or less , why spend on native porting if win version works or at least you can label it as working ?

Simple - performance. CDPR aren't some amateurs. Every bit of performance is something they care about.

They are updating it for current gen consoles, adding 4K and RTX support to it. The PC will benefit with an update for parity because CDPR knows the terrible PR that would be shitting on the PC market in favor of consoles. They've already drenched their name in crap from their terrible handling of Cyberpunk. They may not survive another big PR disaster.

While I would certainly like to see more Linux versions of games here at GOG, you have to look at the situation with a logical mind, especially when it comes to the rest of The Witcher series.

CDPR did a Linux version for the second Witcher game, so they know what's involved.
They would also be well aware of the Linux base of customers at GOG.
So there must be a good reason why they aren't currently tapping into that, money is money after all.

For them to possibly change their current motivation, it would likely require a huge number of votes in the Community Wishlist section, which this thread can draw attention to, but CDPR are highly unlikely to care about further commenting in this thread. In fact I doubt they even bother to read posts in it now, unless someone draws their attention to some misbehavior here.

https://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/witcher_3_linux_version_1

https://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/the_witcher_on_gnulinux

https://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/linux_version_of_witcher_1_2

https://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/witcher_adventure_game_for_linux

Ok, thanks for your reply. That's interesting to hear.

Over 13,000 votes for Witcher 3 on Linux. That's not a small number of votes. I'm sure GOG have pursued and released games that have had far fewer wishlist votes than that. I haven't bought or played W3 and a native Linux release would go a long way towards convincing me to buy it.

votes... they are like likes or upvotes worth nothing
imho they shouldnt waste money on linux natives , let steam handle that with their new console

Indeed, one would think that motivation enough, unless they have a bigger motivation not to. In any case it is no doubt down to CDPR not GOG itself with regard to Witcher games having a Linux version.

It could also just be down to lack of time to devote, so a matter of priorities. Like many things it would be down to effort and expense versus profit. If easier profit lies elsewhere, then that probably dictates, especially if the Windows only versions of the Witcher games run fine in Wine etc.

And they probably quite reasonably believe, that any real fan of the series is gonna run the Windows variant if that's the only choice, so most of the sales would be there anyway.

It was known as a terrible port. They basically put some from-the-shelf wrapper on the Windows version, then called that native.

You mean the one who did not left for Steam, despite the DRM encumbrance out there?
I don’t think there are a lot of us still sticking to GOG.

The port had issues which they fixed over time. It performs pretty well actually. Using Wine+dxvk is very comparable to it in performance.

Porting using a wrapper isn't an uncommon method, so no need to criticize developers for that. And they did fix actual issues in that port.

I'm playing W2 in Linux at the moment and performance-wise it seems to run very well. Although, I'd agree a proper native port would be preferable to a wrapper.

That may well be, but it doesn't really change what I said, except maybe to make it even more likely they consider a proper port too much work.

I really have no idea about that, but as GOG only kind of lamely support Linux or at least do it it as some kind of bonus, it wouldn't be surprising if what is on offer at GOG doesn't really feed the needs enough of Linux only users, though to be sure many would co-use Windows still ... if just for the odd game. Needs must as they say.

Performing comparable to something I can set up in 5 minutes myself is not something I am ready to accept as a professional native port. If they want my money, they need to do much better than that.

That they had to suffer backlash from the awful original quality on the port before considering fixing it does not speak well on them either.

Keeping in mind that my comments are not on the developers themselves, they probably had to do with whatever working conditions they were granted. And maybe such conditions (especially deadlines) would not have allowed for something better. It is obvious that there is a decision higher up to not dedicate resources towards Linux support at CD Projekt Red.

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All it says is that they know how to do a terrible port. And maybe try to fix it if they get enough bad press from it. I still think they have no idea how to do a proper native port.

To be fair I don’t really care about those who keep a dual-boot, since they are in most cases OK with using Windows to run the games that have no native version (or only bad quality ports).

Just to avoid misunderstanding: I don’t care about them when talking about native ports. They are of course a relevant demographics for a lot of other topics ;)

Linux was too small of a market for them to pay for a full port. So they used a wrapper and the fact that they made sure issues were fixed is good I think. In fact, making an official Linux release back then when Linux gaming market was smaller than it is today is in itself interesting. CDPR ignore us now when we are a bigger audience than during TW2 Linux release. Go figure.

Also, while at that time TW2 was already playable in Wine, Vulkan and dxvk weren't yet thing. Now we have these wonderful things to compare, but the fact that their port performs comparably means they did something right there.

Wine+dxvk/vkd3d-proton today is a great baseline to evaluate whether some port performs well or not.

A side note - the port wasn't done by CDPR but by VirtualProgramming who also made macOS ports for them before. I think that's why they picked them for the Linux version as well.

Thought I'd revive this old thread, as I am also a Linux gamer and would vastly prefer native versions of games instead of having to rely on Lutris for most of them. Why CD Projekt Red hasn't ported titles like The Witcher III and Cyberpunk 2077 to Linux is beyond me. They ported The Witcher II, and that was long before Linux grew substantially in popularity.

With the advent of the Steam Deck, it's the perfect storm to get both titles ported, and yet...nothing.

This company needs to do all it can to repair it's image with gamers, and I think a solid Linux port would go a long way.

cause they care not for linux at all , if you want linux games you should buy from steam

btw dont these games run well with wine?