The Witcher Franchise Passes the 25 Million Games Sold Mark

[Raevenlord]

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!)

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[Jborg]

A true masterpiece. The only other game I can compare this to personally is playing Zelda the Ocarina of Time back on N64. This game felt like a modern version of that game to me. In terms of the scale, and the detail and immersion. I am currently playing the Blood and Wine expansion, and have played through the regular story line twice now. What a breath taking game.

 

[P4-630]

I don't own the game (yet) but I do like the graphics a lot when I see gameplay videos of it.

 

[HD64G]

Just a big BRAVO to CDProject for all those great moments of gaming that travelled us beautifully to other worlds.

 

[brutlern]

I believe the technical term is "Hell Yeah!"

 

[XNine]

Honestly, Witcher 3 exceeded my expectations overall (especially my 2nd playthrough choosing some different options). It's good to see this "small" developer pushing out great games.... now then, bring on CP2077!

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Is it just me or does $254 million not sound like a lot? That's how about much GTAV cost to create if memory serves. It's obvious Witcher 3 wasn't cheap to produce so...

It's good to see this "small" developer pushing out great games.... now then, bring on CP2077!

370 employees isn't exactly small. It's medium sized, really. Bioware is a big studio at 800 employees, for example.

 

[P4-630]

Is it just me or does $254 million not sound like a lot? That's how about much GTAV cost to create if memory serves. It's obvious Witcher 3 wasn't cheap to produce so...

"GTA 5' Costs $265 Million To Develop And Market, Making It was The Most Expensive Video Game Ever Produced"

No. 1 most expensive at the moment: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 $279 Million.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt $82 Million.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_expensive_video_games_to_develop

 

[Pruny]

"GTA 5' Costs $265 Million To Develop And Market, Making It was The Most Expensive Video Game Ever Produced"

No. 1 most expensive at the moment: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 $279 Million.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt $82 Million.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_expensive_video_games_to_develop

Lol Cod wasnt the most expensive to produce, 200mil went on marketing which sounds exagerated...

 

[XNine]

Is it just me or does $254 million not sound like a lot? That's how about much GTAV cost to create if memory serves. It's obvious Witcher 3 wasn't cheap to produce so...


370 employees isn't exactly small. It's medium sized, really. Bioware is a big studio at 800 employees, for example.

Considering some studios are over 1,000 employees (Activision/Blizzard,) EA, Square/Enix, and the list goes on), yes, they are pretty small for a AAA title developer. As far as as money, they made over 3x what they spent making the game. That's pretty damn good, considering the game has been on sale a majority of the time that has lapsed since being released.

 

[silentbogo]

based on Andrzej Sapkowski's novels which you should definitely read

No! Witcher TV show! Be-e-ewbs and dragons!
Loved it. Too bad there was only one season.

 

[bug]

I don't own the game (yet) but I do like the graphics a lot when I see gameplay videos of it.

Graphics is not even the best part of the series. The story is.

 

[dj-electric]

Many people in the industry say that the production of GTA 5 was actually twice more expensive than advertised, somewhere around the 500M mark.

I believe that might be true

 

[moproblems99]

Honestly, Witcher 3 exceeded my expectations overall (especially my 2nd playthrough choosing some different options). It's good to see this "small" developer pushing out great games.... now then, bring on CP2077!

Cyberpunk is not really my genre and since no details on the game is really out I am really not sure it is my style of game. However, since they did such a fantastic job on the Witcher that I will most likely buy it.

Graphics is not even the best part of the series. The story is.

CDPR are fantastic story tellers. They have made many games simply less enjoyable because all other stories seem to suck.

 

[Prima.Vera]

Graphics is not even the best part of the series. The story is.

The Witcher 3 currently has better graphics than any current games, what are you talking about? Just look at the amount of different characters, different facial animation, emotions, etc. Not to mention the world itself.
Just try to compare it with the animations in ME: Andromeda, lol )))))))

 

[moproblems99]

The Witcher 3 currently has better graphics than any current games, what are you talking about? Just look at the amount of different characters, different facial animation, emotions, etc. Not to mention the world itself.
Just try to compare it with the animations in ME: Andromeda, lol )))))))

I don't think he was saying the graphics are bad, only that it isn't the best part. The story is and in most cases I think people will agree that the story is more important than the graphics at least until the graphics just become ultra terrible.

 

[Prima.Vera]

I don't think he was saying the graphics are bad, only that it isn't the best part. The story is and in most cases I think people will agree that the story is more important than the graphics at least until the graphics just become ultra terrible.

Absolutely. Personally I am in the same class. I always prefer the story over graphics at any time. Even now, I am playing the first DEUS EX - Gothy Edition, but the story and atmosphere is just incredible.

 

[moproblems99]

I have actually been unable to find a current game that compares. I tried Fallout 4 but the story didn't grab me. Basically just Rocket League and PU's Battlegrounds right now,

 

[AsRock]

"GTA 5' Costs $265 Million To Develop And Market, Making It was The Most Expensive Video Game Ever Produced"

No. 1 most expensive at the moment: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 $279 Million.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt $82 Million.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_expensive_video_games_to_develop

And to think TW3 was a more finished and polished game with more content than anyone would ever want.

Main thing they proved they have it still and hopefully they will again some time soon.

Graphics is not even the best part of the series. The story is.

True, how ever they did a awesome job on the weather effects in TW3, to the point you wounder why it isn't lagging like hell.

 

[ShurikN]

Such an amazing game.
Got 40 hrs back home on my old rig (Athlon II X4, HD7770), but decided to stop playing because I wanted to experience it with all the bells and whistles. And since I'm waiting for my new gaming laptop to arrive, I just had to buy the season pass a couple of days ago (cheaper than both exp combined), and it'll be the first game installed when the machine gets here. Well that and Overwatch.

 

[AsRock]

I don't own the game (yet) but I do like the graphics a lot when I see gameplay videos of it.

Oops misse dyour post the first time around.

Not owning this game and like this type of game is just plain wrong and should have a punishment for it .

Ooh you like it even more , even more so when the weather kicks in and all the grass is blowing around tree's blowing about bending and shit.

 

[RejZoR]

The reason why CDPR can release an AAA game without DRM is because they literally make you feel bad for pirating it when they treat consumers so well in general. It's a rare thing to see these days and that's their brightest point. Hardly any other game company can brag with such mutual respect between developer and gamers these days. And other part is that they just make the game and they dedicate all their time on it. Other companies like to spin drama and controversy and spew out non game related garbage (see Mass Effect Andromeda nonsense). Not CDPR. In fact they were forced to defend from such garbage that was thrown at them (sexism garbage) for The Witcher series. Which is just nonsense in its purest form.

 

[Mescalamba]

Well deserved. CD Projekt Red really deserves their success. Unlike many others..

 

[bug]

CDPR are fantastic story tellers. They have made many games simply less enjoyable because all other stories seem to suck.

Fwiw, it's not CDPR behind the story, it's https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrzej_Sapkowski
Still, it's gaming done right.

 

[Readlight]

i byd becouse it was on sale good game Witcher 2 for 3 euro and witcher 1 below 2
But rx 460 whit ubersampling max setings only gives 17-30 FPS
Why we can not tranfer game to vulkan?
and whit all cores enabled on witcher 1