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Report: Witcher Console Port Canceled Amid Payment Problems
by Chris Remo [PC, Console/PC]
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April 30, 2009
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The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf, a console port of CD Projekt RED's original PC RPG The Witcher, has been canceled with CD Projekt and developer WideScreen Games at odds over a payment dispute, according to a dense string of internet reports, statements, and informal comments published this week.
The first news of the game's troubles came from Polish gaming site Polygamia, with confirmation from English-language site GameBanshee and others. Gamasutra confirmed this claim with its own sources.
Soon after, contracted French developer WideScreen Games spoke out on the matter, with owner Olivier Masclef claiming CD Projekt failed to make a significant milestone payment to WideScreen, forcing the studio to suspend the project.
"After having committed to the project but not being covered financially on it for three months, I hold no choice but to put the team on hold," said Masclef.
CD Projekt CEO Michal Kicinski disputed that characterization, however, posting a rebuttal directly in that article's comment thread stating that payments were made according to the milestone schedule, and delayed in some cases because WideScreen continually missed its own deadlines.
"Besides the schedule, technical incapability created a risk of missing planned quality, which is absolutely unacceptable," Kicinski added. "And this brought an end in our cooperation with WSG."
In a partially translated followup interview published by Polygamia, Kicinski continued his criticism.
"WSG behaves in a way that is far from our business ethics. But their accusations are serious and, what is most important, untrue," he said. "We paid for all the milestones on time, just after they had been accepted."
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.
The Witcher itself was released for PC in 2007 to considerable acclaim and commercial success, proving to be something of a breakout hit for developer CD Projekt. The company followed up with the significantly-redeveloped Enhanced Edition last year.
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It's unfortunate that the console port didn't work out, which could have helped generate more visibility for CD Projekt, giving them additional funding for future games.
Still, a renewed focus on The Witcher 2 is not a Bad Thing. :)
Bummer @ Witcher being cancelled for Xbox. That was one of a very few games I was looking forward to.
Maybe they can find another dev.