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The Witcher 3 was apparently never planned for Linux

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Sad news again (sorry). Apparently The Witcher 3 was never actually planned for Linux which makes things a bit odd.

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Hmmm, "never were any" huh. Let's have a recap shall we.

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The Witcher 3 was originally confirmed by a big front-page "coming to SteamOS" banner on Steam. This was up for a while, but it got pulled down and no announcement was ever made by Valve or the game developer about it. Everyone went silent on it.

Much later the game was again featured in Steam's big SteamOS sale. At this time I did note it was the only game not to specifically state it on the Steam store page, when all the others confirmed it somehow.

I reached out to both GOG and CD PROJEKT RED each time these happened, and I never got a reply.

I have now personally reached out to GOG for answers, although they never replied to me specifically before. Slightly annoying, as they have replied to a few other random people through emails when asking about it, but never to me directly. I am hoping they are now willing to get it properly cleared up.

This whole situation has been one odd thing after another.

What I imagine, is that it was planned, but was later dropped due to unforeseen issues. The problem here, is as always, the lack of communication. Neither party will want to blame the other, as it will sour business relations. It's likely both Valve and CDPR are at fault for it in some way or another.

The problem here is how utterly incompetent are they (either or both of them) to have it featured twice like this? Especially since the second time was specifically a sale to get people to buy it to play it on SteamOS directly.

The whole thing bloody stinks. I don't like speaking writing like this, but that's my honest opinion on the matter. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Editorial
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scaine Sep 2, 2016
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Quoting: mr-eggAFAIk from a discussion on reddit, Aspyr are fore-filling obligations and that's why you saw LOF but they were bought/licensed by Apple. Don't take my word for it though.

Yikes, really? This again? "Bought by Apple" was an April Fool's joke that Aspyr ran five years ago. Jeez - I even commented on the Reddit discussion you're talking about saying as much.

Aspyr must simply think that either there's more money in the Apple scene, or more likely that their expertise lies with... Apple's shitty version of Vulkan? I can't remember its name.

I hope they come back and do something great for Linux, but it's not looking great right now.
STiAT Sep 2, 2016
Sad, TW3 is a really good game. But I have to say that CDPR always said they will be looking into it especially since they use their new engine version which is "a lot better portable", but never confirmed any plans.

I'm sure they could afford a port. My personal guess is that they planned not to do it in house, and after the experience with TW2 and the bad press, they stepped down from their plan.
Avehicle7887 Sep 3, 2016
Sad news, at this point one (or errrmm Many) can only dream to have such a great game on Linux. I'll be the first one to admit that I bought it to play it on a Windows partition (and that's the exception I really made for a Windows game) till the Linux version was finished.

The optimist in me still thinks there's a shred of hope in CDPR land for Linux, and partially I think this GOG Support individual may not know what's exactly happening with the Linux port.
c927776 Sep 3, 2016
Just hype more and dont criticize anything, you know, just like in last 4 years, someone will tweak it to run good in wine, we will give it a platinum status and call it a port, because Windows ABIs running on Linux are best ports!

C# and .Net 4eva!!! #ILoveLinuxSpecificBugsInUnity3d
Kimyrielle Sep 3, 2016
Fine. Don't get my money, then. It's 2016, the year when Linux gamers don't have to care about any individual game anymore, because there are so many nice ones to play!
TheRiddick Sep 3, 2016
I don't think they are crying about not selling to the few Linux users who might buy this. I have however bought it, but not paying for DLC. Looks like we will need to wait for WINE to have DX11 support, which will be around the same time when CyberPunk 2077-II comes out :(
Mblackwell Sep 3, 2016
I have my reasons for thinking the opposite (that it is still coming) which I can't talk about, but you never can tell in the end. Fingers crossed.

Otherwise, how bought that Wine eh?

:|


Last edited by Mblackwell on 3 September 2016 at 5:52 am UTC
D34VA_ Sep 3, 2016
Wow... From the comments here, it looks like most of us are just gonna pack up the picket signs and throw in the towel. That's it? That's how little willpower we have as "gamers" and "Linux users", that we are willing to be defeated and emotionally distraught every time some scumbag publisher or studio stands us up?

Screw them! If they are so willing to ignore their potential customers, then they and their games are worth neither our time nor our effort. Let's move forward, people! On to greener pastures, and possibly kinder horizons. I for one choose to stand strong! I, for one, will not let a handful of cancelled or permanently delayed games stop me from enjoying what is available already, and I won't let them stop me from enjoying what is to come.

For shame!
Liam Dawe Sep 3, 2016
Quoting: ElectricPrismWhere I'm from bloody isn't a cuss word, if we could just drop the classist barrier intentionally created by the rich and poor to segregate people by their speech that would be great.
I really hope that isn't a serious comment.

Classist barrier? Really? Shut up.

Where I am from and where you are from obviously differs in speech, i write as a brit, learn to deal with it.
skinnyraf Sep 3, 2016
The latest response from CD Project Red (not GOG) was that the issue is the lack of talent, as everyone is focused on Cyberpunk.

This means the only chance is a dedicated porting developer. Feral, Aspyr, are you there?
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