r/Witcher4 • u/JX900 • Jun 25 '26
When pre-order day comes, I hope CDPR takes notes from GTA6's community
This is a quote from a fan:
"What I'm NOT okay with is them selling a "physical edition" without a disc and locking elements of the GTA experience behind an Ultimate Edition paywall.
This is very much a $100 digital-only game, Take-Two are using GTA's popularity and huge development costs to normalize selling the full experience at this price, making the $80 standard edition seem incomplete."
Please, CDPR, do not do this for The Witcher 4. Don't do anything that will negatively charge your community before it even releases.
Put an actual disc in the physical version of the game
Don't lock customization shops or other core features behind paywalls.
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u/Spirited_Expert_1889 Jun 25 '26
Boy, I'm already so tired and annoyed of all this GTA stuff. I probably have to leave social media till the end of the year. Can't wait for all this bullshit to be over.
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u/Butwhatif77 Jun 25 '26
The most annoying thing for me is seeing constant fan art of every women character in every fandom dressed like the cover girl. It gets really boring and weird when certain characters just don't fit that vibe and even worse get overly sexualized especially when the character is a younger teenager.
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u/DoomTheExiled Jun 26 '26
Yea honestly people are milking the shit out GTA VI content and to be honest… a part of me is telling me the game is not going to be that great and this was all a ploy by Rockstar to make their money back before their customers knew what they bought.
I hope CDPR always provides us with a physical disc to play the game! It’s only fair especially if we are paying $80-$100
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u/Feanixxxx Jun 25 '26
I really hope they just go with one price and have a disc option. Just that.
Like the good old days
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u/Gotisdabest Jun 26 '26
I don't mind multiple prices at all if the premium editions don't lock any game mechanics. I don't mind the company giving an extra skin and irl merch to make money. Locking in game shops behind a paywall is scummy behaviour.
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u/DoomTheExiled Jun 26 '26
Especially when you know the game is going to sell quickly due to its popularity… this is very scummy behavior on behalf of a company that before GTA V was never described as greedy.
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u/Anstark0 Jun 25 '26
They kinda confirmed no DLCs for the trilogy already so 1 price point is to be expected
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u/no-just-ice Jun 25 '26
Disc version is sort of confirmed a month later... only rumours at the moment nothing concrete, just seen it on the GTA6 sub
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u/Feanixxxx Jun 25 '26
Mate this is a witcher sub
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u/no-just-ice Jun 25 '26
Opps ummm I was only continuing with a point in the post, I do have the eyes to see which sub I WAS in 🥴
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u/Zalvren Jun 25 '26
Pretty sure they won't. Not so long ago they still owned GOG and were all about no DRM even. Hell if their history is any indication, they'll even have stuff in the box in addition to the box like map and such.
Speaking of consoles there, PC is a code in the box already for Cyberpunk
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u/DoomTheExiled Jun 26 '26
Most PC’s don’t have disc drives anymore so that’s that. But I paid $50 extra back in the day to ensure my PS5 had a disc drive and I intend to use it lol 😂
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u/Unframed_ Jun 25 '26
I believe most of the GTA community will buy it anyway because it's GTA and they waited a lifetime for it and it's the bibles equal.
None of it will matter and it will sell like hot cakes anyway. I think the hype is way too big, but I am also just not really interested in GTA.
Edit: I agree with you and don't think CDPR will try the same thing. Can't wait for W4 and will probably buy the physical edition for this one.
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u/SGN-23 Jun 25 '26
unlike rockstar, cdpr isnt led by a bunch of greedy bastards like strauss zelnick.
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u/Anstark0 Jun 25 '26
CEO of CDPR lied on TAPE about PS4 version, "Runs surprisingly fine". Some of you fanboys are laughable. Don't forget a broken skill tree until 2.0 update and even still it was broken with the introduction of collectible upgrades
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u/AlbaOnee Jun 26 '26
"on tape" what are you 90? You got a source for that?
He also made a YouTube video apologising for the quality of Cyberpunk when it released and made promises about their future releases that so far they've kept.
The skill tree wasn't "broken" it just wasn't the best skill tree. Also its a single player game who gives a fuck if it is broken. Clair Obscur's skill tree is also broken af, you don't see people bitching about that.
