all that effort on PS3.

[DanielGearSolid]

Well guess what that means..

Put it on Ps4!

[jegheist2014]

lazy isnt word ps3 artchitecture is one hardest to develop for since cd projekt has never developed for ps3 it would of took year half trust me witcher 3 on ps4 is so much easier to devlop an game on then ps3s cell.

we could see pc port of this for ps4 in future so us real gamers would be getting real deal not 360 downsaled crap lol