Witcher 3 Witcher 3 Xbox One CE controversy

It seems controversy has started on the Witcher 3. They've just announce that the Xbox One CE will contain some physical items that other CEs won't contain.

Personally, I'm not hugely affected. I pre-ordered the PC CE. But I, like others on the official forum, am worried this is just step on into something CDP said they don't do. We'll see what happens.

But it's weird that people hold CDPR to a standard where they think they wouldn't do this for the right sum of money. I guess it's statemens like these.

But people on the official forum are in an uproar. Seems there's already an online petition.

They're talking about content in a computer game. I don't know why anyone would care about physical items in that context, but whatever.

Exactly. Couldn't care less about physical goods.

Morrandir said:

Exactly. Couldn't care less about physical goods.

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what about digital goods? how will you feel if xbox CE contains some unique content but not present in PC or PS4 CE ?

Depends on the actual content. If it's additional game content, I'd indeed be pissed. Otherwise I wouldn't care. I don't need artworks, soundtracks, playboy shots, wallpapers, videos or any other stuff. When I buy a game, I only want to play that game.

I know that there are guys who care about this kind of stuff… but that wasn't the question.

The fact that some people don't care about physical content make no difference. I may no care much, since they're just some cards and a cloth map. But others do. The fact is, they said:

Marcin Iwinski @ CDPR said:

We'll not deliver exclusive content to any of the platforms, nor will we artificially delay release of the game on any of the platforms because somebody's paying us money for that. It's definitely against our values. We are not doing that.

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Which is bullshit. Physical content is content.

Marcin Iwinski @ CDPR said:

We are treating all gamers equally

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No they are not. They are putting more stuff into the Xbox One CE than the other ones. Are they saying the Xbox players deserve more? How exactly are they treating all gamers equally if they give some more than others.

And how far is it until they do start giving digital content. As everything, it's a slippery slope.

Again, I don't care about the items. If the physical content that's exclusive might be different I might care. But I'm not the only point. The point is they lied. Which, mind you, doesn't make much difference to me. Lying is so prevalent in this world we don't usually give it a second thought. We even try to explain it with self-serving arguments, like it doesn't affect me. That's why the world is in the state it is. Everyone is just looking out for his own interest, neglecting how this small thing, which currently doesn't affect them, has the potential to turn into something that will.

danutz_plusplus said:

The point is they lied.

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Either that or he unintentionally made an ambiguous comment. Or the guy from eurogamer quoted him incorrectly.
It could well be that what he indeed meant was digital, game related content.

Lying is so prevalent in this world we don't usually give it a second thought. We even try to explain it with self-serving arguments, like it doesn't affect me. That's why the world is in the state it is. Everyone is just looking out for his own interest, neglecting how this small thing, which currently doesn't affect them, has the potential to turn into something that will.

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Nah. I hate lying. I really think lying in general should be forbidden by law. The reason that it isn't forbidden may be that it's indeed difficult to prove. Telling a lie, means to intentionally say that something is true although knowing it's untrue.

So you really would accuse CDP of lying with having a single written quote only?
I wouldn't.

Or have they stated something like this more often and more clearly in the past?

Morrandir said:

Or have they stated something like this more often and more clearly in the past?

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I seem to remember them constantly saying how they're always pro-consumer. That they know if you give people quality they will appreciate. That they always choose to do well by their fanbase. Well, their major fanbase was the PC players who voted with their wallets and supported them. And they go and offer the Xbox fanbase something a little more, just because they received support from Microsoft (in ways we don't really know).

As, I said. I could care less about this sort of practice. It's not pretty, but it's become standard. But they were particularly touting their horn about how fair they choose to treat their consumers. And, don't get me wrong, they have been and still are amazingly pro-consumer, especially compared to other companies. But I can also understand how some will feel bad, when they can't get all the content that without having to invest in a device, which they may not want to invest in.

