CD PROJEKT RED replied to me about The Witcher 3 and Linux, flat-out denying to answer any questions

Quoting: sunbeam4STEAM OS ISN'T A CONSUMER PRODUCT YET.sorry for caps, late night.

It is not? I thought it's used on consumer targeted Steam Machine consoles already. But may be it's a beta product?


Last edited by Shmerl on 8 September 2016 at 4:16 am UTC

The problem is, some companies (not CDPR obviously, but still) complain that Linux sales aren't up to their expectations, and I tend to understand this point of view. But most of the time, just look at how they communicate on their products, and how they market them: it's a disaster.

They just can't get public attention with poor practices like those, and all this is happening far too often. I know software devs/editors can't take all the blame - look at Valve, their communication is non-existent. Buy still, no communication is way better than all this Witcher 3 mess...

Well there is not much use for them to port the game now and they should have just rejected the possibility.
This is too big of a game and Linux based sales will be really low, because, well because they are too late. Such overhyped projects are wanted by people and those who wanted found a way to play them already.
If it was a fast Linux release, we could see the Force Of Tux and the real, true numbers you can get from cross-platform PC sales. Now even if they will even release it, will it bring them money? Nope, they will more likely lose them at this point imho.

Well, that's rather disappointing. I'll probably buy it when it's on sale for $5 if Wine supports it – maybe earlier, when they finally got their job port done. I don't care anymore for miscommunication and lame excuses. Unfortunately I do care for TW's storyline, so it's still quite a dilemma for me.

I'm afraid I don't have any $$$ for you at this point in time.

I think they are going to port it, but it is going to take a very long time until we get it. You'd think they'd give us an official answer and clear this whole fiasco or even prevent it in the first place, if the port was to be released in the near future... this kind of attitude shows me it is not even close. Same goes for dropping the project, they would have given us an official answer on that as well, especially in this last reply. Now it's miscommunication, then it's no answer... this tells me that they still plan to do it.

Anyway, I was never hyped for this game, haven't even player Witcher 2 even as I own it both on Steam and on GOG. But it's pretty sad for the Linux community to get this kind of attitude from the devs, and even sadder for the people that wanted to get this game. They were supposed to be pioneers in the Linux gaming industry... but if that's what we get... the future is not looking so bright afterall... apart from a very few devs who are really cool and involved, most of the rest have this same kind of attitude.

Quoting: sunbeam4STEAM OS ISN'T A CONSUMER PRODUCT YET.sorry for caps, late night.

So you haven't assigned your Caps Lock to be an extra Ctrl?
What kind of Linux user are you?

(DISCLAIMER: This is a joke.)

Honestly, I'm pretty sure it's probably Valve's fault, so I don't know what all the hate for CDPR is. Valve announced The Witcher III was being ported for Linux, not CDPR. My guess is Valve blew the lid off something that was never definitive and then CDPR had to take all the blame. I mean, they never announced it on GoG, did they?

Well, that is not really a surprise. If you think about what **** CDPR & GOG has fed us on why they are not supporting Linux. Meanwhile we have Linux-Support on GOG, but many Linux-Natives are missing, which are on Steam. Or that the Galaxy-Client is still not available for Linux. Must be really difficult to port that joke of a Windowsclient. Or think about the decisions which GOG makes. Latest fun: Amerello DRM Free Edition :(. I wonder every time: WHAT THE HELL IS GOG THINKING? I don't understand them.

Quoting: maodzedunHonestly, I'm pretty sure it's probably Valve's fault, so I don't know what all the hate for CDPR is. Valve announced The Witcher III was being ported for Linux, not CDPR. My guess is Valve blew the lid off something that was never definitive and then CDPR had to take all the blame. I mean, they never announced it on GoG, did they?

I doubt that very much that this has been announced by Valve only. At some point CDPR hat a SteamOS planned, otherwise it wouldn't have been announced by Valve. I think they had some sort of Agreement at this time. But CDPR canceled it as they noticed that it will not work with Wine /sarcasm off

Quoting: cprnHahahahahaha! Liam, the person you've reached - was that Robert Malinowski? :D I kinda know the guy. He has no say about Linux release, it's way above his pay grade. But reading into Polish mentality, this just probably meant there's no official decision, he doesn't know about any unofficial plans and currently the work on the subject stopped. I happen to know they're currently focusing on some card game promo so I wouldn't count on any other answer.

Yeah hilarious I spoke to their official rep.

Quoting: maodzedunHonestly, I'm pretty sure it's probably Valve's fault, so I don't know what all the hate for CDPR is. Valve announced The Witcher III was being ported for Linux, not CDPR. My guess is Valve blew the lid off something that was never definitive and then CDPR had to take all the blame. I mean, they never announced it on GoG, did they?

shmerl's timeline is a great reference.

It's easy.

They're working on it but are having difficulties. This would be their first Linux game. Witcher 2 was outsourced to VP.
The complete silence in a PR tactic. They essentially don't want to tell us anything because of the usual backlash companies get when postponing Linux releases. They want to avoid the hate that Larian got when they postponed Divinity: Origininal Sin for Linux.
It's all due to the toxic members of the community that are somehow very vocal on Linux and simply cannot tolerate release dates being pushed back.

