Polish developer CD Projekt Red have apparently underestimated the size and scope of their upcoming The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, as the developer has announced a further delay to May 19, 2015 in order to further tweak the game.
This delay comes seven months after CD Projekt delayed the game to a February 2015 release date, promising that there would be “no more delays.”
Well, that has turned out to be patently untrue. The developer released a statement concerning this delay:
Dear Gamers, May 19th, 2015.
Ever since we started working on The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, we knew it would be an ambitious game. We wanted, and still aim, to give you an incredible experience, an epic adventure in a vast, completely open fantasy universe.
The sheer size and complexity of The Witcher, key features of the title, have had a decisive impact on production. Now, nearing the end of our work, we see many details that need to be corrected. When we release the most important game in our studio’s history, we must be absolutely sure that we did everything we could to limit any bugs to a level that will allow you to enjoy the game thoroughly.
With this in mind, we took another look at current workloads and what they mean for the team. Even though everyone is working at full speed, we concluded that we need another 12 weeks, so we are shifting the release date of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt to
We owe you an apology. We set the release date too hastily. It’s a hard lesson, one to take to heart for the future. We know what we want to do to make Wild Hunt one of the best RPGs you will ever play. And we continue to work hard to achieve just that. So, we apologize and ask for your trust.
Thank you for the all support you show us on a daily basis. We truly do appreciate it. It has fueled us in our passion since the start and will continue to do so.
Reception to the news has generally been one of disappointment but understanding. Over at the official forums, many users commented that they were willing to stomach the extra three month wait if it translates to a more robust The Witcher 3, with one user stating “If that means we will get a better game overall …. Let this be the final goddamn delay, give all you got, CDPR,” and another writing “CDPR, take your time, it will be much better than the buggy messes that other studios are sending out the door!”
The news comes on the heels of rumors that the studio is struggling to cope with the immense scale of The Witcher 3. Last October, an anonymous user on NeoGAF claiming to have inside knowledge on the goings-on at CDPR said that the “bullsh**ting with the Witcher 3 started from day one. PR is creating an overblown vision of a game that doesn’t exist while the team is in crazy crunch time for over a year now.”
A spokesperson from CDPR has since responded to the allegations by pointing to existing gameplay videos of the game, but the studio has refused to comment on allegations that its employees have been crunching, aka working unreasonable hours, for a year.