Some History About Saber Interactive, The Developer Porting The Witcher 3 To Nintendo Switch

540p... That'll be rough! Looks like SD is not dead after all, taking this and Just Dance 2020 for Wii into account

32GB Digital? Expect physical to take 16 or 24 GB

Meh, should have been Panic Button or QLOC.

Why isn't the best porting dev from Wii U doing anything on Switch?
"Straight Right" from Australia were the masters of Wii U.

540p and with dynamic resolutions, Novigrad and Crookbag Bog are going to be incredibly blurry places to visit. I hope it runs well enough for those of you who are getting the Switch version but I'll be sticking with the PS4 PRO for this one. It is an amazing game so if it at least runs smoothly it will be well worth getting if you don't have anything else to play it on

@mmarkster I THINK I get the gist of your comment, so to allay any concerns that you APPEAR to be expressing; In their press release CD Project Red announced that the entirety of the game will be on the game card.

https://www.gamasutra.com/view/pressreleases/344588/The_Witcher_3_Wild_Hunt_Complete_Edition_is_coming_to_Nintendo_Switch_this_year.php

Third paragraph.

540p? In handheld? That's fine I've played doom, Wolfenstein and even xenoblade which hit 480p. I'll live. @SmaggTheSmug have you played Hob the definitive edition on the switch even panic button has trouble porting.

The footage shown so far looks solid.

I'm confident in these folks delivering a quality port.

But how does it run? I don't mind lower quality visuals in a game so long as the game runs the way it is meant to.

I grew up playing Game Boy games at like 160x144, I can handle lower res games. What I don't want is a chuggy, broken port, or missing assets or rampant glitches etc...

I am still not interested, but after the news that the cartridge is going to contain the full game + both expansions, I really hope it sells to the heavens just to set a new standard for Switch ports.

Hear that Crapcom!?

Honestly wary now that I know Saber Interactive is involved. I don't play sports games so I haven't bought much of their work, but I'm pretty familiar with all their terrible wackjobs (courtesy of a little brother who buys all those stupid terrible wackjobs on purpose and thinks up solutions).

Just use panic button, people. It isn't that hard. (Yes I know Hob isn't AMAZING in terms of performance, but a track record of 90% is better than one of 30%)

@mmarkster They just said it will all be on the cartidge, so it will only take up like 3-4 gigs. What you're thinking of is like how Doom you had to download half the game, which was about 15 gigs.
This won't require any downloads. It's the first true physical for Witcher 3.

@carlos82 To be fair I had the game on the PS4 Pro and it ran anything but "smooth". I play on mostly PC so perhaps I am spoiled, but I see the Switch version much more appealing simply due to it being able to go handheld.

@mazzel It's quality was taken from a stream. Always remember, stream quality never equals final product quality.

@SmaggTheSmug Iron Galaxy would have been the best choice. They ported Skyrim and Diablo 3 on Switch.

I'm waiting for this game and now I'll have a chance to play it. In fact, I can do it on the PS4 but I don't have enough time to finish it on my TV. That's why the Switch version is perfect for me. However, wait with the purchase until the first review to check this port. It seems to me that Witcher is a very difficult game to port on a slower console. Some time ago performance even on PS4 was poor.

The entire game on the card confirms that im buying this, that is fantastic.

@Varkster I played it at launch on PS4 so most versions are smooth compared to that, to be fair though performance is generally great these days in all areas on the PRO. So hopefully whatever they have learned can be passed on to the Switch version but I do worry for those areas I mentioned or in battles with a lot of effects going on. I won't be getting it on Switch as I already have it and there's far too many games coming to replay this monster and if I did I'd just do it on NG+

I like that the resolutions are low. 720 is perfect for docked play. Both Bayonettas look amazing at 720p. The developer has released 60 fps games on Switch, so that's good. I'm hoping this will at least be perfectly frame paced at 30 fps. It's awesome that the whole game is on the cartridge. Actually, it's pathetic that something like that needs praised!!

@Morrow I was not reffering to the actual foottage, just reffering to the article
Let´s see how it will hold up!

