The Witcher 3 is something Linux users have been practically begging to have, but the problem is that it seems it will likely never come to Linux. An ex-Virtual Programming developer has taken to reddit explaining why this may have happened.
I should stress, for our own record here that this is not the official word from Virtual Programming or CD Projekt RED. This is the personal opinion of an ex-VP developer.
Here's the issue: The Linux version of The Witcher 2 was released in a poor state, it had poor performance and just didn't really work well at all. It was later fixed-up and last time I tried it, the performance was absolutely fine for me. The real problem, is the amount of hate that was sent towards the porters Virtual Programming and directly to CD Projekt RED as well. Even I personally saw some of the hate that was sent their way and it was downright idiotic and absolutely uncalled for.
I will absolutely hold my hands up as well, I made mistakes around it since I simply didn't know enough at the time, and to be honest three years ago I was still learning a lot about everything. I later corrected what I said, as I always aim to.
Writing on reddit, this developer said (source):
It seems we may have also seen a port of The Witcher 1 as well, as the developer also said (source):
There's also this post from another user, who said at the time The Witcher 2 released for Linux, CDProjekt apparently lost a fair amount on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. Apparently due to such a big backlash from the community about the initial release quality. I haven't verified that myself, but if true it would certainly make CDProjekt rather against doing another Linux port with anyone.
This is sad, really sad. I hope this makes a few people reconsider their attitude when talking to developer about the performance of ports. Performance can be worked on and fixed, burnt bridges are harder (and sometimes impossible) to fix.
This reminds me of the time the Blizzard President responded to a small petition asking for Linux ports of their games. The response to the petition was really nice to see from such a big company and truthfully the response I fully expected, but the original statement in reply to it from the petition author (now deleted by the author, but captured in my article) was downright childish and idiotic.
Yes problems are annoying, but throwing insults around helps no one and yes it does make us look bad. I get where people are coming from, to an extent, since some games do end up getting left in a terribly broken state for a long time and sometimes forever. However, in this case VP did good and continued working and now, as stated previously, The Witcher 2 seems fine. Their others ports are generally pretty decent too.
I just hope in future that this developer who got a massive amount of hate and CD Projekt RED can look past it somehow, for all the fans of their franchise on Linux.
Note: I personally spoke to this developer about publishing this with their approval, in the hopes that it might get a few people to re-think their initial attitude towards problems in games. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
I should stress, for our own record here that this is not the official word from Virtual Programming or CD Projekt RED. This is the personal opinion of an ex-VP developer.
Here's the issue: The Linux version of The Witcher 2 was released in a poor state, it had poor performance and just didn't really work well at all. It was later fixed-up and last time I tried it, the performance was absolutely fine for me. The real problem, is the amount of hate that was sent towards the porters Virtual Programming and directly to CD Projekt RED as well. Even I personally saw some of the hate that was sent their way and it was downright idiotic and absolutely uncalled for.
I will absolutely hold my hands up as well, I made mistakes around it since I simply didn't know enough at the time, and to be honest three years ago I was still learning a lot about everything. I later corrected what I said, as I always aim to.
Writing on reddit, this developer said (source):
QuoteI agree, things were not right on release... but the vocality of people went way beyond that. It was an all out hate campaign against VP, against CDPR for "lying about the port being native". I attempted to help people out in my own time and got absolutely roasted and abused for it.
The community needs to realise it simply cannot justify this sort of behaviour if they want to convince devs and publishers to support them. There is no excuse.
It seems we may have also seen a port of The Witcher 1 as well, as the developer also said (source):
QuoteThe vitriol was unbelievable. Yes we messed up the performance on release but we put it right. However a huge hate campaign ensued. Both VP and CDPR got lots of vengeful hate mail sent to them. I cannot help but feel this damaged CDPR's view of the Linux platform irrevocably.
They certainly didnt blame us, because they had us work on a Mac port of Witcher 1 to replace the non-functioning Wineskin version. The same port would have ran on Linux too with very little extra work, but they were not interested in releasing it.
There's also this post from another user, who said at the time The Witcher 2 released for Linux, CDProjekt apparently lost a fair amount on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. Apparently due to such a big backlash from the community about the initial release quality. I haven't verified that myself, but if true it would certainly make CDProjekt rather against doing another Linux port with anyone.
This is sad, really sad. I hope this makes a few people reconsider their attitude when talking to developer about the performance of ports. Performance can be worked on and fixed, burnt bridges are harder (and sometimes impossible) to fix.
This reminds me of the time the Blizzard President responded to a small petition asking for Linux ports of their games. The response to the petition was really nice to see from such a big company and truthfully the response I fully expected, but the original statement in reply to it from the petition author (now deleted by the author, but captured in my article) was downright childish and idiotic.
