The Witcher - 600,000 Copies Sold Press Release

Although we already have a newsbit covering this it's worth printing the full release CD Projekt sent over to highlight the "surprise" to be revealed on February 18th (last paragraph):

CD Projekt RED is proud to announce that the company's debut video game production, The Witcher, has sold more than 600,000 copies worldwide in just three months.

Adam Kicinski, CD Projekt RED Joint CEO, commented on the sales results: "We are very happy with The Witcher's performance to date. Our goal was - and still is - to reach one million copies sold during the first year. 600,000 games sold in just three months brings us much closer to this ambitious goal. It's a great success for us, made all the more impressive by the fact that The Witcher was created by a completely new team and it is our debut both as a game developer and in bringing our products to a global audience. The task was not easy, as The Witcher brand was completely unknown in many markets, and it was released in a busy season alongside franchises that have been on the market for many years. Yet, I can confidently say that we've passed this trial victoriously. Actually, only now - as we've conquered many of the initial barriers - can we spread our wings, which, of course, we intend to do. Such success wouldn't be possible without our publishers' support - Atari, Noviy Disk and the publishing branch of CD Projekt. They all put a lot of work into the game's promotion in individual markets."

The exceptionally warm welcome given to The Witcher by media and gamers around the world facilitated the commercial success of our game. This grand welcome is illustrated by 48 awards and distinctions - a number which is constantly rising - including the prestigious "PC RPG of the Year" from popular outlets like IGN.com, GameSpy, Play Magazine and the US edition of PC Gamer, as well as the award for "Readers' Choice Winner - Best RPG" at GameSpot (see the full list of awards: http://www.thewitcher.com/community/en/awards/). The game has received exceptionally high ratings from players all over the world, which is manifested in high average scores in players' reviews at sites like Metacritic (9.4/10), GameTrailers (9.1/10) and GameSpot (8.8/10).

Adam Kiciñski also hints at the developer's plans for the near future: "Our plans include continuous game support, the release of the powerful D'jinni module editor, the continued release of game updates and patches, and in late spring gamers can expect a pretty big surprise, which will be revealed at a press conference really soon - February 18th! We are still working on making the game better and we will actively support our fan community, which is getting bigger and bigger. Unfortunately I can't reveal anything further at this time, but I assure you that we won't rest on our laurels and we have very promising plans for the future. We set our standards very high with The Witcher and we surely don't want to lower them in the future."

More information.

…in late spring gamers can expect a pretty big surprise, which will be revealed at a press conference really soon - February 18th! We are still working on making the game better and we will actively support our fan community, which is getting bigger and bigger. Unfortunately I can't reveal anything further at this time, but I assure you that we won't rest on our laurels and we have very promising plans for the future…"

I wonder if this is that "free extra content" they have talked about in the past, or something really hardcore like an expansion or sequel..yes!!...

Sounds more like the latter, the way it's worded, but hard to see how that could get here by late spring, and only be announced at the end of February…

I guess we'll know more on Monday.

I wonder if the heads at Infogrames are surprised at that.
I mean the success.

I don't think that *this* kind of success would fit into their heads.
Because the game isn't streamlined much.

I'm sure Atari/Infogrames is happy it's sold 600K, but would have been a lot happier if it had sold six million. Still,I think it can only help CDProjekt's future plans.

I don't mind getting a second copy…the collector's edition looks good. The Witcher definitely helps me get over the G3 dissappointment.

Originally Posted by Alrik Fassbauer
I wonder if the heads at Infogrames are surprised at that.
I mean the success.

I don't think that *this* kind of success would fit into their heads.
Because the game isn't streamlined much.

The thing is, gamers look at a game that sells 600K copies and is a success, and say "cool! See? This type of game WILL sell!!"

The publisher or the stockholder looks at the same game and the same sales figures and thinks "wow, who knew? But just think how many MORE copies it would have sold if we'd made it more *accessible*! GOLD MINE!"

I fear you're right.

Originally Posted by IamaGuest
The publisher or the stockholder looks at the same game and the same sales figures and thinks "wow, who knew? But just think how many MORE copies it would have sold if we'd made it more *accessible*! GOLD MINE!"

Exactly - sales are never evaluated in a vacuum … it is all relative.

However, sales *targets* are also evaluated that way - a RPG like the Witcher was probably not targeted at more than 250,000 copies (completely made up number).

Well, 3 days and we'll know!

with Witcher turning into a cult phenomenon, I think it's safe to bet on an expansion.

been needing something good game wise, an expansion or extra content would be great, could play it through on hard finally

However, sales *targets* are also evaluated that way - a RPG like the Witcher was probably not targeted at more than 250,000 copies (completely made up number).

They did produce a million copies on release day.

Originally Posted by Ausir
They did produce a million copies on release day.

Who ?

Atari or CDProjekt ?

I mean - who was more confident in the release ?

CD Projekt, Atari and Noviy Disk combined (depending on the country).

Originally Posted by IamaGuest
The publisher or the stockholder looks at the same game and the same sales figures and thinks "wow, who knew? But just think how many MORE copies it would have sold if we'd made it more *accessible*! GOLD MINE!"

Can you imagine when the first guy walked into a bank and explained how he wanted to open restaurants that serve average food? Or build hotels with modest furniture and decor?

Maybe I'm just naive, but I think there's a reason all restaurants aren't McDonalds and all hotels aren't Motel Six. Some products aren't intended for the masses. Those products receive investment too.

I've never actually spoken to a game publisher, but if they're like literary publishers, then aren't they anxious to hear from new people about new ideas? Don't they really want to be convinced?

As far as stockholders go, they can be skittish, but they remind me of Ghost Busters. They're ready to believe you.

Originally Posted by Squeek
I've never actually spoken to a game publisher, but if they're like literary publishers, then aren't they anxious to hear from new people about new ideas? Don't they really want to be convinced?

Ideas are dime a dozen, implementation is golden. Since games require a lot more money to implement than books, game publishers can't be like literary publishers.

Well, looks like the Witcher news is of an "Enhanced Edition" due in May

In a nutshell: 2 new modules, a bunch of graphical adds and fixes, the toolset, and at long last - inventory sorting.

Still no "do not automatically sheathe sword" option

Witcher Enhanced Edition Factsheet

movie (the editing is hilarious!)

Simul-posts, Sammy--haven't watched the movie, but the rest is up on the newspage.

I'm just curious to see if the new stuff will be free or not to those who already own a copy. Reading the fact sheet leaves it all pretty vague--hopefully all the translation enhancements and so forth will be available in a patch--though I might have to buy the new edition for the 2 music CD's alone.

Finally, an autosave toggle also. And a new model for Triss.