In an interview with Eurogamer, the Polish video game developer behind The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, CD Projekt Red, responded to the concerns about the game’s graphics being “downgraded” throughout the course of development for the game.
CD Projekt Red co-founder Marcin Iwinski said that even though the graphics had to be tweaked around for the console versions to run smoothly, they didn’t hold back whatsoever with the PC edition.
“If the consoles are not involved there is no Witcher 3 as it is,”Iwinski said. “We can lay it out that simply. We just cannot afford it, because consoles allow us to go higher in terms of the possible or achievable sales; have a higher budget for the game, and invest it all into developing this huge, gigantic world.”
“Developing only for the PC: yes, probably we could get more [in terms of graphics] as there would be nothing else–they would be so focused, like if we would develop only on Xbox One or PlayStation 4. But then we cannot afford such a game.”
“It’s not a lie or a bad will,” he said. “We don’t agree there is a downgrade but it’s our opinion, and gamers’ feeling can be different. If they made their purchasing decision based on the 2013 materials, I’m deeply sorry for that, and we are discussing how we can make it up to them because that’s not fair.”
Iwinski says the entire team has been affected by the outcry of the graphics being downgraded. “We don’t feel good about it,” Iwinski said. “And I treat it very personally.” CD Projekt Red marketing manager Michal Platkow-Gilewski added: “The whole team was touched by this.”
What do you think? Let us know in the comments below what you think of the “downgraded” graphics on the console counterparts of The Witcher 3.