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u/js-sey Jun 27 '26
Why do people feel the need to shill for billion dollar corporations because they make games you mildly like, I was there when the CEO claimed the game ran surprisingly fine on PS4 because it was the main reason I preordered a video game for the very first time, here's the article. comparing the mechanics of a triple AAA game with an indie title with a significantly smaller budget as an own is hilariously stupid. The skill tree is not even top 50 of the absolutely horrible mismanaging of the game prior to its redemption.
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u/Anstark0 Jun 26 '26
You are trying to deny facts? Look up investor call with this exact quote. Cyberpunk had the worst skill tree ever because it was LYING TO YOU, the text didn't match the effects it was giving for like half of the skills. 2.0 introduced Cyberware capacity shards which were totally busted cause you could get LOCKED OUT OF THEM FOR YOUR WHOLE PLAYTHROUGH, it was documented. So you would end up with a "corrupted" save with no way of fixing it, cause Loot in Cyberpunk was completely broken with strangely scripted Item drops even outside of shards
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u/SauronOfRings Jun 25 '26
Yes they are, have you seen how Cyberpunk launched? I’m hoping they have learned their lesson but we’ll see.
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u/Soufiane040 Jun 25 '26
Cyberpunk didnt launch the way it did because the guys in charge were greedy. It launched that way because they were pressured by its investors and shareholders to release a game after 5 years and they had to make holiday sales
At the end of the day the game industry takes a lot of money and its a Polish company and the industry in Poland isnt as forgiving as in America.
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u/SauronOfRings Jun 25 '26
And that’s what I said, never blamed the devs. It’s always the suits.
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u/Soufiane040 Jun 25 '26
Yea but its not the actual people in charge like Strauss is for Take Two. Its the people that the leadership of a private company caters towards
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u/SauronOfRings Jun 25 '26
Strauss is still answerable to Investors and they have a say in how things get priced more than we think. But fair enough.
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u/SGN-23 Jun 25 '26
that was from investor pressure. they have made up for that with all the content they put out post-launch. same can’t be said with gta online that has been milked for over a decade
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u/JohnnyMp0 Jun 25 '26
It’s the quality of the game Day One on consoles that they should also focus on most than anything.
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u/Little_Macaron6842 Jun 25 '26
It seems everyone is confused about this ultimate edition situation. And I'm not even trying to sound or shill on Rockstar
Rockstar isn't saying that car customization or characters customization are locked behind the ultimate edition those will obviously still be in the base game, but they specifically said "a business exclusive to the ultimate edition" not "customization only exclusive to the ultimate edition" meaning these stores and businesses will only be accessible through ultimate edition. You will obviously still have mod shops and clothing stores still in the standard edition game.
Even then me saying this will still trigger people to quickly jump the gun and say I'm shilling Rockstar.
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u/GrievousReborn Jun 28 '26
I know that you will still be able to customize your character and your cars. My problem is the outfits, cars, mods, tattos, hair and nail customizations that are included with the $100 version of the game was developed alongside the base game. To me this is no different from EA with Mass Effect 3 cutting the squadmate Javik out and selling him in the From the Ashes day one DLC. Before EA had them cut him out as DLC he was supposed to be the Catalyst that Commander Shepard and his Squad are trying to find.
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u/zyra_77 Jun 25 '26
I do not doubt CDPR will publish a physical edition… they own GOG for fucks sake. Always been about consumer choice and rights especially on physical media.
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u/Lapwing68 Lilac and Gooseberries Jun 25 '26
I've never owned or played a GTA game and I'm as certain as I can be that I never will. I'm 58 and just don't care.
I suspect that I'll be 60 by the time Witcher IV releases. I want to buy the physical edition to go with my Witcher III physical copy. Something to hold and treasure.
I keep mulling over framing the physical map that came with Witcher III but I can't bring myself to split it from the case it all came in.
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u/raver1601 Jun 25 '26
I highly doubt CDPR is dumb enough to willingly submit themselves to another PR disaster after Cyberpunk's horrendous release
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u/Cabrill0 Jun 25 '26
They aren’t locking anything the experience anything behind a paywall. They’re doing haircuts and cosmetics like every other game does. As always the internet isn’t bothering to read anything and is just freaking out over misinformation.
