CD Projekt Red Fails to Deliver on Promise to Unveil Gwent: Homecoming
Last weekend, CD Projekt Red held the sixth Gwent Open tournament; eight professional Gwent players competing for a $25,000 prize pool. As an added incentive to get fans watching the live-streamed esports competition, the studio had said that they would show off a look at the upcoming Gwent Homecoming release. Long-anticipated by fans, this major update will be the game’s official launch, combining a new story mode with a revamped HUD. However, when the time came for the unveiling, CD Projekt Red failed to deliver.
The Gwent Homecoming Reveal During the Sixth Gwent Open
The unveiling moment was scheduled to happen before the tournament’s finals. However, Pawel Burza, the tournament host and also the game’s Community Specialist, addressed fans directly; instead of a look at Project: Homecoming, the roughly 36,000 Gwent fans watching saw only Burza’s apology for having nothing new to announce. He had previously tweeted this, just prior to the tournament.
Hey guys, unfortunately, I won’t have anything Homecoming-related to share during GWENT Open #6. I’m going to tell you about the reasons this Sunday, so tune in.
— Pawel Burza (@pawelburza) July 20, 2018
“The day has come where I have to confess my sins,” admitted Burza; “This is the segment where you’re supposed to see what we were gonna show regarding Homecoming. I know I was hyping this for which I’m very sorry”. It’s unclear whether the failure to show anything of Homecoming was planned or not. It’s possible that a last-minute technical problem or other issue forced the studio to cancel; this might explain the awkward apology aired in-place of the planned segment. It would certainly be a tad exploitative if CD Projekt Red intentionally hyped the announcement to draw in viewers; while knowing that they actually had nothing to show. Such actions would be fairly out-of-character for the traditionally pro-community studio.
Burza went on to say that fans “deserved something more”. The failure to deliver has caused a pessimistic mood among fans. Many have come to believe that the Gwent Homecoming launch will no longer be coming in 2018. (Despite previous assurances from the studio.) CD Projekt Red has yet to comment further on the status of Homecoming. Whether this failure is reflective of a larger delay to Homecoming’s development is unknown.