14 DAY TRIAL // CD Projekt Red, the game developer of the upcoming The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, has shared a few more details about the recent delay that it was forced to make for the big RPG, emphasizing just what's been completed, what's currently in development, and the reasons for the new 2015 release.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was revealed to the world last year, and developer CD Projekt Red quickly said that the title would appear in 2014 for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One platforms.
Despite offering quite a few gameplay details and promising that the release would be respected, the Polish studio confirmed earlier this month that The Witcher 3 is now set to appear in February of 2015.
As part of a new financial document, via NeoGAF, CD Projekt Red has offered a status report on The Witcher 3, confirming just what's completed on the RPG and what things are left.
First up, the studio confirmed that the game is playable from start to finish, and as of right now, the dialog lines of the story have been finished, while voice actors are still recording their actual lines.
The open world has also been completed, as locations are ready to be explored and graphic assets or animations can be admired in all their glory.
The REDEngine 3 runs smoothly on all platforms and the physical elements for the Collector's Edition are already in production.
Quite a few things are still in development, however, as many of the side quests need implementing, while CD Projekt Red needs to test and balance the game in terms of content.
The quality of the graphic assets, animations, effects, or sounds is also being continuously improved and this will go on until the game goes gold next year.
Last but not least, CD Projekt Red also offered a few different reasons and advantages for delaying The Witcher 3 into 2015.
Among the most important is, of course, a better polished experience, as the studio believes that the last 20% of development time end up affecting 80% of the game's attractiveness.
Besides this, in February of 2015 CD Projekt Red expects less competition from other big-budget games, and, at that point, it also believes that there will be more next-gen consoles like the PS4 or Xbox One on the market, meaning more potential customers.
The early 2015 release is also going to help the studio better market the game to "aware gamers" and not random gift buyers that purchase games on a whim during the last few months of 2014.