This is why we can't have nice things and a direct conversation with developers.

That was a polite email, polite for a "shut up & leave me alone" email anyway.

That's completely ridiculous! I pre-ordered TW3 based on this promise (yes i know, shame on me). There are companies who earn our trust by fulfilling their promises. A decent amount of 2K recent games have very good linux ports, even sometimes day one! But on the other side CDPR and GOG keep teasing us with nothing but wind ... That's not what i call customers respect. Its more like customer betrayal.

Furthermore, today there are lots of options to port a game on Linux (engines do massively support Linux, porting companies are doing an impressive work, etc). Furthermore Virtual Programming, who did port TW2, greatly improved their technology. So they could do it, they could communicate on this, they could be a company deserving our trust! But they don't. At that point it seems like disappointing customers is PR policy for them.

Based on they engagement on DRM-Free and they (false) promise to support Linux as first class citizen i was a CDPR/GOG advocate but now, i'm done being disappointed. My money is better given to companies being serious in supporting Linux and providing decent DRM-Free versions (yes Leagues of Geeks, you are customer cheaters too!).

Quoting: devlandIt's easy.
They essentially don't want to tell us anything because of the usual backlash companies get when postponing Linux releases. They want to avoid the hate that Larian got when they postponed Divinity: Origininal Sin for Linux.
It's all due to the toxic members of the community that are somehow very vocal on Linux and simply cannot tolerate release dates being pushed back.

When it comes to port to MacOS, iOS, Android, XBOX or Playstation, then companies always find the time and resources to do it! Maybe porting to XBOX can be easier because of it's similar to Windows, but other platforms are not. It is not a matter of complexity to port it but investment strategy. It seems like porting on Linux is for those companies something like: "Ok, we'll do it ... when we have nothing else to do ... if we get bored on a rainy day with all our friends far away ...". It means we are at the bottom of the priority list but they don't want to close the door to get one day our dollars. It's lame. If you don't plan to actively porting something on Linux, just don't tease it! When it's teased, it's to late to shut our mouth. Then you need to communicate and be honest. That's what is called an healthy business relation.


Last edited by TheBard on 8 September 2016 at 9:01 am UTC

Maybe VP wrote a cheque they couldn't cash.

W3 is a graphically intensive game, and maybe VP failed to get their wrapper in a state to handle it.

Well, at least is not a "never".

And another company goes to my "NEVER-buy-from"-blacklist. CDPR will be sitting in nice company with Sony and other "great" companies.

This answer makes me a bit angry. What ever the reason this happened (I bought it when the SteamOS banner was up, never got it refunded), I think they or Valve owe me an explaination there. Since they happily took my money on wrong advertisement (by the way, european company, I could sue them over this by european law, and with this answer I am thinking on actually going for it).

As much as I like what they are doing and their out of question well done game, this communication department they should just get rid of.


Last edited by STiAT on 8 September 2016 at 9:48 am UTC

Quoting: TheBardIt's lame. If you don't plan to actively porting something on Linux, just don't tease it! When it's teased, it's to late to shut our mouth. Then you need to communicate and be honest. That's what is called an healthy business relation.

That kind of attitude is what is preventing us from having an honest communication relationship with devs.
Larian were honest about their porting troubles. They had some unforseen middleware issues that took some time to figure out. In the end they delivered a very well optimized rpg for Linux.

Yet people continued to bitch about the delays. That attitude is what is keeping cdpr from disclosing any information.

Quoting: devland

Quoting: TheBardIt's lame. If you don't plan to actively porting something on Linux, just don't tease it! When it's teased, it's to late to shut our mouth. Then you need to communicate and be honest. That's what is called an healthy business relation.

That kind of attitude is what is preventing us from having an honest communication relationship with devs.
Larian were honest about their porting troubles. They had some unforseen middleware issues that took some time to figure out. In the end they delivered a very well optimized rpg for Linux.

Yet people continued to bitch about the delays. That attitude is what is keeping cdpr from disclosing any information.

I think that the same problem exists for delays on any platform. Look at all the bitching going on about FFXV being delayed on the PS4.

It's a common problem. The best way is to be honest about the polishing. People will still bitch but at least it won't be on a major level.

In my opinion, the best way to deal with this is to be honest and say it's in the works but will take some time (like next year or something). At least the community can take it in their stride and deal with it knowing that those SteamOS ads which they bought the game for, were not a lie outright.


Last edited by [email protected] on 8 September 2016 at 11:07 am UTC

Quoting: cxphergmailcomIn my opinion, the best way to deal with this is to be honest and say it's in the works but will take some time (like next year or something). At least the community can take it in their stride and deal with it knowing that those SteamOS ads which they bought the game for, were not a lie outright.

But snippets coming from CDPR don't confirm that "it's in the works but will take some time". It's rather: higher-ups have not stamped the final decision to drop it yet, so we cannot confirm or deny. Or perhaps: we're not doing it ourselves, but we're open for discussion if an independent developer would like to.