Did the console versions restrict the PC version?
"If the consoles are not involved there is no Witcher 3 as it is," answers Marcin Iwinski, definitively. "We can lay it out that simply. We just cannot afford it, because consoles allow us to go higher in terms of the possible or achievable sales; have a higher budget for the game, and invest it all into developing this huge, gigantic world.
"Developing only for the PC: yes, probably we could get more [in terms of graphics] as there would be nothing else - they would be so focused, like if we would develop only on Xbox One or PlayStation 4. But then we cannot afford such a game."
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Why did the graphics change?
"If you're looking at the development process," Iwinski begins, "we do a certain build for a tradeshow and you pack it, it works, it looks amazing. And you are extremely far away from completing the game. Then you put it in the open-world, regardless of the platform, and it's like 'oh shit, it doesn't really work'. We've already showed it, now we have to make it work. And then we try to make it work on a huge scale. This is the nature of games development."
It was captured PC footage, not pre-rendered, Badowski confirms, but a lot had to change. "I cannot argue - if people see changes, we cannot argue," Adam Badowski says, "but there are complex technical reasons behind it.
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Marcin Iwinski picks it up: "Maybe we shouldn't have shown that [trailer], I don't know, but we didn't know that it wasn't going to work, so it's not a lie or a bad will - that's why we didn't comment actively. We don't agree there is a downgrade but it's our opinion, and gamers' feeling can be different. If they made their purchasing decision based on the 2013 materials, I'm deeply sorry for that, and we are discussing how we can make it up to them because that's not fair.
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Why didn't you say anything until now?
"Frankly speaking because we didn't see it as a problem," Iwinski admits. They didn't ignore the issue: every tweet, every mention of the issue for weeks now has been sent to the tech team to immediately address - and I've seen firsthand how closely they monitor everything said about the game and how much they care.
"You're saying that we should have said 'hey we've changed stuff and now it looks like this'?" he asks. As it was, I tell him, it looked like CD Projekt Red had something to hide. "So actually here we strongly disagree," he returns, "because we are not trying to hide anything." You can't hide what people can so easily compare and see, adds Badowski.
"We don't feel good about it," Iwinski adds, "and I treat it very personally. Maybe it doesn't seem [like that] because we run around like crazy at the release but..."
"The whole team was touched by this," Michal Platkow-Gilewski chimes in, and I can testify to that. "They really care," says Badowski.
Marcin Iwinski adds: "You play it and you are not fine: really, that's touching and we'll do our best to make it up. But if you didn't play it and you're trolling: think twice please.
"In a way, because of us not seeing it as a problem, and working hard on the game until the very end, that's where we are today and that's why we have to explain. I hope it shows our intentions, because we are not hiding anything. Considering our values, hiding is the last thing we ever want to do.
"And for those who are still not 100 per cent decided, I definitely encourage them to wait and see what we will be releasing in patches, updates and whatnot."