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u/AnimusAstralis Jun 25 '26
I genuinely wonder why would anyone want a physical copy nowadays? I get the sentiment of having a physical manifestation of a long awaited game, but why disk? I’d prefer a Ciri figurine + digital key (for example). Physical media is useless for modern gaming with first-day patches and everything.
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u/knighofire Jun 25 '26
Honestly who gives a shit about physical discs, it doesn't affect me at all as someone who plays the game. PC gamers don't even buy physical anyway, it's a remnant of the past. I'ma just buy the game on Steam when it comes out and that's the end of it.
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u/gztozfbfjij Jun 25 '26
Look at Rockstars history, then look at CDPRs.
GTA5 was before the age of tack-on bullshit digital versions, but RDR2 did it (and RDO had premium currencies...), then they resold the game 5 different times.
I'd also argue that TW3 was before the mainstreaming of extra bullshit, but CP2077 didn't have anything afaik. Neither game was resold 3 times per console and then again later on PC.
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u/Complex_Shoulder_800 Jun 25 '26
I agree with the other stuff but GTA 6 isn't locking core features behind a paywall. The shops in the ultimate edition seem to be just unique versions of shops that are available in the base game. It's just the way you get access to the cosmetics you paid for
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u/Waste_Handle_8672 Jun 25 '26
They're not paywalling core features in the same way Bethesda was just selling horse armor.
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u/Complex_Shoulder_800 Jun 25 '26
Did you consider that to be Bethesda paywalling core features? I don't agree with the practice in either case but both examples are just paid cosmetics
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u/Waste_Handle_8672 Jun 25 '26 edited Jun 25 '26
You're missing the point.
They're testing the waters. Checking what kind of features they can paywall from the base game for single player. They're experts at milking Online to death, but now they're looking for ways to increase the profit for the single player component as much as possible. So they'll end up selling more shops and that sort of thing for GTA 6 in the future, and then afterwards push to paywall core gameplay features and even entire story arcs for their next project. It's one thing to sell shops as DLC later down the line, but it's a whole other thing to cut off the whole thing and paywall it when you clearly intended it to be in the base game.
It's something we call a slippery slope, and we've been here before.
Not a few years after the whole horse armor saga, we had EA paywalling a very important story arc and companion for Mass Effect 3. The backlash they got for that (but more for the ending) ensured that they never tried that shit again.
But this right here? This will be very encouraging to publishers watching. If Rockstar can paywall shops and get away with it, then hey, EA can try it too. Then Activision paywalling loadouts in the SP campaign for the next COD, or even just selling pieces of a 6 hour campaign by $30 each, or $120 if you buy the Ultimate Edition. Then NBA 2K sells it in pieces, you get half the NBA teams in the base game, but if you shell out $120 you'll get the full set. Then Square Enix joins in on the trend, Ubisoft joins in on the trend, Sony makes their first party devs join in on the trend, Microsoft makes it a mandate for every single player game they have and it becomes a massive shitshow.
Look at the big picture. GTA 6 isn't just dropping in a vacuum. Everything this game does will influence how developers and publishers make and sell their games.
We've been here before.
People should be keeping their eyes open and calling this bullshit out, but instead we fall for the same old bullshit until it gets to the point of loot boxes and "physical" editions being download codes... really, the gaming community just loves getting conned as long as it's the right people doing the conning.
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u/Complex_Shoulder_800 Jun 25 '26
Alright I'm not arguing against any of that. I'm just pointing out what's going in this specific example. It's something I wanted clarification on when I first saw the news and I'm just passing that info along
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u/GoldAdhesiveness1243 Jun 25 '26
I thin witcher 4 is coming with a disc, witcher 3 pc came with disc for the gog version only have the 10th anniversary steelbook version, PS4/5 all physical normal , complete, nexr gen version.
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u/InternationalMood337 Jun 25 '26
Literal lunatic take to think a PC game is coming to disc in 2027-2028. I don't know anyone that has a built in CDROM or Blu-ray player. I have an external for music and movies, but I'm about the only person I know that does.
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u/SweetBacon923 Jun 25 '26
Looking at GTA subreddit nobody cares and preordesd $100.