@60frames-please That´s actually a good point! Better to have 720p and a steady framerate than beatiful, but messy 1080p!

Witcher 3 was a massive bonus for me as I haven't played it. I'm not interested in Mario Maker, Animal Crossing or Fire Emblem, and I'm dubious / waiting reviews for Luigi and Astral. So yea, Link's Awakening in September and Witcher 3, presumably, late in the year. Not exactly the 2019 I had hoped for...

Best game this generation, but this is one hell of a difficult port to pull off. It took CD Projekt a long, long time and countless patches to finally get the PS4 version to run well. To take a game which can only just maintain 30fps on a 1.8tflop system and port it to a system with barely 1/4 of the power at best. Well, it's going to be a challenge.

@Liam_Doolan It's basically the same company.
"Straight Right" ported Zelda, Deus EX 3 and Mass Effect 3.

@ramu-chan and 540p on a small screen is not a problem.

@Morrow No, anyone but Iron Galaxy! The blemish that was Arkham Knight PC port will never be forgotten!

This is the kind of game that will be hard to put on Switch without the visuals suffering. Hope to see them make the appropriate compromises.

If so, I might end up plaing this version some day, instead of my as-of-yet-unplayed PC license rotting on GOG's server.

@Morrow no the entire single player was on the cart, you only had to download the multiplayer portion

This is screaming for a switch pro. Hopefully whenever the time comes, games with dynamic resolutions will scale to the native resolution when performance allows

@Morrow There is a GOTY edition on PS4/Xbox that contains everything as well.

Only played Spintires from their Switch crop, no complaints so far. 32 Gb will be quite a download, but for a game like this it sounds like a nice surprise nonetheless.

@Liam_Doolan For some reason Straight haven't done anything since 2015.
Tantalus is frequently porting games to Switch. Perhaps they have merged the devs?

@Octane I know, but you have to download the game, because physical is basically a lie on xbox and ps4. You be downloading like 36-76 gigs for games. That's not on a disc dude, lol. That's why I said it's the first true physical game for Witcher 3, because it's all on the cartridge, without downloads.

@DarkLloyd Witcher 3 doesn't have multiplayer, lol. What are you talking about?

@SmaggTheSmug A lot of companies make bad PC ports that make great console experiences. The truth is a lot of devs put more effort on console games than their PC ports. Just because a game sucks on PC, doesn't mean the dev is bad, just that they don't care about PC.

@Morrow Physical doesn't require a download on PS4 and Xbox.

@mazzel I'm buying it either way. graphics aren't everything. I can deal with a minor downgrade.

@Octane Yes it does. The DISC takes up 40 gigs, and that 40 gigs downloads the minute you put in that disc. Look it up.

I’m glad Witcher III is coming... I’m only a little concerned about Saber as the load times in that NBA Playgrounds were awful for a game like that. Hopefully you don’t have to wait ages for the game to load.

The still pics they just released looks kinda decent. But the resolution sheet tells me some areas might go sub-480p. Like the worst parts of Wolfenstein 2, they were like 360p and thats close to being unplayable by my book. Just have to wait and see with this one. If it's a fact that they uses 32GB cartridge, thats a good sign that CD invests a fair amount in this port, wich should guarantee it wont turn up like ARK.

@Filth_Element It cant be worse than My Time At Portia, lol. Those load time put Bloodborne to shame.

@RasandeRose To be fair, few developers are as trash as Ark devs.

@Morrow I think you're confusing "downloading" with "installing". When I have no internet connection, I can insert a game I haven't played before and I can play it just fine. It doesn't require an internet connection or a download.

The only thing it does is install the game; it copies the data from the disc to the HDD to improve loading times. But I fail to see how that is a problem. The GameCube does this as well to an extent (and I'm certain the Wii and Wii U also). For example; you can remove the disc if you're playing Mario Sunshine, and everything works fine as long as you don't enter a new level/area. This is because it loads a part of the data onto the internal memory. The only difference is that on PS4 and Xbox everything is loaded onto the internal memory permanently so it can be accessed at all times.

