‘The Witcher 3’ Delayed Till May 2015
It looks like fans of "The Witcher" who were wildly anticipating to hunt this game down will have to keep waiting. CD Projekt Red has stated that "Witcher 3: Wild Hunt" will be delayed until May 19, 2015, the reasons being high ambition for the open world nature of the game and presumably various bug fixing and glitch tests.
This comes as a surprise considering the game was delayed once already with earlier promises on not missing their February 2015 release date and the fact that they released a youtube channel filled with gameplay videos and developer commentaries. Rather than let people speculate and raise doubt however CD Projekt Red issued an open letter to the public and apologized for the delay.
"When we release the most important game in our studio's history, we must be absolutely sure that we did everything we could to limit any bugs to a level that will allow you to enjoy the game thoroughy," said the developer in the open letter.
To the developer's credit, it feels like the apology has a lot of weight and thought put into it. The team behind "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt" was aware that the announcement for the release date was somewhat too hastily given. And instead of rushing to put out the game, the developer opted to put in more work, while also acknowledging that fans may be disappointed with the wait. Given the trend of games that have disappointed fans upon release, this is a good move. Instead of potentiall receiving the same dissatisfaction from players on the recently reported glitches that Ubisoft is still addressing with "Assassin's Creed Unity," CD Projekt Red may have made a better call with opting for a delay.
Considering how the game is over 100 hours long and is reportedly 35 times bigger than "The Witcher 2," it makes sense for them to delay the game given the expectations they have set upon themselves. From what the trailers have shown, the wait looks more than worth it.
"The Witcher" franchise in itself is a tough act to follow; In terms of popularity the series was already based on a few books by Andrzej Sapowski and managed to garner a comic book series from Dark Horse comics; the same publisher that currently makes comics based on the Halo series and is the original home for Hellboy.
Plus the first two games being fan-favourites amongst action RPG fans and with this third installment being the first one to hit a Sony console, the developer would really want to impress newer fans. That's on top of IGN's report that distinguished actors and "Game of Thrones" stars Peter Dinklage and Charles Dance will be lending voices to the title. Still, the delay should inspire hope for a better game rather than dread.
"The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt" trailer (Credit: YouTube/The Witcher)