If you're a Witcher fan, then chances are you've heard about the graphics controversy.
In a nutshell: In the midst of universal praise for its ambitious open world and refined gameplay, The Witcher 3 has come under fire for displaying graphics that don't live up to gamers' expectations. Way back in 2013, the game's reveal trailer showed off state-of-the-art graphics tech that didn't make it into the finished game. PC players in particular have griped about the alleged "downgrade," because their high-end systems are more than capable of running what was seen in the early trailer.
The Witcher 3's Polish developer, CD Projekt Red, has remained mum on the issue until now. Three of the company's bigwigs clarified their stance on the issue in an interview with Eurogamer. And the simple answer is yes — The Witcher 3's graphics were downgraded, due to the limited abilities of new-gen consoles. As powerful as the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One are, they still can't live up to the processing power provided by tricked-out PCs.
When asked if The Witcher 3's graphics were compromised for the sake of consoles, company co-founder Marcin Iwinski cut to the chase: "If the consoles are not involved, there is no Witcher 3 as it is. We just cannot afford it."
In other words, a game of this size, vision and budget just isn't possible to create for PC gamers alone, because PC gamers are in the minority. Consoles rule the industry — but, as Iwinski pointed out, they shouldn't be blamed. Developing for three different platforms is an enormous challenge.
More precisely, Iwinski explained, "We do a certain build for a trade show, and you pack it, it works, it looks amazing. [But] you are extremely far away from finishing the game. Then you put it in the open world, regardless of the platform, and it's like, 'Oh sh*t, it doesn't really work.' We've already showed it, now we have to make it work."
He said this is the nature of game development. When they showed the initial gameplay trailer in 2013, they had no idea at the time that the technology of 2015 wouldn't be capable of running the game with all the bells and whistles.
Stressing that they "don't feel good about it," Iwinski said he and his team are working on patches for each platform that will bring back some of those missing features. He wants to make it up to gamers whose hopes weren't realized in the game that shipped. A patch for the PC version has already been released.
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