14 DAY TRIAL // Unfortunately, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has been sold early by a number of stores, most of them apparently located in the Middle East, and some players have already been streaming gameplay from the title on Twitch.
Obviously, the company is not very pleased with the situation and it has announced via an official Twitter message that all those who are caught doing so will be banned from the service as quickly as possible.
Authorized streaming for bought copies of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt can only take place on May 19, when the new title from CD Projekt RED is officially launched.
Gamers who really want to see the game in action can still find Twitch channels that show it, some of them with hundreds of viewers, but the company will probably move fast to remove them in the coming hours and days.
The development team is quite unhappy to see images and videos from their experience offered before the official launch date.
CD Projekt RED was hacked last year, and info about the story was leaked to the public, along with images showing The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt in an unfinished state.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is launching simultaneously all over the world
The new action role-playing game will be launched on the PC, the Xbox One from Microsoft and the PlayStation 4 from Sony on the same day.
Unauthorized streaming before the launch date is a problem for CD Projekt RED because it allows fans who are very interested in the game universe to see some of the core story elements even if they might lack all the context needed to interpret it.
Broken street dates for video games have become less of an issue during the past few years, but there are still stores that risk the wrath of publishers by selling copies earlier than they should.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is the final adventure that will star Geralt and is designed to be bigger than both previous titles in the series combined.
For the first time in the series, the developers are implementing a full open world structure, and players will have full freedom to explore cities and to move through the wilderness as they seek to accomplish their goals.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is not allowed for broadcasting until May 19, 2015. Broadcasting before this date is subject to DMCA guidelines.
— Twitch Support (@TwitchSupport) May 8, 2015