Yes problems are annoying, but throwing insults around helps no one and yes it does make us look bad. I get where people are coming from, to an extent, since some games do end up getting left in a terribly broken state for a long time and sometimes forever. However, in this case VP did good and continued working and now, as stated previously, The Witcher 2 seems fine. Their others ports are generally pretty decent too.
I just hope in future that this developer who got a massive amount of hate and CD Projekt RED can look past it somehow, for all the fans of their franchise on Linux.
Note: I personally spoke to this developer about publishing this with their approval, in the hopes that it might get a few people to re-think their initial attitude towards problems in games. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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The comments on this article are closed.
Quoting: morbiusPort didn't make money, that's the only real reason we didn't get Witcher 3.
Not according to CDPR. They listed TW2 on Linux as success in their shareholders report. You don't do that with something that was a money drain.
Last edited by Shmerl on 4 July 2017 at 4:15 pm UTC
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Metallinatus Jul 4, 2017
Quoting: EnverexThere is showing your discontent and interest in seeing the product being fixed, and then there is acting like a child with insults and personal attacks.QuoteI hope this makes a few people reconsider their attitude when talking to developer about the performance of ports.
Really? When people pay for something, they expect it to work (and work well). People aren't going to be thankful for a bad product. This isn't people spitting in the face of free content, this was a commercial product.
3 Likes, Who?
Liam, I think this article deserves an [Opinion] or [Theory] tag at the beginning to avoid more confusion. No matter how convinced or correct/incorrect jaycee is with what he's saying, he's one person, only one former employee. I don't believe it's wise to trust single sources no matter how central they genuinely were to an event.
It isn't logical to believe a single source, since it inevitably comes with bias.
While I do see things from your point of view now jaycee, your explanation doesn't convince me.
It's more likely (but as equally debatable) that the reason Witcher 3 didn't get a port was one of the more boring reasons: too little money budgeted to even start, too much investment of money or resources to make a profit from it, too much time to develop proficiency with new tools/languages/workflows/APIs/wrappers to make a deadline, or just feeling it's unprofitable to even consider doing a port.
EDIT: There's also the possibility that more important projects were supposed to come to fruition and ended up either being a higher priority or less of an investment.
EDIT 2: Removed a word for clarity.
Last edited by namiko on 4 July 2017 at 4:31 pm UTC
It isn't logical to believe a single source, since it inevitably comes with bias.
While I do see things from your point of view now jaycee, your explanation doesn't convince me.
It's more likely (but as equally debatable) that the reason Witcher 3 didn't get a port was one of the more boring reasons: too little money budgeted to even start, too much investment of money or resources to make a profit from it, too much time to develop proficiency with new tools/languages/workflows/APIs/wrappers to make a deadline, or just feeling it's unprofitable to even consider doing a port.
EDIT: There's also the possibility that more important projects were supposed to come to fruition and ended up either being a higher priority or less of an investment.
EDIT 2: Removed a word for clarity.
Last edited by namiko on 4 July 2017 at 4:31 pm UTC
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When the challenge is porting to Linux, Linux users are seen as a fragmented bunch, all with difficult to understand wants and needs, packages and configurations, philosophies and implementations, none of them being capable of helping in any constructive fashion. Of course, this isn't true, but it's an easy stereotype to lean on when you want to be lazy and not learn how to write software correctly.
When the challenge is dealing with angry trolls who use Linux, Linux users are seen as a united bunch, all completely on the same level of anger, inappropriateness and downright criminality, none of them being capable of helping in any constructive fashion. Of course, this isn't true, but it's an easy stereotype to lean on when you want to be lazy and not learn how to write software correctly.
*sigh*
Last edited by Ryblade on 4 July 2017 at 4:34 pm UTC
When the challenge is dealing with angry trolls who use Linux, Linux users are seen as a united bunch, all completely on the same level of anger, inappropriateness and downright criminality, none of them being capable of helping in any constructive fashion. Of course, this isn't true, but it's an easy stereotype to lean on when you want to be lazy and not learn how to write software correctly.
*sigh*
Last edited by Ryblade on 4 July 2017 at 4:34 pm UTC
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Quoting: EnverexReally? When people pay for something, they expect it to work (and work well). People aren't going to be thankful for a bad product. This isn't people spitting in the face of free content, this was a commercial product.
What you're doing is telling people to be thankful for any old shit - "Please Sir, can I have some more?"
Also blaming an entire community for a handful of people's actions is moronic. Are you saying I could get a friend or two together and get anything I want cancelled by pretending to be a member of the target demographic and giving a few people grief? There's obvious issues with that mentality.
