It’s maybe ”tradition a little bit” that story-heavy RPGs only survive on PC, as that’s where they began. The studio is unsure - it could be a ”different group” issue.
”We hope to bring a really good RPG to consoles so we hope to gain interest of mature players who are looking for something story driven and story heavy, but we hope to prove heavy RPGs aren’t only made on PCs but they can also be played on consoles and can be successful there,” said developer Marek Ciemak of CD Projekt RED.
”I hope that we open a way for other big, strong, story heavy RPGs to find their own players on consoles, not only PC.” The Witcher 2 will come up against Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, but they each offer something markedly different says Ciemak.
”Sure they will. But that’s our target, first of all, and we believe that it’s hard to beat us in terms of story and storytelling,” he said. Skyrim is open-world, where The Witcher 2 isn’t.
”They’re focused on their huge open world exploration and we’re a little more into the intense storytelling with a lot of dialogue, focus on story… so we’re still RPG games, sure, but two sides of the same genre, you know?”
Are ‘heavy-RPGs’ PC only? ”Hard to say. Maybe it’s tradition a little bit. But a lot of games are dated back to when they were on PC like Baldur’s Gate and Morrowind series… okay, Morrowind is now on consoles also, but the beginnings were on PC,” he said.
”So maybe many players who used to play those story-heavy RPGs stick to it and still play them on PC. So that’s one thing.”
”The other is probably… ahhh. It’s hard to say. It’s an interesting question. I’ve thought about it a few times already but I don’t know the right answer.”
”I can only guess. Maybe it’s tradition, maybe there are a different group of players playing PC games and console games but to be honest, nowadays, many people own many different machines. Not only consoles but also PCs,” Ciemak noted.
”So it’s all beginning to change and open to a bigger market.” The Witcher 2 releases on Xbox 360 early in 2012. The PC version will update for free to ‘version 2.0’ as the CD Projekt RED studio promises numerous enhancements to the game.