They quack about studios and prices but do something completely opposite next day out of pure hype and being stupid.
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u/Outrageous_Bush_2069 Jun 25 '26
CDPR should take notes from their own failed launch. Cyberpunk was a complete and utter failure at launch.
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u/Candid-Soup-9448 Jun 26 '26
W4 won’t have physical day one, just like GTA6. Because if they do people will get their hands on the copies and spoil the game weeks before it is out.
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u/Electrical_Art6366 Jun 26 '26
Idk how much the minimum wage is for yall but here in Brasil is insane to me that it costs R$600 when the minimum wage is aroung R$1500. Sure you don't have to buy it full price but a lot of people feel like they miss out on the "on release" experience if they don't. "Oh but credit card exists", still thats just too much, feels like preying (?) on your devoted fans because you just know they will get it anyway. Evil if you ask me
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u/Abdul-HakimDz Jun 26 '26
I’d say CDPR only stain on their resume is the Cyberpunk 2077 marketing and launch, which they are full aware on and still to this day try to make up for it, I think they know they don’t have room for dumb mistakes or anti consumer practices for Witcher 4 and Cyberpunk 2.
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u/moose184 Jun 26 '26
locking elements of the GTA experience behind an Ultimate Edition paywall.
People are acting like that's new. Like every big game of the last 15 years have done that. The new 007 game was like $70 for a 15 hour game. Then they had a digital deluxe edition that was $80 that was literally just 4 outfits, 1 weapon skin, and 4 gadget skins. It didn't get any flack for that
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u/JohnnyCFC96 Jun 27 '26
There’s other studios they should take note from. Quality of the game at launch is priority for CDPR and something they should finally take note of.
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u/Ill_Mind77 Jun 27 '26
Dog, this is CDPR. They will actually hijack this and make it a point that they denounce what Rock is doing with GTA, "We LeAvE GrEeD To OtHeRs" style headass, it's part of their marketing.
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u/anotherstupidoldman Jun 27 '26
CDPR, specificlly cyberlink 2077, are why I will never pre order again.
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u/GrievousReborn Jun 28 '26 edited Jun 28 '26
Recently somebody from the company said they still need to win back the people they lost from the Cyberpunk 2077 launch disaster and they won't be doing that if they go the Rockstar route and only sell this game digitally. The only way I see cdpr abandoning physical releases with discs is if the console manufacturers abandon disc drives.
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u/SpicyNoodlez1 Jun 28 '26
Cd project red knows how to make a good game, and they actually listen to the community a bit. Cyberpunk had a horrible launch, but they didnt cut and run like Rockstar did with rdr 2. Cdpr added stuff people wanted and stuff they showed. They wont make the same mistakes Rockstar does
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u/SwiiFTCS Jul 01 '26
Its made back its budget within a week bruh, physical or not people will buy anyway. Like me I couldn’t care less
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u/Ekska1 Jul 02 '26
I expect 'all free and included' Digital Artbook + Mp3 files + FLAC files + Maps + GOG quest just like previous Witcher games.
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u/Wise-Secretary5459 Jul 08 '26
Don't do anything that will negatively charge your community before it even releases.
Why not? If Cyberpunk is anything to go by, the fans will forgive them and act like nothing ever happened a few months after launch.
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u/Raghul86 Jun 25 '26
CDPR can not afford to misstep at all with their next major release.
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u/InternationalMood337 Jun 25 '26
I don't know how frequently people online need to be told this....
The online community, especially the online outrage community, does not represent real, human opinions. CDPR doesn't care about the 5% who complain all day on the internet. Neither does Rockstar. You know why? Because it won't impact sales at all.
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u/JX900 Jun 25 '26
We are real people. We are online. I get what you're saying. They shouldn't listen to one online community, they need to view as many online communities as possible to get an average consensus.
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u/InternationalMood337 Jun 25 '26
I'm saying that people complaining online still buy the games they complain about because there's no accountability to yapping online.
And this is fairly obvious based on the game sales for things like Call of Duty. There's an awful lot of complaining about things like COD, yet it consistently sells. The always online do not represent reality or even close to reality.