And about proving lying has been committed, true, it is difficult. But it's not hard to see that, whether or not he was lying at the time, their behavior right now proves that they didn't respect their publicly announced position. They announced "We are treating all gamers equally". Might be difficult to prove, but it's not hard to recognize that it's not being done.

But, of course, if we want to lawyer-it-up and look for loopholes, we can argue that he said, "we are treating" meaning present-tense. This is the future. It doesn't have to stand today what they said then. Or we can say he was being vague. Or that he didn't mean to be so absolute in his statement. That he actually mean they treat gamers equally, most of the time. Or whatever other excuse we can come up with.

Just as in maths, not being able to mathematically prove something, beyond the shadow of a doubt, doesn't mean it might not really be true.

Or, we can just stop putting CDPR on a pedestal, and understand that they're also a business. Just a business with a more decent way of running things. I mean they are working on a MOBA with ingame transactions, withing the Witcher universe. If that's not telling I don't know what is.

And I'd bet most developers/publishers are decent when starting out. And then they get big, and loose touch with what they were. They start to answer to people who are only interested in the bottom line. Let's hope at least there will be some time until CDPR gets to that level.

I know what you mean. You can deceive customers without actually lying, which isn't any better.

But I still wonder if they've done just that. I mean… if the two additional items are paid by Microsoft, is it really CDP that violates against the principle of treating all gamers equaly?
I don't know enough about releasing games on consoles and having to negotiate with the Sony and Microsoft giants. I guess it can be quite complex. For CDP it's very important to come to any agreement with each of them. Otherwise the game wouldn't get released on a certain console and that for sure would be a more blatant violation of their principles. So to some extent thay just have to accept what the giants offer despite perhaps having the best intentions.

danutz_plusplus said:

No they are not. They are putting more stuff into the Xbox One CE than the other ones. Are they saying the Xbox players deserve more? How exactly are they treating all gamers equally if they give some more than others.

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"Some CEs are more equal than others" ? - Taken from a quote from the famous Animal Farm, and reworked it a bit.

Morrandir said:

Depends on the actual content. If it's additional game content, I'd indeed be pissed. Otherwise I wouldn't care. I don't need artworks, soundtracks, playboy shots, wallpapers, videos or any other stuff. When I buy a game, I only want to play that game.

I know that there are guys who care about this kind of stuff… but that wasn't the question.

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Problem is, if you're buying the Collector's Edition of the game and paying (sometimes a lot) extra for that, then it's assumed you do care for that kind of stuff, so they have all the reason to be mad about it.

wolfing said:

Problem is, if you're buying the Collector's Edition of the game and paying (sometimes a lot) extra for that, then it's assumed you do care for that kind of stuff, so they have all the reason to be mad about it.

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Whoa! Trying to see something from another person's perspective? What is this foreign logic you have? In all seriousness, I don't do physical CE on games but I do understand why they are upset.

Well, I'm satisfied with the way they've answered to this issue.

It's not ideal, but they do make a good case. And I think I was overly critical of them. They do seem to the among the only ones who bend-over backwards for PC gamers. And I think we need to be more realistic with the world we live in, and accept that sometimes you do need to make small deals with the devil, for the greater good. And I loved their comment about ultimately, we each have to vote with our wallet. I don't think we'd hear such frankness from the big companies.

If they also start offering in-game exclusives only to console players then I will really care. That's what Ubisoft and other publishing partners are known to do.

So all I want is a digital PC copy, and I got one.

I'm not a big Witcher fan, though I finished the first game a couple times, but if I was paying extra for the CE, I would want everything. These things are way overpriced, typically, so you should get everything on all platforms. My opinion would be that the CE version of games should have the game on all platforms in one box. It's expensive enough as is.

It doesn't matter squat to me what the other platforms do and don't get. Nor does it matter to me what they developed when. What matters is this: is the game they are offering me worth the price they are asking?

All the rest is psychological BS.

P.S. Snowball lives!