Now one of the most popular RPG franchises, The Witcher almost experienced a very different fate before ending up in the hands of CD Projekt RED.
If today we cite a lot of titles like Chiaroscuro Expedition 33 and Baldur’s Gate 3 when we talk about the best RPGs, there also remains a game whose success has absolutely not weakened over the years: The Witcher 3. Indeed, while CD Projekt RED is currently working on the highly anticipated The Witcher 4the title that launched everything for the studio in 2015 continues to regularly make headlines, proof of its impact on the entire industry. However, it turns out that the fate of the franchise could have been very different.
The fate of The Witcher almost turned out to be very different
Indeed, what many players don’t know is that before arriving in the hands of CD Projekt in 2007, the adaptation of The Witcher had been entrusted to another Polish studio called Metropolis Software in the 90s. « J’ai connu Andrzej Sapkowski [ndlr : l’auteur des livres] at science fiction and fantasy fan conventions. […] One day I just called him and said, ‘Listen, I’d love to make a game based on your short stories.’ remembers Adrian Chmielarz, co-founder of the studio, in the columns of GAMINGbible.
“If anyone knows Mr. Sapkwoski at all, then you know that he doesn’t care much about what happens to his characters outside of his own world. So he said, ‘Oh, fine. What do you want to do, a game? It’s okay. Show me the money and it’s yours”. Thus was born the first game project The Witcher which, for the record, was originally a translation of the original name proposed by Chmielarz himself.
Unfortunately, the project ultimately never saw the light of day and was abandoned a few years later for a reason that the creator describes as “absolute idiocy” : Metropolis had its eyes bigger than its stomach. “It was a typical mistake small studios make when they become successful: instead of just growing enough to be able to develop two games, we started developing four. […] Then we started to run out of money”he then confesses.
A blessing in disguise, at least for the players
However, The Witcher could well have seen the light of day, Metropolis having at the time found a publisher who allowed it to complete some of its projects. But this was not one of them, the publisher in question having preferred to get rid of it. “I wanted to keep The Witcher. Not in a very intense way, but you know, I love this universe. However, TopWare Interactive didn’t care at all. They were from Germany and they didn’t know The Witcher, so they didn’t care.” explains Chmielarz.
The project was therefore definitively left aside, while CD Projekt finally had the opportunity to recover the rights a few years later. News which initially surprised Metropolis, which thought it had exclusivity on The Witcher, but which the studio nevertheless preferred to let slide. “I didn’t care” assure Chmielarz. “I knew I wouldn’t be able to finish The Witcher, so I thought, ‘Okay, too bad. I hope they make a great game’”.
“And I’m super happy that they did it, because I love these universes. I love what they did” then adds the latter, who does not lack praise for the work of CD Projekt. “They played a much better game. They did what we would have done with the title, so it all ended well.” But yeah, that’s the story behind it. This is the story of The Witcher » concludes Chmielarz. A somewhat unfortunate story for Metropolis therefore, but certainly positive for CD Projekt and the players, and whose next chapter will be written in the years to come.
Source : GAMINGbible
