Xbox Falsely Advertises Witcher 3 Gameplay On Youtube (Update)

UPDATE: A Microsoft spokesperson has issued an apology when speaking to GameSpot, while updating the video description to say The Witcher 3 footage shown was captured on PC.

"This morning we posted a new trailer for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt to our YouTube channels featuring footage provided by CD Projekt Red that was captured from the PC version of the game and may not be reflective of final Xbox One gameplayThis was in no way intended to misrepresent the title on Xbox One. We have updated the description of the asset to make clear the source and platform of this footage. We apologize for any confusion and look forward to the game arriving on both Xbox One and PC on May 19, 2015."

ORIGINAL: Whether it is with malice or just a gross oversight, someone on the Xbox Youtube channel messed up big time by falsely advertising The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt gameplay on Xbox One. As you can see from their recent preview footage, playing out one of the game’s quests, there is the option to play the video at 60 FPS. As great as it would be to play The Witcher 3 on consoles at that higher framerate, it is only possible to play as such on PC.

While some of you may be wondering, “What’s the big deal? The point is to show how good or bad The Witcher 3 plays and nothing else,” may I remind you that this video is hosted on the Microsoft-owned Xbox Youtube channel. The button inputs onscreen indicate that of the Xbox One controller, meaning that they are making it look as authentically an Xbox One gaming experience as possible (even though that is not the case). Furthermore, the footage has an Xbox annotation throughout and ends with an Xbox One tag clip, indicating to those who see the video that what they’re seeing is the game being played on Xbox One. Finally, a CD Projekt RED representative confirmed to Kotaku that the footage is indeed from the PC version.

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The Witcher 3 is coming out on PC, PS4 and Xbox One, and it is expected to be one of May’s biggest releases in terms of sales. By misrepresenting Xbox One play of the game, it is essentially tricking fans into believing that they can expect 60 FPS play if they pick up the Xbox One version. Furthermore, due to marketing and promotional deals between those working on the game and Microsoft, it’s not as easy for PlayStation to show off their version of the game properly. Even if they do, because it would only be in 30 FPS, the Xbox One version would look that much better in the consumers’ eyes.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt will look excellent, no matter which platform you play it on. You will need to drop a lot of money on a gaming PC to make it look and run the best on PC, where it will look and play its best, but due to the visual fidelity of the game the differences between PS4’s 1080p and Xbox One’s 900p will be less pronounced. However, by unfairly broadcasting PC footage of The Witcher 3 on an Xbox channel, fans won’t get an honest look at the game in the weeks leading up to the eventual release.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is scheduled for a May 19th launch.

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