So.......
From the time table given... assuming its correct....
Store brought games in Australia will unlock at 10am......
This means the masses that show up and get copies at +10gmt times which is most of the population.. are going to get home install the game attempt to activate it... and quote the faq

"If you attempt to run the game before the dates given above the program will close without any warning immediately after entering the Product Activation Code."

Bad idea.... very bad idea.....

Worse.. if the countdown timer on the webpage is to be beleived.. it wont activate till around 7pm for such people....

Crap. This is really bad for australians.

No its really bad for The Witcher 3.

People showing up at 9am buy the game get home install it and its not yet past 10am and the game wont work....

but it doesnt tell them why.

When does the digital edition get unlocked? I bought it while on vacation in the states if that makes any difference whatsoever.

Depends on the site. But for GOG 7am GMT.

Indeed, it can't be good... This and all the issues they had with activation of the Polish CE. It looks like they can't handle this online activating protection correctly :'(

12am? Where was this confirmed? You've gotta be kidding me, that quite a few hours before the digital editions.

That's just silly.. why the heck do we have to wait like 10 hours?

Personally, If I was in Australia, I wouldn't mind because I'm expecting a great game, these things happen. For example Steam, I remember downloading GTA 4 on release day, but couldn't download & play till a few days later because the servers were overloaded, slightly different situation compared to the one mentioned in original post, but I hope this won't be a major impact on the Australian side.

I agree we wont be playing The Witcher 2 untill 5pm on the 17th.

Thats not the point however.

Point is a great game Studio and a great game are both going to come across as crap.. because the game wont work... and it wont tell the people why.

They will assume its just a peice of shit.

This is whats gonna happen.

Stores sell The Witcher 2
Everyone who wated at 8:30-9am to buy it bring it back.....
They say it wont WORK
they all have the same story.

Store stops selling the game.

For a few hours or more untill its worked out everyone including retail stores will think the games Fubar....

Yeah but like Phoynix said the issue is that people will try to install it, the program will close without any warning, they will probably think that the game is just not working and will bring back to store .

Jesus, 17:00, reeeeaaallly? Already took the day off. Why are the digital edition buyers being treated as second-hand customers? F**king stupid.

Yes, unless people explicitly read the FAQ or go forum-hunting, they may be thinking WTF?
Unfortunately, there's a lot of people who will freak out and not act or think logically and therefore will throw a fit. It does seem like a little bit of an oversight that the devs haven't included a simple message if you try to activate ahead of launch.

Also, as much as I don't personally care about the extra wait for digital edition activation (I'll be at work anyhows), it's a shame that all copies (except for the Polish CE of course) weren't timed to simultaneously activate. You'd especially think they'd want this for their sister company GoG.