14 DAY TRIAL // CD Projekt and publisher Atari are getting ready to release The Witcher: Enhanced Edition, a new version of the game released last year; it is supposed to enhance the playing experience and deliver a better game to the player. The update will be free for those who already have the game and a standalone package will also be available.
Tomasz Gop, who is the senior producer working on the project, talked to Gamasutra about the new release and confessed that “It's all based on the feedback of fans. Close to 300,000 people registered on our forums and community and are still active, and they're requesting new features and changes and whatever. We took the most-demanded stuff”.
What CD Projekt is doing pretty much goes against all economic principles. They are investing money, time and resources into developing a better version of a game they have already launched while telling players that everything they will receive will be for free. The only explanation for such a behavior is that the company is deeply rooted in the gaming background of its founders and employees and sees it as an obligation to deliver the best to the people playing The Witcher. The position is best summed up by Gop, who said that “If you haven't bought the game, then it's definitely going to be a good time, and it's going to be the price of the game, but if you have it, you can have it all for free. I mean, you paid for the game, right? We appreciate that”. Better learn this lesson fast Electronic Arts and Activision.
After the release of The Witcher: Enhanced Edition, it seems that the company will tackle another project, probably set in the same world but with a different emphasis. The developers are not yet ready to talk about future plans as they are still very much engaged in the process of getting The Witcher a full makeover.