The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is looking to be one of the biggest releases of the year — and not just because the game's map is larger than that of some countries. It's the culmination of an entire franchise, and a lovingly-crafted send-off to a world that's brimming with all sorts of fantastical stories. Once you see the game in motion, it's easy to understand why fans are so excited.
Unless, that is, you claim that footage of the game is running on one platform when it was clearly captured from another — at that point, the only thing you'll get is a whole lot of angry fans. That's exactly what happened to Microsoft. When the publisher released nearly 10 minutes of new in-game footage on Wednesday, April 22, everyone was excited — but it didn't take long for fans to realize that something was off.
When the footage was released, it was published to the official Xbox YouTube channel. Despite the fact that it featured the official Xbox watermark, the footage was not from an Xbox One, but the PC version of the game.
At first, everything seemed fine: the game looks amazing, and nothing about the video appears doctored. There's seemingly no way to tell which platform the game is running on — except for the fact that the video's frame rate would be impossible on an Xbox One.
CD Projekt Red, the developers behind the game, have confirmed that the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of the game are capped at the standard 30 frames-per-second. However, the video above runs at 60 — which is something that can only be done on a high-end gaming PC.
On its own, it wouldn't be much of an issue, but it's highly likely that the PC game will look better than its console counterparts. That got fans accusing Microsoft of trying to push its version of The Witcher 3 as looking better than it actually will when it's finally released.
To Microsoft's credit, a notice was added to the video's description:
"In game footage provided by CD Projekt Red, captured on a PC."
...though this was clearly after-the-fact, Microsoft at least tried to correct its mistake. Whether or not they were trying to deliberately bait fans is anyone's guess, though it doesn't really make sense to post PC footage to the Xbox YouTube channel, either.
Regardless of which platform you'll play it on, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is set for release on May 19.
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