Witcher row exposes game cancellation

A heated payment dispute between Lyon-based developer WideScreen Games and publisher CD Projekt has reportedly halted the production of the upcoming console game The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf.

WideScreen CEO Olivier Masclef has made public his frustrations with CD Projekt, claiming that the Polish publisher has apparently failed to meet payment obligations and effectively has forced the studio to suspend the project.

“After having a payment being broken by CD Projekt – a big payment that we were supposed to receive – and after having committed to the project but not being covered financially on it for three months, I hold no choice but to put the team on hold,” Masclef told VG247.

Yet in the comments section of that news story, a user naming himself as Michal Kicinski, who is the joint CEO of CD Projekt Group, said that it was “sad that we cannot talk in [the] normal business way, but communicate through media”, and claimed that “all payments were done on time according to [a] milestone plan.”

The comment post said that public disputes are “absolutely not our style of making business”, but he felt forced to clarify the matter. The poster claimed that payments were later than originally planned, yet was because of delays in production as “WSG continued to miss the deadlines.”

The post claimed that works were put on hold, yet the decision was extremely difficult. The post claimed that CD Projekt need guarantees high quality of product, otherwise it cannot continue the production. “We are committed to the highest quality of all our games, and this is unnegotiable for us,” the post added.

The PC edition of The Witcher was released for PC back in 2007, and received a surprisingly substantial level of critical and commercial success. While the console edition is in flux, it is thought that production of The Witcher 2 remains on track.