http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/6042/working_in_a_dying_genre_on_a_.php

I don't think this has been posted yet but if it has I am sorry... Interesting read anyway.

EDIT: just to be clear the interview is much longer than what I posted here and can be read in full via the link:)

The Witcher was an unlikely hit in many ways. It was a single-player RPG released only for PC in 2007, when many were questioning the viability of single-player RPGs and PC exclusives. It was based on an Andrzej Sapkowski series of novels and stories that is well known in the author's native Poland, but obscure in North America. And it was the first game developed by CD Projekt RED, the nascent internal studio of Warsaw-based publisher CD Projekt.

Despite all those challenges, The Witcher's critically-lauded storytelling and lore helped it rack up more than 1.5 million copies on one platform. After shipping the game's "Enhanced Edition" based largely on fan feedback, RED got to work on The Witcher 2: Assassins Of Kings for PC – another example of a "dying genre on a dying platform," as senior producer Tomasz Gop likes to defiantly observe.

The experience of developing the Enhanced Edition of the original game, which was a free update for all existing owners of the game, solidified RED's practices of paying close attention to its community's feedback, and Gop says that mentality carried right over into the full sequel.

In an in-depth interview, he discussed the development process so far, drawing inspiration from many sources, adapting literary works in games, and keeping the fans in mind.

Did you transition right into The Witcher 2 straight from the first game? How far along are you?

Tomasz Gop: We started working on the game right after we had released the first one. It was October 2007. For the first year and a half, part of the team worked on the new engine -- basic low-level stuff and prototyping -- and it was around the time we released the enhanced version ofThe Witcher that the rest of the team moved.

Since then, it's been a year and a half that the whole team, around 80 people, has worked only on this project. We're about 60 percent done, and we're going to ship in Q1 2011.

Going straight into this project, did it help that The Witcher ended up being a bigger success than some might have expected? Did you expect it?

TG: You always account for that. [laughs] You always wish that you sell a lot of copies. There's a joke that we usually use: we sold one and a half million copies of a dying genre on a dying platform. And over a hundred awards.

When I heard about the game and the collectible cards with naked women, I thought this was a one trick pony and not worth my time.

Then someone here told me how good it was (I think it was vlad...if he's even still around) and I picked up.  Awards and accolades for this game are well deserved and I'm eagerly awaiting 2.

I'm picking the sequel up for sure. You gotta support PC devs. 

a better reason would be that it looks like a great game but as long as you are putting your money where your mouth is I'm good.

Guys i think you shouldn't belive that much in dying genre on dying platform claims.

It sure might look like this from western perspective but the risk was far smaller than they like to say.

You have to realize that PC is dominant platform in Poland and Russia and Sapkowski books are quite big in Russia and absolutly huge in Poland (bigger than Tolkien probably).

The WItcher sales in Poland are bigger than CoD series combined :D

Now i wonder if with TW2 release it will push TW1 over 2 milions sales as the more 1,5M has been spoken for really long time now.

I don't think they believe it so much as they say it as an insider joke because that is what many people were saying at the time. I mean claims of the PC platform dieing aren't exactly uncommon. And you have to remember when the witcher came out Dragon age hadn't, and the witcher came at a time when WRPGs were just coming back into fashion, and there weren't many successful story driven WRPGs on PC, the closest things were Oblivion, gothic 3 and if you go back a bit KotoR. So at the time the genre was seen by many to be dieing especially on the PC. Of course since then the genre has seen somewhat of a resurgence.

The Witcher is one of the only Western made RPGs that I like so I will be picking up No.2 for shore.

1.5 million still isn't a huge number. $10-13 per copy sold and it's only $15-20 million in total revenue to cover development and marketing.

With 80 people on the team and over 3 years of development they're lucky to be in Poland. An American or Western European dev team that big couldn't afford to make such a big game with only a $15 million budget.

I'm gonna get a new comp in time for The Witcher 2. It's the only PC exclusive that demands great hardware.

Too bad the console versions (PS3&X360) were canned. I was looking forward to playing that game.....

Added to my wishlist... Alas after purchase it will have to wait for its turn and stay in my backlog for a while, though!