The Witcher 3: Subsidy and Ethical Policy - thoughts?
So it turns out that the Witcher 3 was subsidised by the Polish government: http://visegradinsight.eu/seeking-the-central-european-silicon-valley24092014/.
"CD Projekt RED received substantial financial aid from the state and Europe."
Thoughts on this? Obviously it doesn't change the quality of the games themselves, but it means praising the company for free DLC and for more content per dollar than in western games is obviously a bit dodgy.
I'm not really sure how I feel about the very concept of video games being subsidised by a country's parliament anyway, to be honest...How about you?
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This is pretty common. I know Ubisoft gets money from Quebec because of their Montreal studio. Not sure about video games, but there are a ton of film subsidies all over the States.
I think it's great to put money into growing the arts, and I think it's great that video games are becoming more and more recognized alongside more conventional pieces of entertainment like movies. In Poland's case, the government has been using The Witcher as an example of how cutting-edge they are. They gave Obama a copy when he visited Poland. If they're going to brag about it, they should be putting money into it.
There's putting money into growing the arts and then there's putting lots of money into the biggest company in the country - that doesn't help growing arts, that makes the people at top even more unlikely to have any kind of competition from their peers.
In any event, it pretty much invalidates any financial comparisons between the witcher and say dragon age, and it means you can't really praise the company for offering free dlc as they're just getting the money they would get from dlc from the country itself.
Okay, so I actually decided to take a look at the article you linked. I probably should have done that before posting, and I apologize.
Notice the past tense? The article is about funding start-ups, and it was using CDPR as a success story, so I'm guessing they no longer receive financial aid from Poland. They got money before the Witcher's success, and they're no longer getting money.
Good for them, I suppose. The Witcher is absolutely adored in Poland so I cant blame them.
It's amibguous, but bearing in mind start ups of this nature didn't really exist when Witcher 1 was made, I'm pretty sure it's referring to more recent years.
It is why they can offer free dlc, afterall, and why most western companies can't do that at all.
Really? I don't mean to be a dick, but as somebody trying to break into film business, I think it's not only fine, but normal and frankly obvious. So much of content production is sponsored by the Ministry of Culture of a number of countries, whether Germany, or Sweden, or Korea, not to mention the assets provided by the BFC. Most cultural products, and the industries underpinning them, are subsidized by the local government to help them grow until they can compete in the world market, whether through subsidies, or quotas. Even (and I return again to film), Film councils even in the United States offer tax benefits and subsidies for films being shot in their local state. Sure, Los Angeles and New York don't have the same amount of benefits as Kentucky or Minnesota, but the point is they offer benefits to increase local revenue.
It's onliy with this emphasis on free market trading and global FTAs that this even appears abnormal. NAFTA did huge damage to the Mexican film industry, and Korea's film quota system was diminished by the same princple, though the results weren't nearly as disasterous.
Sorry to go so much on film, it's just what I know, but I would imagine gaming has similar benefits, at least in countries which are cognizant of the potential market power...
I find the amount of money the u.s puts into war games more concerning, and it works sign ups and gun sales increase
I might have missed something (big article, many words) but the financial aid was for GOG, not Witcher 3. Wasn't it?
So how do you explain Ubisoft Montreal? I mentioned that they get tons of government funding. They made some very high-profile Ubisoft titles (all the Ass Creed games, Watch Dogs, etc). Yet they still have terrible DLC.
There's really nothing in the article to substantiate your claims, but even if CDPR's free DLC was made possible by government funding, why is that a problem? In case you haven't noticed, AAA gaming budgets have exploded, prices have not gone up, and devs are making up the difference with overpriced DLC. We should be encouraging devs to look into alternate funding sources, not implying that they're not playing fair. In Poland's case, they ensure that CDPR stays in Poland, and encourages other devs to expand into Poland. Everyone wins.
Personally, I tend to believe that there's good business reasons for what CDPR is doing with their DLC. They're still coming out with paid DLC later. The free stuff encourages people to keep playing until that happens, which means they sell more later. That's pure speculation on my part, but no less substantive than your's.
Ubisoft manage to make one main series game every year, which most studios wouldn't have a hope in hell of doing.
If the DLC was made possible by government funding, my issue is that comparisons between say dragon age dlc and witcher dlc are completely pointless and the same for other aspects of the game - they're better because they have a better budget rather than it actually being related to skill as is implied by some.
It was for both, I quote the relevant bit in the OP :P
I think the Witcher Series has made poland a more interesting place, people are more interested in it, and it could encourage tourism, trade, all sorts of economical boosts, TBH game companies get tax breaks, every corporation gets tax breaks. The only people that pay taxes are the citizens.
Remember when Burger King was going to move out of the US, and pretty much We threatened burger King if you did, you might as well burn yourself down on your way out.
Check out this article about Canadian video game subsidies. It specifically mentions Bioware and EA as government subsidy recipients.
I'm sorry, there may be something worng with my coffee, but the only quote I see is "CD Projekt RED received substantial financial aid from the state and Europe." :P
Doesn't matter though, I'm getting a bit annoyed with them for not having the new patch yet anyway. :P
Witcher series is the most profitable Red's project so far, not to mention huge amount of money intended for the development. If gamers expect a good quality game in the terms of all the aspects without lowering the general expectations, devs need adequate budget on which sometimes cannot afford themselves.
I see nothing wrong in supporting the gaming market, starting with major projects like the Witcher. After some time, it would allow smaller companies to conquer the global market and make their efford profitable. Same thing pushed forward Game of Thrones, with HBO's recognizability and money the series has reached the the international level in less than a year.
Imagine how much money they made on taxing this game. I 'm sure the Polish Government made a buck there.
Every company on the planet is subsidized by the government.
Except, they aren't.
99 percent are , at least in US.
I'm talking about Corporations, not mom and Pop shops.