Simultaneously with announcing the inclusion of the card game Gwent in all copies of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, CD Projekt Red have announced that they are including even more content in the Xbox One Collector’s Edition for the game. This content includes a physical copy of the Gwent card game and a unique cloth map of the in-game world.
As of now, the content in the Xbox One edition includes:
- The standard edition of the game, containing: the official soundtrack, a beautiful and detailed map of the in-game world, unique stickers, and the developer-created “Witcher Universe – The Compendium”
- A giant, 33x24x26 cm, 100% hand painted, Polystone figure of Geralt of Rivia battling a Griffin
- An exclusive, collector grade Witcher medallion
- A one of a kind SteelBook
- A two-hundred page artbook, containing breathtaking art from the game
- A cloth map of the game world
- Two Gwent card decks
- Huge outer and inner Collector’s Boxes you can store your Witcher merchandise in!
Now if you had made plans to OR have pre-ordered a Collector’s Edition on another console, you might be feeling a bit ticked off that you are being short-changed. If this is the case, you would not be alone as CD Projekt Red has been receiving heated discussion over the past few days about their decision to favour the Xbox One over PlayStation 4 and PC consoles in this regard.
This has resulted in CD Projekt Red co-founder Marcin Iwiński issuing the following statement:
Looking at the heated comments, I believe that our announcement of the physical addition of two decks of Gwent cards and a cloth map, requires a further word from us.
Here at CD Projekt Red, we always put gamers first. Our PC versions are released DRM-free, we bend over backwards to give you the most beefed up editions of our games (be it standard or Collector’s), and we deliver the same game, regardless of platform or version you buy. Moreover, we promised not have any exclusive DLCs, neither per platform nor per retailer, and we do stand by our promise–nothing has changed, nor will change in this regard.
Don’t get me wrong, I do understand that these extra items might be desirable for Witcher fans playing the game on other platforms. However, as we are not offering any platform or retail exclusive DLCs or any other form of gameplay differentiation, we do have to find other ways to support our partners. We are also providing special pre-order items for certain retailers around the world, including Witcher comic books, posters, steel books or medallions. Funnily enough, we did not notice any heated comments on the pre-order specials.
What is the reason? Why are we doing this? We need the support of partners to make our game visible worldwide. This should hopefully translate to better sales, which will in consequence allow us to do what we have been doing for the last 10 years, i.e. reinvest this money to make more great RPGs, while still sticking to our values.
If you still consider that adding two decks of Gwent cards and a map of the in-game world to the Xbox One CE equals us betraying our values and not fulfilling our promises, well, it does make us sad, but the final call is always yours to make.
Still, I do hope that what we offer is unique and we can ask you to give us the benefit of the doubt. We have more great things to announce for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt in the coming months and I promise you won’t be disappointed (yes, yes, there are no more exclusives coming).