To me, the point of a physical copy is to be able to access the game, even when my internet is down or the servers aren't online anymore. How the console handles the data on disc is not my concern.

@Octane
But a mandatory install most of the time.

@Octane
The Gamecube didn't have internal memory.🤨 Unless you are willing to call RAM internal memory.

@Morrow There seem to be some sort of Deluxe Edition as well, thats another good sign. I don't think CD Project would invest that kind of resources into it if it would be only a fast and dirty port job.

@Octane

I dont think you can compare data streaming from disc to ram with installation disc to rom...
Installation on PS4 can take like 10-15 minutes or more, datastreaming happens all the time in every game on every system and the data is deleted/overwriten automaticly in a matter of seconds.

@Octane You are still downloading the installation. Switch games don't need installs. I'll take no installs over slightly longer loading times. There was a quite few times when I played single player games on Ps4, where it required me to wait for the installation BEFORE I could play the game. That trash takes up way too much memory, and way too long to install. Even with the systems being 500 gig standard, even physical eats up memory like a . You know what physical games don't take up memory? Nintendo games. Not just Switch, Wii U, Wii, and Gamecube never took up much memory with their discs/cartridges. With Switch games, you can put the game right in, no installs, no downloads, play it instantly. The only times you can't, is when american devs were cheap and made it partial physical.

@RasandeRose Agreed. I think it's going to surprise people.

If it runs well, I can live with a graphical downgrade for the portability option. That said, it sometimes had trouble on the PS4 and Xb1 so we shall see. I hope it is a good port!

I just don't understand why anyone wants to play a game like this on the Switch. Not only is it like 200 years old, you can also be sure that it will be the most downgraded version of this game.

Yes, it sounds awesome that you can play the Witcher 3 on the go... But is it worth all the sacrifice?

But hey, there are people waiting for games like this, so who am I to judge. But for me... I will never buy games like the Witcher 3, or Skyrim for the Nintendo Switch (this model). I would love to play these again on the go, but the downgrade is just too big for me.

@Morrow I´m also tempted Haven´t played any Witcher Game, yet, so very tempted to have a try.
On the otherhand, I might need to buy a Playstation in the future anyway, as I really want to play the FFVII Remake. Probably will be a PS5 or even PS6 until it´s completly done
But then I will have the opportunity, to play a lot of Games in a different quality, but for sure not on the go

@Filth_Element Yeah, I sit there wondering how they make it take so long to load! Mario Tennis loads in like 3 seconds on Switch, then there's several games that take 1, 2, and even 3 minutes to load! Switch is my favorite game system ever, but it also has some of the worst load times I've ever heard of. That's got to stop with these 1 or 2 second load time consoles on their way.

They should call it "The sWitcher"

@mmarkster said in the article the whole game will be included on the cartridge meaning it’ll be a 32 GB.

@RasandeRose @MrBlacky Fair enough, but the concept is the same I think. I personally don't see the problem with installing a game permanently on the internal memory if that means better load times. I don't think it's the same as a digital game, or a mandatory digital download, because I can always install a game, regardless of whether I have an internet connection or not; and I'm not dependent on the online servers and availability of the game on the digital storefront either. That's the main point I wanted to make.

@Morrow Well, that's another point entirely. Yes, it does require you to wait 5-10 minutes before you can play a game. But I put the game in, go to the toilet, grab something to eat/drink, and by the time I'm done I can play the game. And it's only a one-time thing. Does it suck you have to wait? I guess, but it's not a deal-breaker to me.

Going back to your original point, that doesn't mean physical is a ''lie'' on Xbox and PS4; it requires you to install the game, but that doesn't make the product any less physical. You're not dependent on an internet connection, and that's the main gripe I have with digital downloads.

Anyway, the only way to do away with the mandatory installs is to start doing game cards on PS4 and Xbox as well. But with the price of the cards, I don't see it becoming better. More developers will skip out on having everything on a card, and you'll end up with most ''physical'' games requiring a digital download on top of it. Optical media is cheap, and so are publishers. It's the only way we can have everything in physical form, without them trying to cut corners too much. I'll gladly take it over having nothing at all IMO.

