Death of a Game: Gwent
nerdSlayer Studios・2 minutes read
Gwent, a standalone card game spinning off from The Witcher series, initially successful, later faced decline in popularity, leading to CD Projekt Red ending support in December 2022 due to dwindling player numbers. Despite early success, Gwent's shift towards competitive play and lack of story content, coupled with financial challenges and declining player engagement, ultimately led to its downfall.
Insights
- The creation of Gwent stemmed from the success of Final Fantasy Tetra in The Witcher RPG series, evolving into a standalone card game praised for its fun, accessible design and integration within The Witcher universe, culminating in a decline in popularity and eventual abandonment by CD Projekt Red.
- Gwent's journey from a mini-game to a competitive card game faced challenges with meta dominance, lack of variety, and declining player engagement post-Homecoming update, despite critical acclaim for its mechanics, storytelling, and strategic depth, ultimately leading to its transition into maintenance mode.
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Recent questions
What is Gwent and how did it originate?
Gwent is a standalone card game that originated as a mini-game within The Witcher RPG series. It gained popularity, leading to its development as a standalone game launched in October 2018.
What led to the decline of Gwent's popularity?
Gwent faced a decline in popularity due to various factors, including lack of support from developers, meta dominance, slow updates, and issues with maintaining player engagement.
What critical acclaim did Thronebreaker receive?
Thronebreaker, a single-player story experience released alongside Gwent, received critical acclaim for its engaging gameplay, storytelling, boss fights, and puzzles, bridging the gap between Gwent's competitive direction and its original spin-off nature.
How did Gwent evolve from a mini-game to a competitive card game?
Gwent evolved from a fun mini-game tied to rewards and quests to a competitive card game through updates like the Homecoming revamp, simplifying mechanics and visuals to align with The Witcher series, aiming to shift Gwent's focus.
What challenges did Gwent face post-Homecoming update?
Post-Homecoming update, Gwent faced challenges such as lack of deck variety, staleness in the meta, dominant meta decks in Gwent Masters, low viewer numbers, and financial struggles despite positive reception, leading to its shift to maintenance mode in December 2022.
Related videos
Summary
00:00
Rise and Fall of Gwent: A Summary
- Final Fantasy Tetra was a popular and fun mini-game within The Witcher RPG series, leading to the creation of Gwent, a standalone card game launched in October 2018.
- Gwent became a sleeper hit, prompting developers to create a standalone game and release it on all platforms, later expanding to mobile platforms with nearly a dozen expansions and spin-off single-player projects.
- Despite initial success, Gwent faced a decline in popularity, with CD Projekt Red announcing no further support for the game in December 2022, leading to its abrupt end.
- The success of The Witcher 3 was attributed to its well-crafted story, impactful side quests, lore, combat system, characters, and the addition of Gwent as a mini-game to break up gameplay monotony.
- Gwent was designed to be fun, tied to game rewards and quests, and easy to pick up, leading CD Projekt Red to develop more Witcher-themed games, starting with the standalone card game Gwent.
- Gwent initially focused on multiplayer gameplay, prompting the introduction of Thronebreaker, a single-player story content utilizing Gwent as a vehicle, designed by the developer behind The Witcher 3 quests.
- Gwent's shift towards competitive play and esports, led by Vladimir Tortsoff, resulted in the creation of Gwent Masters, a professional league, but faced challenges due to the lack of grassroots development.
- Gwent Homecoming update revamped the game, simplifying mechanics and visuals to align with The Witcher series, aiming to shift Gwent from a fun mini-game to a competitive card game.
- Thronebreaker, a single-player story experience focusing on boss fights and puzzles, aimed to bridge the gap between Gwent's competitive direction and its original spin-off nature.
- Gwent gameplay involves players playing cards from a deck of 25, belonging to one of six factions, aiming to win two out of three rounds by accumulating points through card abilities and strategies. Thronebreaker, released alongside Gwent, received critical acclaim for its storytelling and engaging gameplay.
13:11
"Gwent's Mixed Reception and Financial Struggles"
- Gwent's self-reception was more subdued compared to Thronebreaker, scoring a B grade with 80 out of 100 on Metacritic.
- Gamespot praised Gwent for homecoming changes and generous rewards but criticized slow matches and lack of visual feedback.
- Game Informer lauded Gwent for keen decision-making and variety of decks/strategies, emphasizing its potential from small beginnings.
- Critics' perspectives on Gwent differed significantly from the player base, with few offering critical opinions.
- Gwent faced issues post-homecoming update, including lack of deck variety and staleness in the meta due to slow updates.
- Gwent Masters showcased dominant meta decks, leading to low viewer numbers and players copying these decks for ladder success.
- Suggestions to combat meta dominance included creating casual game modes for deck mixing and more diverse gameplay.
- Gwent faced financial challenges despite positive reception, with Thronebreaker missing sales targets and Gwent being considered a financial failure.
- Gwent expanded with new cards and factions, but faced criticism for lack of story and lore, especially with expansions not adding much in that regard.
- Gwent's expansions, mobile launch, and move to Steam failed to significantly increase player base, leading to concerns about sustaining content and audience engagement.
25:45
"Gwent's Decline Leads to Director Reassignment"
- Gwent's population remained stable in 2021, with the game failing to surpass 3,000 peak players on Steam, leading to the director, Jason Slama, being reassigned to a new Witcher project.
- The final expansion for Gwent, Black Sun, was released on July 5, 2022, with a focus on balancing and live updates, resulting in a drop in player population on Steam to its lowest at 2,200 players.
- A standalone single-player experience called Gwent Rogue Mage was introduced, borrowing elements from Slay the Spire, but was poorly received as a cash grab lacking innovation, leading to CDPR shifting Gwent to maintenance mode in December 2022 due to declining player numbers across platforms.
