Does The Witcher 3’s Xbox One Collector’s Edition Make You Angry?

Some people are all about the collector’s edition goodies and you know what, they can be really good and offensively bad. Depending on your perspective (read: care factor), CD Projekt RED’s CE for the Xbox One version of The Witcher 3 will have you excited, disappointed or even angry.

Yesterday, the developer announced two things: the contents of The Witcher 3‘s Xbox One CE and that the game itself will contain a playable, digital card game called “Gwent”, which instantly drew comparisons — mostly in idea-only — to Blizzard’s Hearthstone. Here’s how CD Projekt describes it:

Gwent is a fast-paced card game that can be played within The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt on every platform. Invented by dwarves and perfected over centuries of tavern table play, Gwent is a game of initial simplicity and ultimate depth … The game is about the clash of two armies locked in mortal struggle on a battlefield where the players are the leaders and the cards their forces. With four different factions offering unique combat styles and endless paths to victory, Gwent is every adventurer’s first choice when it comes to one-on-one card-based dueling!

The “key features” include 150 cards, four factions and an “array” of playing styles. Oh and the Xbox One CE — and only this CE — will include two physical Gwent decks. This didn’t sit well with the company’s rather devout PC fan base, which didn’t hold back when levelling criticism at this decision.

88 forum pages worth, to be exact.

The less-than-positive feedback did not go unnoticed, with CD Projekt’s Marcin Iwiński contacting Tom Phillips over at Eurogamer with the following rebuttal:

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 … What is the reason? Why are we doing this? We need the support of partners to make our game visible worldwide.

Iwiński mentions that this should “translate” into more sales, which will help the company do what it does best, for the benefit of all platforms and that if the inclusion on the physical decks (as well as a map) is a sign it is “betraying [its] values”, that’s up to the fans to decide.

Announcing Gwent and bolstering Xbox One Collector’s Edition of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt [The Witcher, via Eurogamer]


The Cheapest NBN 1000 Plans

Looking to bump up your internet connection and save a few bucks? Here are the cheapest plans available.

At Kotaku, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. BTW – prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting.

Comments


161 responses to “Does The Witcher 3’s Xbox One Collector’s Edition Make You Angry?”