The Witcher 3 "needed" to be on PS4

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is heading to PC, PS4 and Xbox One in February of next year, and in a recent interview Mical Gilewski has explained the reason why the series will be appearing on three major platforms, as opposed to the two platforms (PC and Xbox 360) that played host to The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings.

"With The Witcher 3 we knew that we would have to reach a wider audience," Gilewski told VG247 in a recent interview. "We needed to be on the new consoles and in particular the PS4, because a lot of people are attracted to them."

"It's only with the next-gen consoles that we can do much more," Gilewski added later when explaining how the new-gen tech was allowing the studio to broaden their horizons with regards to Wild Hunt.

"Open-world was something we've always wanted to do and we believed that was the missing element for this story. To make it truly immersive we had to let people explore it their way. We always wanted this but we couldn't because of technical limitations and because of the experience and size of the team."

Later on in the same interview he explained more about The Witcher 3 when comparing it to the first and second games in the trilogy: "We didn't want to choose between a story driven game and a sandbox game. We wanted to connect the two."

"Whatever you do you'll be surrounded by the story and you'll be attracted by things that are happening around you. We wanted to avoid repetition and we wanted diversity. Not just in the player's adventures but in the assets. No one wants to stagger around the same place again and again."

"For me this game is a little bit more like The Witcher 1 - the whole story revolves around you. With The Witcher 2 it was more about politics. Here, everything revolves around The Witcher character. It will appeal to all the fans - this focus on Geralt and making him the real protagonist of the story."

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is heading to Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC on February 24.