Will The Witcher 2 come to console?
We travel to Poland to find out.
If Polish developer CD Projekt creates PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of promising fantasy RPG The Witcher 2, it'll release them just "a matter of months" after the PC version launches on 17th May 2011, Eurogamer has learnt.
Since CD Projekt announced The Witcher 2 it has fielded questions on a possible console release. Now, with the PC version dated, those questions have intensified.
At a press conference in Warsaw, Poland last week held to announce the Collector's and Premium Editions of the game, Eurogamer cornered two of CD Projekt's most prominent staff members, senior producer Tomasz Gop and co-founder and CEO Marcin Iwiński, to find out what's happening.
"We've openly said our technology supports multiplatform," Iwiński said. "On the release of the PC version, we'll see.
"We know how many players, especially in the UK as well as in the US, play on Xbox 360. We are pretty good at maths. That's all I can say for now."
Gop was equally evasive in a new interview published today. "This is too difficult a question because I can't tell you directly what's happening inside the studio, but I want to tell you we're doing everything we can to make sure one day The Witcher 2 will be released on the current generation of consoles," he offered.
"We already have performed a lot of tests. We're doing a reality check every half a year or so. We take a level from the game and we try to put it inside our engine, because it's console capable on Xbox 360 and PS3.
"It's doable."
When asked how long console gamers will potentially have to wait after the release of the PC version, Iwiński replied: "We wouldn't like them to wait too long. It just wouldn't make commercial sense. So if there will be a version, it will be a matter of months.
"The main thing happening is the PC version. Whoever has the PC, we strongly encourage them to get it.
"I'm fully aware of the fact there are quite a lot of people who don't have a PC at home anymore."
But why not create the console version alongside the PC version for a coordinated multiplatform launch?
"Three reasons: time, people and money," Gop revealed. "We have not released any console games yet. That's why we're approaching this topic with even more caution."
In May CD Projekt quashed rumours that console versions of The Witcher 2 had been scrapped. Speculation swirled out of news that Namco Bandai had signed as the PC game's European distributor - the point being that no console versions were mentioned.
"CD Projekt always wanted and still plans to develop The Witcher 2 on consoles - nothing has changed," tweeted the company.
Then, last month, CD Projekt described the console versions as merely a "potential" release. CD Project dumped previous console game The Witcher: White Wolf - an adaptation of The Witcher 1 - due to funding issues.
Four exclusive The Witcher 2 screenshots are below.