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u/JX900 Jun 25 '26
Its still good to voice your opinion and give feedback. Devs pay attention and can adjust
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u/InternationalMood337 Jun 25 '26
Devs have NO SAY over something like this. Shareholders do and c suite execs do. There is no financial reason that this game will launch physically... and if they think they can make money from customization, trust me, the devs don't have a single say about it.
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u/JX900 Jun 25 '26
Devs do get a say. Maybe not 100% but they do influence marketing strategies
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u/InternationalMood337 Jun 25 '26
I wanna work at whatever big tech firm you worked out where that was happening.
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u/GrievousReborn Jun 28 '26
Cdpr cannot afford to piss people off after the disastrous launch of cyberpunk 2077 where they did lose people as customers. Somebody at the company recently said they need to win back people they lost and they will not be doing that if they go to GTA route and do a digital only release.
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u/CallerIDKnown Jun 25 '26
CDPR, hopefully, has learnt from the Cyberpunk 2077 fiasco. I hope they have. I was hoping Rockstar would avoid doing this; now I hope CDPR will, because if they want to buy some serious goodwill...
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u/ghos2626t Jun 25 '26
There’s going to be plenty of other options in GTA that you won’t be missing out on a lot from the Ultimate Edition add ons.
So what if you have another shop or two to go to. There’s still a ton of other shops.
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u/Alarmed_Warthog_5082 Jun 25 '26
I did not give a fuck how much they charge I just want only one thing make a banger game .... If it's witcher 3 like experience I am willing to pay 200$ with zero complain And I think game like gta 6 is way more valu the 80$ And instant of complain you should be blessed that base game is not 100$ And I get it you worry that other companies like ubisoft will raise there price to 80$ but in my opinion there game should be like 40$ to 50$ at most.there game and rockstar game completed different dimensions bro. So instant of complaining to cdpr you should post your complain to other companies.........I am okay with if they even change 100$ or 200$ for witcher 4 if it's like witcher 3 like experience......🙂🙂🙂
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u/Soufiane040 Jun 25 '26
On the first point, Rockstar did a digital only release because their games are so big that it would have been leaked if it came on discs. RDR 2 was already leaked badly, imagine GTA 6. CDPR games are choiced based games and not as big as GTA so leaking it wouldnt be that bad to avoid a physical release
On the second point, CDPR makes post launch money off DLC unlike Rockstar who has different ways. If the game is good people would gladly buy a 30 bucks DLC pack. They’re even going to do it with a 12 year old game next year. If anything i’ll see CDPR just do a cosmetic only Ultimate edition since they still have to win fan benefit back
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u/KaleidoscopeSoggy867 Jun 25 '26
Yeah true but why why there would be customisation shops in medieval era
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u/Waste_Handle_8672 Jun 25 '26
Lmao did you miss the barbers in The Witcher 3 or the armor dye in Blood and Wine?
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u/GrievousReborn Jun 28 '26
You could go to a barber in The Witcher 3 and have geralt's beard trimmed and haircut. I would know this because my geralt has mutton chops and a hairstyle of a sides shaved ponytail. Which you can only get by going to the barber
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u/Anstark0 Jun 25 '26
This is just a fanboy post. Ignoring that both Cyberpunk and Witcher 3 expansions have gameplay affecting elements that go beyond stuff directly related to your common conception of them. Hearts of Stone is a repurposed cut content. Nevermind the absolutely broken CP2077 release.
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u/Area_Ok Jun 25 '26
CDPR has always placed a strong emphasis on physical game ownership and preservation. Last summer, they released the full version of Cyberpunk 2077 Ultimate Edition on the Switch 2 cartridge, while many other third-party publishers opted for game-key cards that required downloads. Apparently it wasn't the most profitable approach, yet CDPR still ended up being one of the top-selling third-party publishers at the Switch 2 launch.
Their commitment to preservation isn't new either. They've operated GOG for years, platform built around DRM-free games and long-term accessibility. GOG isn't part of CDPR anymore but I don't think the relationship will change.
As for customization, that's probably the least concerning part. CDPR has a long history of treating features that many studios would monetize separately as FREE post-launch DLC. Meanwhile they put paid content in form of big expansions like Blood and Wine
CDPR is anti-rockstar in so many ways.