{"id":1205425,"date":"2026-02-20T06:22:51","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T06:22:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/3MWRi8dEwMSqitzM2jxCXa"},"modified":"2026-02-20T06:22:51","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T06:22:51","slug":"you-guys-are-not-bethesda-during-development-the-witcher-3-devs-were-told-by-a-walmart-rep-i-like-you-guys-but-its-just-not-gonna-happen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/you-guys-are-not-bethesda-during-development-the-witcher-3-devs-were-told-by-a-walmart-rep-i-like-you-guys-but-its-just-not-gonna-happen\/","title":{"rendered":"‘You guys are not Bethesda’: During development, The Witcher 3 devs were told by a Walmart rep ‘I like you guys, but it’s just not gonna happen’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Witcher 3 is perhaps one of the most memorable RPGs of its era\u2014we certainly like it<\/a>\u2014but, like all games, it took a lot of time and money to make. CDPR didn’t spin it from the fabric of dreams, and while co-CEO of the studio Micha\u0142 Nowakowski says the Witcher 2 definitely sold enough to fund the next game, they still had to go around doing pitches and making deals.<\/p>\n

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The Witcher 3 at 10<\/div>\n
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\"Ciri,<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>

(Image credit: CD Projekt RED)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To celebrate its 10th anniversary, all this week we’re looking back on The Witcher 3\u2014and looking ahead to its upcoming sequel, too. Keep checking back<\/a> for more features and retrospectives, as well as in-depth interviews with the developers who brought the game to life.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

That’s per an interview with PC Gamer’s own Joshua Wolens, who talked with Nowakowski about the game’s 10th anniversary for our Witcher 3 anniversary week.<\/p>\n

“A few years back,” Nowakowski explains, “Skyrim had launched, and Game of Thrones was picking up on HBO. So every presentation we ran ended up with the words ‘Skyrim meets Game of Thrones’ \u2026 That was a very nice line that landed with everybody who saw it, and they remember that.”<\/p>\n

But even the power of a potent elevator pitch couldn’t convince some of the industry’s pickiest retailers. “We spent those two years talking to distributors, talking to the manufacturing plants, talking to the retailers. We made a few tours around the US. We went to Arkansas to meet the Walmart people\u2014to Dallas to meet the Gamestop people\u2014and so on and on and on.<\/p>\n

“And some of them, especially the ones who were a little bit more experienced, they very much openly said they don’t believe [in us].”<\/p>\n

Not with any malice, though, Nowakowski is quick to emphasise: “They liked us, they liked the vision and ambition, but \u2026 I still remember there was a guy, he was ex-Gamestop, but he was at Walmart, and we were in the HQ of Walmart, and he said: ‘I like you guys, but it’s just not gonna happen. You guys are not Bethesda.’<\/p>\n

“‘You don’t have the history of games like that. The last game you made was a very nice game, but it was not that size. Not gonna happen’.” Oof. Said guy very well might be eating humble pie right now, but we live in a seemingly random and capricious industry\u2014sometimes a hit just comes outta nowhere, defying all conventional wisdom.<\/p>\n

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