CD Projekt's Tom Ohle on The Witcher and More

Last October, saw the release of CD Projekt's fantasy role-playing game for the PC, The Witcher. While the game did not offer any multiplayer features and was generally overshadowed by bigger-name and more heavily hyped titles, the Witcher was still a tremendous success. Critics gave the title rave reviews (including a "9 out of 10" from our own Ryan Lord). In addition, the PC exclusive sold 600,000 copies in its first three months, according to CD Projekt.

Next month CD Projekt will release a new version of the hit RPG, called The Witcher: Enhanced Edition, which includes all the current fixes, load time reduction, and new animations - though the troublesome TAGES copy protection software is still around. Just this week, the Polish game company also launched patch 1.3 for the game. The patch comes with additional downloadable content known as the "Price of Neutrality" adventure, as well as the D'jinni beta adventure editor, which will allow players to customize and craft their own content.

CD Projekt's new development outfit, Red Studio, recently hired industry veteran Tom Ohle as its vice president of marketing and public relations for North America and the UK. Ohle previously worked at BioWare, Microsoft Games Studios, NVIDIA, and Stardock. CD Projekt said it hired Ohle specifically to help boost the company's profile in North America. While CD Projekt and the Witcher are well known in Europe, both have flown somewhat under the radar here in the United States. Tom's Games recently spoke with Ohle about future plans for The Witcher and the growth of CD Projekt, as well as the current state of PC gaming, the effects of piracy and the controversy over video game violence.

Tom's Games: Are there any plans to bring The Witcher to the Xbox 360 and/or PlayStation 3?

Tom Ohle: We don't have anything specific planned yet, but console versions of The Witcher are definitely in consideration. If and when we do a console version of the game, it has to stand up against other top titles on that platform, and that means a significant investment of time and money. We won't just release a straight port.

TG: What's in store for The Witcher now? Expansions?

Tom Ohle: We're re-releasing the game later this year with most of the bugs and gameplay complaints fixed and improved. And from there, who knows? We just launched The Witcher: DuelMail (a free browser-based game) in open beta, and it's a lot of fun. Lots of stuff going on, but nothing to talk about yet. Everything's just too far out to talk about.

TG: How are the sales of The Witcher?

Tom Ohle: We announced a while back that we'd hit 600,000 copies. I hope that we've risen a bit beyond that by now.

TG: Is that enough to keep the doors open? I can't help but think about Iron Lore Entertainment despite the success of Titan Quest.

Tom Ohle: We're doing well. It's also important to remember we've got a 200-plus person publishing/localization operation behind us. It's really sad to see Iron Lore close up shop - I've worked with those guys a bit and they deserve better. Titan Quest kicked ass.

TG: What's a good target number that makes everyone feel a sigh of relief once reached?

Tom Ohle: Not too sure, actually. The game was developed on a budget lower than what Western developers tend to deal with, and I'm not quite sure what our break-even number was. Even so, the company never really cared much if the game broke even - it was intended to just introduce the brand to the world. From here on out, though, the numbers will get more important. In any event, I'm hoping we can break a million units by the end of the year.

Screenshot from The Witcher developed by CD Projekt

TG: There's a lot of fuss about PC development companies going under because of piracy, yet no one ever talks or complains about console piracy. Fact is the Usenet is jammed-packed full of games no matter what platform you prefer. It seems like the current business model should include console development just to keep the doors open. Is this accurate?

Tom Ohle: Everything gets pirated, so it's not limited to PC gaming. But really, you just want to put out a game that's solid for your platform. If you're making a PC game, make a great PC game and people will buy it. I don't know of any pirates that buy games. They all seem to be pirates for life, you know? So why fight it? Just make a good game that people want to pay for.

TG: Do you think The Witcher sales suffered because of piracy?

Tom Ohle: Probably. I don't think it's as big an issue as it's made out to be, though. Those guys probably wouldn't have bought the game anyway. They like to pirate games so they don't have to pay for them. They're happy to wait a couple of weeks while a copy protection scheme is cracked.

TG: It seems that there will always be piracy regardless of the platform and distribution model.

Tom Ohle: Right. I mean, you can definitely control it with server authentication and subscription models and whatnot, but personally, I can't be bothered with that for every game I want to play.

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