The Witcher is Available on Mac Through SteamPlay: But Don’t Buy it Yet
The Witcher is another one of those games that i have been wanting to play for a good while. I have heard a ton of great feedback and the recent release of it’s sequel The Witcher 2 also received similar praise.
So when I logged into Steam the other day to be greeted by a message that it had been ported to Mac I was thrilled. I have both Windows and Mac OS on my desktop but I like to get everything on Mac because that is where I work and it saves me switching over. So having another great game to play while on Mac was a no brainer, I bought it immediately. But I was quickly disappointed.
Wine Deficiency – Fatal Error
So when the game crashed within the first few minutes of gameplay, and continued to do so every time I played on any settings, I was pretty disappointed. I was disappointed not just because I had wasted my money buying a Mac port that didn’t work but because a port developer had released a really shitty attempt at porting a game.
And in case you are thinking it’s just me, this is happening to the vast majority of Mac users on a wide range of systems. Just check out the Steam forums.
Here is a screenshot of the crash:
After pressing close the game locks up and must be force-quit. Pretty frustrating.
I have contacted both The Witcher support and CDProjeckt (the people who did the port) but so far no word. I am optimistic that this will be fixed but until a patch is actually released I would hold off on buying it yourself.
Such a huge error and such poor support are really disappointing, I wish Steam would be more thorough in checking the games they accept onto their platform but that is unlikely to happen.
[UPDATE]
I just got a response from one of the QA team over at CDProjeckt. No fixes but an assurance that they are working on it and a patch will be posted soon. Check out the response below. They are from Poland so expect the English to be a little bit broken.
Click for a larger view.
If you are hoping this gets resolved like myself then check back here in a few days or a week, I’ll update it if a patch is released or if a fix is found. Until then, save your money.
Tags: Mac, Steam, The Witcher
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How could they release a game is this sort of state? I would go out of my way to demand a refund. This isn’t a port – this is something you could have done yourself. How absolutely frustraing.
Totally agree that almost anybody could wrap an exe in a wineskin with a bit of time. That’s why it’s inexcusable that they got it wrong in the first place.
I was willing to pay the $10 for the game and to have it pre-wrapped so I could just play it. I was happy to pay for the convenience.
Let’s hope they release that fix very soon. I’ll update when when/if they do.
Over a month later and issue persists – Have asked Steam for a refund (fingers crossed they’ll actually give a damn)
Good luck to you sir! I have never been able to get a refund from Steam for any reason. I love and hate the company/platform in equal measures. If you do manage to get a refund for it let us know!