The Witcher 3 was one of 2015’s strongest role-playing experiences, and while the clamour for developer CD Projekt Red’s next game, Cyberpunk 2077, is understandable, it’s also heartening to hear that the developer has ongoing plans to support it’s mature fantasy title. In a NeoGAF-translated interview with Money.pl, CD Projekt Red CEO Adam Kicinski, stated that ‘This and the next year will be devoted to The Witcher. Apart from the second expansion we have some additional ideas’.
The second expansion he’s referring to is Blood and Wine, due for release in the first half of 2016 and set in the could-it-be-France region of Toussaint, ‘where an atmosphere of carefree indulgence and knightly ritual masks an ancient, bloody secret.’ Blood and Wine is the final announced piece of content for the already-enormous game, however Kicinski’s comments seem to suggest that there may be additional content in development as well, stating that ‘[these additional ideas] should help us animate sales in 2016. The game is selling so well, that we are convinced there are still many people who will buy it if we promote it further.’
Despite the discussion of animating sales and monetisation, Kicinski also reinforced CD Projekt Red’s widely-praised business philosophy, stating that ‘I know we are on business TV, so I am going to use the word “client”, however internally we don’t use such nomenclature. They are gamers to us. We are trying to quickly fix any problems and want players to talk to us as equals. And that’s how we really look at things – I’m not saying it just because I’m in TV. We don’t want to exploit gamers for their money, which is what many other gaming companies do, and that’s why we don’t want to become a part of a larger structure.’
The Witcher 3’s first paid expansion, Hearts of Stone, was pretty sizable in scope and featured the same strong writing and design as the main game. If CD Projekt Red can continue adding content that matches the bar they have set for themselves, there’s no reason why gamers might not still be enjoying Geralt’s adventures by this time next year. As for Cyberpunk 2077, Kicinski said that the release date has been set internally, ‘but we won’t announce it until we are ready to start the marketing campaign’.
Via CGM.
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