E3 2014 – CD Projekt RED/GOG Summer Conference Report

June 6, 2014

With E3 only a matter of days away, the fine folks at CD Projekt took to the internet to announce a few key details regarding the upcoming title The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt, as well as make some new announcements regarding their GOG service.

The first half of the half hour presentation (which you can catch here) was dedicated to The Witcher 3, showcasing a new trailer, delivering a release date (February 24th, 2015), but also going into key details regarding pre-orders and collectors editions. Much like with The Witcher 2, the standard edition will come with a bevy of goodies – such as a soundtrack, a world compendium and a map of the world. The collectors edition (which will only be available by pre-ordering), includes the above goods, plus an art book, a steelcase for the game and a gigantic statue. If you prefer to grab the game digitally – CD Projekt have set up an elaborate pre-order scheme on GOG.

By default, the game will set you back $90 AUD. By owning either Witcher games on the service, you’ll score a 15% discount, and by owning both games, you’ll score a 20% discount, making the game $72 AUD. However, the $18 will then be refunded back to you in GOG money as part of their Fair Pricing package. Pre-ordering at GOG nets you the soundtrack, wallpapers, making of featurettes, a digital art book, a copy of Neverwinter Nights Diamond, two access tokens to the PC/Mac beta of The Witcher Adventure Game and the satisfaction of your money going directly to CD Projekt. In fact, by pre-ordering now, many of the above mentioned bonuses will be available immediately.

Finally, the presentation concluded with the future of GOG, as CD Projekt announced a client for the service – known as GOG Galaxy. The idea is that it’s a central hub for all your GOG games, allows for auto-patching of games, and introduces an achievement and better profile system. It’ll also allow for true cross-play functionality, wherein you’ll be able to play with other players on other services. However, CD Projekt were very quick to mention that Galaxy was 100% optional and won’t require an online connection. At the moment, only one game was announced to have Galaxy as a requirement, which was the aforementioned beta for The Witcher Adventure Game. Galaxy will be hitting later this year on PC/Mac & Linux.

The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt is due to hit PC/PS4 and Xbox One on February 24th, 2015.