We’ve been seeing a growing interest from big publishers about the topic of virtual reality. Some believe that it still needs time to grow while other studios believe that they should be publishing content now. CD Projekt Red, the creators of the wildly popular The Witcher franchise, spoke on this issue of virtual reality.
“We are observing with interest (the virtual reality market),” said Marcin Iwiński, the co-founder of CD Projekt Red in a recent interview with Glixel. “We are telling stories. If VR can help us, we’ll definitely consider it.” This is big news considering how Iwiński has accomplished so much in his professional career. From selling imported CD ROM games in Warsaw to leading a billion dollar studio, he has done a great job in establishing CD Projekt Red and their household franchise game, The Witcher 3.
The Witcher 3 has beat out games such as Fallout 4, Metal Gear Solid V, and Bloodborne to win the coveted Game of the Year award at this year’s GDC conference. With such accolades, CD Projekt Red can accomplish a lot in the VR industry. But there are some hurdles that must be overcome.
Iwiński mentioned that he’s not a good candidate for VR because he gets nausea very fast. While frame rates and graphics are continuing to improve for VR, it still triggers that irk feeling in the head for many people, which is a drawback from studios creating quality content for the platform. He also finds that traditional platforms are the way to go. “Why did I pre-order the Switch? Not because I want the Switch. Because I want Zelda,” said Iwiński.
And this is a popular answer by many other studios. They believe that the technology needs to grow out of its infancy to support high quality content. Plus, AAA games require a team of over 100 people working around the clock for years, according to Joel Breton. That amounts to a huge budget requirement and time. With the Vive and Rift being so new to the market, it will need a couple of years until we see amazing games such as The Witcher 3 be available on the VR platform. But we are hopeful to see CD Projekt Red enter the VR industry.