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Latest Witcher 3 Delay Explained

"We don't want to release the game with bugs that undermine the gameplay."

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The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt developer CD Projekt Red has spoken out to explain the open-world RPG's most recently delay, which sees the game pushed back three months from February 2015 to May 2015.

CD Projekt Red board member, Adam Kicinski, spoke with Polish financial journalists about the decision this week--after all, CDPR is a publicly traded company in Poland.

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"Gamers took our decision very well," Kicinski said, as reported by Eurogamer. "[The] market is afraid of badly polished games on next-gen platforms."

It's been a challenging year for some new games, including Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Driveclub, and Assassin's Creed Unity, each of which have suffered through problematic launches. CDPR doesn't want the same to be true for The Witcher 3, so the studio is taking more time to iron out the bugs.

"We don't want to release the game with bugs that undermine the gameplay" -- Kicinski

"There's a lot of small errors though, because the game is huge," Kicinski explained. "It's the only reason behind the delay. We didn't assume it will be this big. Only after putting all the pieces together it turned out it's bigger than the two first put together."

"Let me remind you: it's open and not linear," he added. "We are just learning how to play it and we have to catch the little pieces. We know what to do, we just have to do it. We don't want to release the game with bugs that undermine the gameplay."

Kicinski also reiterated that the February 2015 release date for The Witcher 3, itself a pushback from the game's original fall 2014 release window, was too optimistic given the scope of the game. "We announced the release date very early and we're paying for it now," he said.

The Witcher 3's latest delay is particularly noteworthy, given the fact that CDPR management previously promised "no more delays" for the RPG.

It's not the only game to shift from 2014 to 2015, however. Others included Batman: Arkham Knight, The Order: 1886, Quantum Break, Dying Light, The Division, and Mad Max.

The new Witcher 3 release date is May 19, 2015 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC. For more, check out GameSpot's previous coverage of The Witcher 3.

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