If a store owner gets people walking in off the street and abusing him personally, would anyone actually question the decision to close up their store and walk away? Just because you're paying someone does not mean you get to hurl vitriol, insults or death threats at them. At the end of the day we're all human beings, no-one should have to put in that position, how would you react if you were the one on the receiving end? If people can't actually understand that, then I just give up on them, they are all that is wrong with the world.
Everyone had a right to a refund and received one without any hassle, that's the only acceptable recourse for a customer to take in situations of this sort. Everything beyond that was TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE in polite society.
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oberjaeger Jul 4, 2017
I think there is a hype around many games, people who've been hyped about the product probably react stronger to the feeling of being let down.
But I still think that, if true, the reaction of CDR is as childish as insulting people.
greetings
But I still think that, if true, the reaction of CDR is as childish as insulting people.
greetings
1 Likes, Who?
Quoting: MetallinatusHey someone gets it.Quoting: EnverexThere is showing your discontent and interest in seeing the product being fixed, and then there is acting like a child with insults and personal attacks.QuoteI hope this makes a few people reconsider their attitude when talking to developer about the performance of ports.
Really? When people pay for something, they expect it to work (and work well). People aren't going to be thankful for a bad product. This isn't people spitting in the face of free content, this was a commercial product.
Enverex clearly didn't get the idea of the article.
Quoting: namikoLiam, I think this article deserves an [Opinion] or [Theory] tag at the beginning to avoid more confusion. No matter how convinced or correct/incorrect jaycee is with what he's saying, he's one person, only one former employee. I don't believe it's wise to trust single sources no matter how central they genuinely were to an event.Well it's tagged as an Editorial, which generally means opinions will be within (that's what Editorials are for).
Also, it's clearly stated right near the top of the article that it's the personal opinion of the ex-vp employee.
I think it's clear enough, if people don't take notice, that's their issue :)
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Quoting: GuestQuoting: ShmerlDid CDPR approach VP about TW3 for Linux at all, or it didn't even come to that?
If I knew the answer to this, I would not be allowed to disclose it due to NDA. Sorry.
Let me get this straight. Your NDA won't let you say whether or not your former employer was approached for a job, but your NDA does allow you to openly speculate to the media -- as an inside source of information -- on the financial decision making process of your former employer, in the event they were approached for said job.
Whoever wrote that NDA should have made it even more restrictive, especially with regards to press relations. To even speculate that your former employer would choose to forgo the sales opportunities of making a port of a very successful game based on emotional reasons could have lasting, damaging effects on VP's bottom line. After all, who wants to invest in a company that's known for letting feelings get in the way of profits?
Also, was "I hope you die" and being contacted via email and your personal social media accounts really the worst things got? I guess no one showed up to your house or anything like that, you would have mentioned that if it had happened. Sounds like you got off pretty easy, man! Just so you know, most social media sites allow you to lock down your accounts to prevent random strangers from contacting you, which is especially helpful on a personal account that's kept separate from your work account. This way you can personally vet whoever sends you messages, posts on your profile and sees pictures of your children before they're granted access. The help pages of these websites will help you understand how to properly configure these privacy settings. With regards to email, similar filtering methods are available, consult the help pages of your mail service, mail client or mail processing agent. Personally, I recommend procmail. That all being said, welcome to the Internet! Sorry to hear that it's been a scary start for you.
Quoting: GBeeIf a store owner gets people walking in off the street and abusing him personally, would anyone actually question the decision to close up their store and walk away?
This situation is more akin to a store owner being abused by a few angry customers in wheelchairs angry over substandard ramps and rickety elevators, and the store owner spitefully removing all the ramps and elevators as a result, while still continuing to run the store for able-bodied customers. Nobody said anything about closing up, this is about disaccomodating a specific group of people.
3 Likes, Who?
Has anyone got the Witcher developer's E-mail?
We all should send them some Linux Love mail...
And we should make a habit of it! To everyone who makes Linux and Linux-gaming better.
They build our world, I think they deserve some appreciation.
Rob
The Netherlands
We all should send them some Linux Love mail...
And we should make a habit of it! To everyone who makes Linux and Linux-gaming better.
They build our world, I think they deserve some appreciation.
Rob
The Netherlands
0 Likes
Quoting: liamdaweWell it's tagged as an Editorial...My mistake, it already was.
Quoting: liamdaweAlso, it's clearly stated right near the top of the article that it's the personal opinion of the ex-vp employee.Still not sure it's communicated well through the title itself. "Former Virtual Programming employee's opinion on the reasons for Witcher 3 port's difficulties" would be more conservative about what's fact and what's opinion...
I think it's clear enough, if people don't take notice, that's their issue :)
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