I think this game will run at 24 fps for that film quality look.

It could very well be the first 32GB cart in the West.

@Octane

I think it's pretty much the same as digital download. You have to use up storage on your system, and PS4 is a pure home console, so I dont really find the internet connection argument as valid as on Switch, wich you might be playing in the forest or on a plane. The concept of the ram is that the CPU and GPU to have a portion of the game available, as cache on a CPU is normaly only 32MB or less and framebuffer on a GPU is very small as well on consoles.

@RasandeRose I don't see how that is an issue, but to each their own.

My main concern is that when the servers are shut down in x amount of years from now, I can still play my physical games. You won't be able to redownload a digital game when the online storefront doesn't exist anymore. But installing a game doesn't require an internet connection.

I am probably sticking with ps4 pro for this. However want it to be a success because I want the Gwent game on here!

@Heavyarms55 problem people dont take into account with resolution is artist intent.

Game boy games are made for that resolution. Same reason playing a game boy game on a 3ds makes it look huge, yet playing Xenoblade or SMT 4 looks kind of cramped and blurry. UI and worlds need to be designed for target screen size and resolution.

@Morrow Installing from a disc is for your benefit. It greatly improved loading times. There are no mandatory downloads, and most games are playable in a few mins. It even lets you start the game while it is installing.

@Octane When you can't start the game when you first pop it in, it's not fully physical. End of story on that. Basically how it works is, you get part of the game on the disc, and the rest is code on the disc that you have to install. That's where the high gig amount comes in. If it was fully physical, they wouldn't be having this high gig amounts. They don't try to compress it all on the disc, even though it's fully possible. It's just cheaper for Xbox and Sony to not compress it.
You got used to it's tediousness, but that doesn't make it any less trash, lol. Yes, waiting 10-30 min for an install is annoying, when you have to do it for every single game. I like how previous gens could just start the game instantly. Discs could do that too, especially Blu-ray! Which all PS4 games are. Blu-ray discs. Blu-ray discs are easily double the power and storage of normal discs that 360, and Wii used. Loading times aren't even that big of a deal since they aren't even long on Switch. In fact, out of the 80 games I own, only one ever took forever to load---My Time At Portia. It was worse than Bloodborne loading times. But that was a very bad port from a mildly decent developer. Believe it or not, most people want to play their games the minute they have it, not have to wait for long installs before starting each game.
Also, the price of carts have gone down. They released a 126 gig cart I think it was, and ever since then, prices of all others have gone down a bit. It's just that AAA devs are cheap as hell, and always take the cheapest route possible. Which is why they do half-physical, half download. Witcher 3 and all dlc will be on the cart. Meaning no downloads or installs. I'll gladly take that 2 second or less extra loading time for that. No waiting for me. That's one of the reasons I'm done with Sony. Fake physical games, anti-consumer policies, censorship, and crazy loyalists. Ps5? More like Ps-bye. Seriously, Sony has fallen hard. They are a shadow of their former selves compared to Ps2 era. Shame. I used to love Sony just as much as Nintendo. Now days, I hate Sony, and I'm just done with them.

@Zuljaras most games require day one patches. I’m just happy they basically have the whole game on the cartridge instead of a download card or some cheap 4 GB card ala Capcom

@Morrow It was possible last gen, because the games were smaller. Look at the Wii U, Xenoblade Chronicles had ''data packs'' as well. I believe Zelda too, but don't quote me on that.

Anyway, I personally don't think it's an issue, and I already explained why. I also gave my reasons why I still prefer physical. The installation process isn't a deal-breaker to me; not having access to the game at all is.

Anyway, VHS tapes are physical, and you had to wait for them to rewind before you could watch them. Unless they aren't ''physical'' either

@Morrow you're complaining about things you don't understand. Physical is still physical.

@Octane I owned Xenoblade X. It didn't need the download packs, it was just if you WANTED it to load faster. It was an optional download that you got from the dlc menu in the eShop. It wasn't something that popped up when you started the game.

Dude, what are you smoking? I have been talking about physical this entire time. I made some comparisons to digital, but I hate digital games. Everything I mentioned on Switch, was about physical, not digital.

