Edge Online got a chance to discuss the successes of The Witcher and the secrets of how it managed to do so well on what is considered a lagging platform with one of it's creators, Michal Kicinski. Within this interview are some interesting concepts of how they approached the market and also how they approach issues like piracy.

"Some companies make a game for everyone. We decided to stick to a specific audience," said Kicinski.

When shopping the game around to publishers, CD Projekt was hell bent on keeping the subject matter and content true to the designers' original vision. "There are these business guys trying to a set a sales figure by trying to make a game for everyone," Kicinski added. "But that's just hoping for money that won't come. Not everyone will like it. For me, it's kind of brave to say, 'We're not going to sell to everyone.' We had a specific group in mind."

In effect, development of The Witcher was like drafting a love note dedicated to single-player PC RPG fans. Yes, they are out there, and there are enough that they shouldn't be ignored.

"The people for whom we made the game, they were surprised that somebody made a game so attuned to their tastes. ... We were very positively surprised to achieve this success through word of mouth."

In an industry that spends millions upon millions of dollars on marketing for a single game on TV, print and the Web, the importance of word of mouth sometimes is lost on game companies. And if they haven't completely forgotten the importance of word of mouth, they've forgotten how to generate it.

Mishtram via edge-online.com »