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CD Projekt: Publishers who are "over-exploiting the gamer" will pay the price
Posted: 17.07.2012 13:36 by Simon Priest Comments: 10
Co-founder Marcin Iwinski of CD Projekt RED has issued a stark warning to those who 'over-exploit' gamer wallets, saying the short-term gain will harm their long-term plans of revenue.

He sadly sees our industry "trending toward over-exploiting the gamer" and eventually "people will stop buying their stuff." Witcher 1 sales 'boosted' from free content as it "created good will".

When the studio came up with the idea of the Enhanced Edition for the original their publisher wanted to charge for it but CD Projekt went ahead with a free release.

“Sadly, I see the industry trending toward over-exploiting the gamer, and I think this will come back to the publishers that are doing that, and eventually, people will stop buying their stuff,” said Marcin Iwinski in an interview.

“That’s just not the way things work.”

The current publisher climate prejudices that all new content should be charged for.

“We had a lot of discussions with The Witcher 1′s Enhanced Edition. It was a bit different then because we had a publishing deal, whereas now we have distribution deals," he continued.

“When we had that publishing deal, we went to the publisher, and said, ‘So we have this idea where we make all this stuff, all this new content, and you don’t pay anything for it, we give it away for free. How about that?” The publisher went all big-eyed and said, “Whoa! Let’s charge $10! €10!’ But we believed that we would sell more units if we put it out for free."

“And when we put it out for free, we saw a boost in the sales with the Enhanced Edition because it just created good will, and it refreshes the product. You can always do it from two angles.”

Atari published the original Witcher while Namco Bandai was signed for the sequel. The Enhanced Edition cost the studio around $1 million and provided 200 new animations, two new quests, new NPC characters and a lot more polish for the world. The original and Enhanced Edition sold over 2 million units as of 2010.

CD Projekt RED also released an Enhanced content pack for PC gamers at no charge as it incorporated a lot of fixes and tweaks the developer put into the Xbox 360 version of The Witcher 2.

Check out the full interview between Marcin Iwinski and Gamasutra.

Source: VG247

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Comments

By SirRoderick (SI Elite) on Jul 17, 2012
SirRoderick
They are a shining example and I'll never think twice about buying something from them that appeals to me. Unlike say, Ubisoft, where I'm immediately put off by their label on it.
By nocutius (SI Elite) on Jul 17, 2012
nocutius
Every time I read one of these articles I feel bad about not having played the Witcher games yet :(.
One day... :)

Anyway I totally agree with what has been said in the article. There's at least one studio that permanently found themselves on my naughty list (Wargaming with their WoT abuses) and they will never again see a cent of my money.
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Jul 17, 2012
herodotus
I wish someone would look at price-gouging more seriously and stop with this "Red Zone" bullscookies. If CD-Projekt can offer a full retial release for the same price globally, why can't everyone else?
Be a damn good way of fighting piracy.
By danfreeman (SI Core) on Jul 17, 2012
danfreeman
CD Projekt is definetly my favorite company,they treat us gamers exceptionally well,always adding to their games and not asking a cent.
Both witcher 1 and 2 had enhanced editions released which had a ton of new content and for the ones who bought the original versions they were upgraded automatically.
This is how one should treat their paying customers,not the way ubicrap and electronic bullshit do.
By unsilviu (SI Core) on Jul 18, 2012
unsilviu
Yep. Playing Witcher 1 again for educational purposes right now, and it's amazing, especially now that I don't have to play it at the lowest settings.
The only problem with that game is that there are only about 10 generic character models which get recycled to no end.
By FoolWolf (SI Elite) on Jul 18, 2012
FoolWolf
CD Projekt is the shit - really good developers and have a keen eye for treating consumers.
That and the gog.com initiative makes them the top developers on pat with Valve - but if I have to chose - CD Projekt for the simple and really good consumer treatment!
By unsilviu (SI Core) on Jul 18, 2012
unsilviu
And remember- Obama played the Witcher 2! The polish president gave it to him as a gift.
By nocutius (SI Elite) on Jul 18, 2012
nocutius
How do you know he really played it?
But I agree that is a very cool gift to give to another president.
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Jul 18, 2012
herodotus
He might pass it on to Billy Clinton, who being into jugglies and such just might actually play it....while Hillary is out of town.
By FoolWolf (SI Elite) on Jul 19, 2012
FoolWolf
LOL, though for all the effort to actually get into the nasty mambos - a simple search for Billy friendly sites on Google will get you there much quicker ;)