Okay, now this is just getting sad. Are you seriously reaching that bad? Lol. VHS was ancient technology, on a different hardware than disc. You can't compare Blu-Ray to damn VHS, lol. Tech has evolved, and so too has ways for us to view media. That's why DVDs replaced VHS. We didn't have to rewind, and they were more compact, and cheaper. Blu-ray is stronger than dvd. Yes, current gens couldn't run on a single disc if it was last gen discs. But it's not. They use Blu-ray. The disc got updated with the system, and Blu-ray CAN store an entire ps4 game on it, if they compressed it. Problem is, that costs time and money they don't want to waste, because Xbox and Sony have become lazy and cheap when it comes to physical games.

@Trajan I understand it more than you do apparently, lol. Also, I'm not complaining. I got rid of my PS4 long ago. I'm explaining the difference between fully physical, fake physical, and partial physical.

I don’t see the switch running this game well at all. Regardless of what the resolution is

@Morrow Alright, take it easy!

''and Blu-ray CAN store an entire ps4 game on it''

The thing is, a Blu-ray does contain the entire game. It's just that loading times would be horrendous if the console had to rely on the disc to load things. HDD is faster than optical media, that's why you need to install the game. SSD is even faster and hopefully we're getting that next gen.

Anyway, this is my last reply! This isn't going anywhere.

@Snakesglowcaps I bought a lot of games on Nintendo day one, and most I didn't even install patches for when I first played them. They played fine. So at least for Switch games (except AAA games like Doom), they don't need the patches to enjoy the game. It just enhances the experience, but the experiences were fine without it

@Octane to you the loading times would be horrendous. To most sane human beings, it would be perfectly fine. I have a strong feeling you are one of those crazy people who would do anything for that 2 second faster loading times, lol. I don't care about which is faster when it means having to go through an installation process. If it was fully on the disc, it would have been optional to use the installation. They aren't optional.

Just glad to see this coming to Switch.

Well, I'm amazed about the game using a full 32GB game card for the physical version. That's great!

And here I posted earlier that the physical game would take 24 GB of storage on switch lol!

@Morrow You're wrong. You keep moving the goalposts every time @Octane corrects you. That doesn't make you right, it just makes you not want to be wrong.

Your original post #14, and the only one that should matter, is that this is the first time the full game would be physical.
"It's the first true physical for Witcher 3."

You are wrong. It was/is physical on PS4. Whether you have to INSTALL it or not has nothing to do with your point about it being sold complete physically. You can't just make up your own definition of words to suit your argument. Installing means to install it, from the complete game on disc, downloading it requires internet access. You can't use those words interchangeablly and pretend they mean the same thing, b/c they don't. People have been buying PC games on disc and installing them , OR downloading them from the internet for about 30 years now, the vocabulary has been well established.

If you don't like to wait to install a game, that's fine, nobody does, but the game has been sold complete physical before. Which is what Octane correctly pointed out. You can Google it.

Tldr, installing and downloading are 2 different words meaning 2 different things.

Lol. Nice resolution

I was amazed by how great Spintires turned out. Wide open, tonnes of foliage, intense physics, fine frame rate... Really the resolution was the only concession, it was great fun to play.
So this is great news to me.

@Trajan I mean that is a factor certainly, but not a major one. Not for me. The only issue I have run into occasionally with games "made for" higher resolution having smaller text that is hard to read on lower resolutions. But that is something that is easily fixed if you have a competent developer handling the port.

@N64-ROX Absolutely agreed, Spintires is a fine piece. I am really looking forward W3.

I suspect the real target system is Switch2. It will run on Switch, just very poorly.

let's just wait for direct feed gameplay before telling everyone it's going to be amazing ok? they might not have the best track record when it come to switch and that's why you should always temper your expectations. you never know when a port can end up terrible. Assassin's creed III comes to mind. a lot of people though it was going to be fine because of how old the game is and it turned out to be a mess.

Witcher 3 is super well optimized, i know it, my mid range gaming rig runs it at medium-high 60fps. But there is always a possibility the port ends up messy because of saber interactive. it's literally the most ambitious switch port to date.

