The Witch Is Dead: Witcher 3 Multiplayer Off The Table

Once upon a time, CD Projekt studio manager Adam Badowski announced that he was strongly mulling the possibility of giving Geralt's one-man show a multiplayer makeover. That was, of course, met with the gnashing of teeth and braying of donkeys, as very few people have picked up The Witcher and said, "Gee, I sure would love to see this sprawling story chopped up into a series of generic deathmatch modes." And even fewer donkeys. Fortunately, when I spoke with CDP during GDC, it sounded like they were having some very strong second thoughts. And now, sure enough, The Witcher 3's proposed multiplayer mode is no more.

"Yes, I can confirm this," marketing head Michal Platkow-Gilewski said to Eurogamer. He then went on to explain:

"There's no place for multiplayer in so strongly a story-driven game as The Witcher 3. We want to focus on the single-player experience, delivering more than 100 hours of truly immersive gameplay."

"Geralt can be only one..."

Which is extremely good news, not because I don't think a properly fleshed out (no, not like that) spin on Witcher multiplayer could be great, but because CDP's hands already seem quite full crafting an open world that's 30 times the size of Witcher 2. That's an absurdly tall order in and of itself, and it's good to hear that the Polish role-playing powerhouse isn't cutting any corners or shaving any unkempt weariness beards.

The Witcher 3 will be out next year. Are you ready to get witchy with it? (I'm pretty sure that's the only witch pun no one's used in relation to this series yet. Sorry. I had no other choice.)