The Witcher Interview

Edge Online had the opportunity to chat with CD Projekt co-founder Michal Kicinski about their recent announcement that The Witcher has now sold over a million copies.

But CD Projekt, which spent $11 million to develop The Witcher and its “Enhanced Edition” follow-up, found success by narrowing its focus from a spotlight to a laser beam, and making a game for a certain kind of gamer instead of trying to be everything to everyone.

“Some companies make a game for everyone. We decided to stick to a specific audience,” said Kicinski.

When shopping the game around to publishers, CD Projekt was hell bent on keeping the subject matter and content true to the designers’ original vision. “There are these business guys trying to a set a sales figure by trying to make a game for everyone,” Kicinski added. “But that’s just hoping for money that won’t come. Not everyone will like it. For me, it’s kind of brave to say, ‘We’re not going to sell to everyone.’ We had a specific group in mind.”

In effect, development of The Witcher was like drafting a love note dedicated to single-player PC RPG fans. Yes, they are out there, and there are enough that they shouldn’t be ignored.

“The people for whom we made the game, they were surprised that somebody made a game so attuned to their tastes. … We were very positively surprised to achieve this success through word of mouth.”

We really need more developers with this attitude. You can chalk up any future CD Projekt RPG releases as day-one purchases for me.