Thursday, March 30th 2017
The Witcher Franchise Passes the 25 Million Games Sold Mark
This here is a theme quite close to my heart, since I've spent more time on The Witcher 3 than on any other singular game. CD Projekt Red has announced that their prodigal child, The Witcher 3 series (based on Andrzej Sapkowski's novels which you should definitely read if you like either well-written stories or The Witcher's world) has soared past the 25 million copies sold.
This has translated into pretty considerable revenues for the Polish company - those generated by the sales of The Witcher 3 and its expansion packs have, since the base game's release in May 2015, topped 1 billion PLN (around $254 million dollars). The 2016 revenues and net profit of CD Projekt were still 75% of those obtained by the company in the year that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt shipped - which just goes to show how much the series achieved with its release.
I, for one, am a fan of the way CD Projekt Red handles its marketing and fan communication, how they go out of their way to offer small tidbits that we have been mostly bled dry for by other companies. It really does stir up the argument when one considers that a company can make away with DRM (which the series has not had since The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, even though the company did stumble in those times) and succeed. CD Projekt Red has become a company whose mission and delivery - from including the games' soundtrack and a full sized, colored map with standard editions of the game, and fifteen free pieces of DLC - have done nothing but increase gamers' goodwill.
And let's not forget how The Witcher 3 stood head and shoulders above its competition when it came to a true, meaningful open world; well-written, well thought-out side-quests (and an amazing main story-line) set on a dark, gritty, believable medieval fantasy setting that made most of us ignore Roach's little misdemeanors. I'm all out towards their upcoming Cyberpunk 2077 take on a sci-fi setting (how I'd envy, you, Ciri, for having set foot on that universe already, if you were not a fictional character!)
This has translated into pretty considerable revenues for the Polish company - those generated by the sales of The Witcher 3 and its expansion packs have, since the base game's release in May 2015, topped 1 billion PLN (around $254 million dollars). The 2016 revenues and net profit of CD Projekt were still 75% of those obtained by the company in the year that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt shipped - which just goes to show how much the series achieved with its release.
And let's not forget how The Witcher 3 stood head and shoulders above its competition when it came to a true, meaningful open world; well-written, well thought-out side-quests (and an amazing main story-line) set on a dark, gritty, believable medieval fantasy setting that made most of us ignore Roach's little misdemeanors. I'm all out towards their upcoming Cyberpunk 2077 take on a sci-fi setting (how I'd envy, you, Ciri, for having set foot on that universe already, if you were not a fictional character!)
52 Comments on The Witcher Franchise Passes the 25 Million Games Sold Mark
There is a trick however. Enable Ubersampling, close the game and find the game's INI file (somewhere in your user's home folder). Look for Ubersampling and you'll see it is set to 2. Manually set it to 1 (0 means disabled), save the file and set it to read-only. Now you can enjoy a milder Ubersampling with nary a performance hit. Of course, when you set that file to read-only, it means you can't change the game's settings at all until you set it to read-write again ;)
It does make the game look nicer, but the game is already gorgeous without it. That's why it was easy for many gamers to simply exist that option exists.
*layman's terms:
SSAA = the best and most expensive way to smooth jagged edges
bloom = a way to simulate bright lights that can add halos to various objects
Although you didn't have explain SSAA and bloom, I'm not that much of a layman :laugh:
Plus, why pass on a good chance to show off?
Sure they used his world, but stories from W2 and W3 are mostly theirs (with using his world and his characters, its classical "based on books").
Witcher 1 was what used probably most of his books. W2 was same world, some characters, but story was entirely theirs.
The game is fun either way. But for a casual approach, I'd recommend signs for the first play through, that's all.
SSAA 4x (and Ubersampling), mean you get 4k performance in Full HD resolution, BUT that Full HD is best picture quality possible, since ALL things visible on screen were rendered in 4k (kinda like 4k sized wallpaper viewed on Full HD screen).
Good for CD Projekt Red though. They deserve every bit of attention that they are getting due to their business policies.
Skyrim and Witcher 3 trade blows on what they do best, but I am certain that Witcher 3 takes the cake with lore immersion. Some side quests were so detailed, long and interwoven into the main plot so well that I was amazed.
I think the biggest issue that I had was the combat in Witcher. It didn't feel extremely gratifying to me.
CD Projekt Red are such a great example though of how a business can interact with its player base. The list is very slim of anyone that can even compare to them.
Which brings me to another point that I had forgotten about... the loot system. I swear to god, 80-90% of all loot that I ever found in W3 was always underleveled or had bad stats which is a major buzz kill. We all want to develop our character, we want to acquire more attributes, we want elite armor and gnarly swords. Alas, no, that is not the common element in W3. You get what you get and have to just be happy with the stories for comfort. The fair maidens and lamenting spirits don't care that you saved them or put their spirits to rest with chipped swords and rusty armor.
Skyrim has advantage in ridiculously big modding community and you can make that game whatever you like. Tho if Im correct W3 can be modded too a bit.