@StevenG no te small gameplay in the trailer was confirmed to run on the current switch by cdprojektred

Oh god... Nop if it is butchered. It is that simple.

Not the way to play what is a masterpiece of gaming.

@mmarkster " the game will be sold in both physical and digital form and that it is "roughly" 32GB (the entire game will be on the card). "

I'm getting this day one! I'm so excited for this game.

@StevenG When did you see the announcement of the Switch 2, that everyone else missed it??

I'm normally not bothered by lower rez games as long as they aren't completely muddy and indistinct; this also depends on a game's art style. FPS doesn't bother me either unless it tanks to almost zero quite often.

I'd still like to see actual gameplay before committing though.

I can live with those resolutions, but I hope it has a decent framerate - a bad framerate is far more annoying than resolution.

A portable version of 2015's Game of the Year?

Yes please.

"By August 2016, it had received over 800 awards." -Wikipedia

@Belatarr I own a Switch to play games on the go as that's the only time I have. Born in the 80s, I have both the nostalgia and the disposable income to support Nintendo. They're seriously missing a trick. I have all the first party games up to and including Yoshi - 2017 was awesome, 2018 was mediocre, 2019 should have been awesome again but it's netting out closer to 2018 than 2017. I'm in for the long term, I'll wait patiently for BotW2 and the inevitable Odyssey 2 too, but Nintendo are leaving money on the table and that's seriously frustrating.

@Edu23XWiiU In the usual places. I will bet $1 on it, you in?

@StevenG Hahahaha so, when the next Switch comes out in 2024, I'll owe you $1? Sounds good

@Edu23XWiiU No when by Christmas 2020 we don't have a new model I will owe you a dollar.

@rjejr No, I don't switch anything. I was bringing up various things as comparisons, not changing. It was on Ps4 and Xbox, I know. But forced installs prevent it from being a true physical because you are having to install portions of the game onto the consoles. If it was truly physical, it wouldn't need any installs, it would be all on the disc. The installation would be optional if it was truly physical, but it's not.
It's almost as bad as partial physical on Switch carts from AAA, where you have to install half the game, because only half is on the cart.
So, I say you're wrong.

@Morrow your either very young or very confused. Lol
@Octane is actually talking complete sense whereas you really are complaining about a non issue here. But you seem zealot like in your opinion and I don’t believe anyone here has the power to change tour mind.

This is why I wish Nintendo just had a beefier chip in the switch, now that they know it’s successful and will almost guaranteed to have a great shelf life they should realise successful franchises like this will come over! So at least try and make it easier work, I mean 520p I can live with but it’s definitely not ideal if you have seen it on other consoles running smooth. I hope they nail it but I think as a score it will be an 8 at best

@Filth_Element I'm neither, lol. I think the real issue is you're prob one of those Sony elitests where 'sony can do no wrong.'
Many people agree with my statement, so it's not like it's unpopular. I'm not talking about people I know too. I'm talking about going on various message boards and YouTube videos.
The truth is the truth, you just don't want to admit it.
Normal 360 had the entire game on the discs. If PS4 used the same discs as 360, then it would be impossible. However, when PS4 came out they went to Blu-ray. If you truly believe that the games can't be fully compressed on the disc, you are being the mindless drone they want you to be. I would agree with you that it's fully physical IF the install was optional. Sadly, it's not. So I can never agree with you.

@Zuljaras yeah I thought that was wrong. So no matter what you can play off the cartridge no download required to play the game itself.

It's a very bad developer, at least when it comes to making games on their own saber3d engine. From Xbox halo games to quake champions on PC, the games perform poorly and that's just the start of the problems. Hopefully they don't mess this up, even if I'm not a Witcher fan I just hate bad ports the most.

@StevenG DEAL My guess is that by Christmas 2020, we'll have the new Zelda , not a "new" model.

@Octane

But you need to install it on the hard drive, taking like 25% of the whole hard drive space.

@tanasten The Witcher 3? That was less than 50GB; at most 5% of the HHD. But you can delete games easily (without deleting patches and save data).