With CD Projekt Red mum on the rumors of the game's cancellation, French development partner Widescreen games have issued a press release addressing the fate of Rise of the White Wolf. The company indicates that financial difficulties between the partners involved in the game's creation have caused them to halt progress for the time being. Note that the following quote is a translation of the original French press release.

"The development of the game The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf was suspended for the duration of the resolution of financial problems between the various partners of the project. We regret this event particularly in regards to the fans who awaited this title impatiently. I hope that we will find a solution in good understanding with our recent and historical partners on this ambitious project," explained Olivier Masclef, manager of the company Widescreen Games.

We once again contacted CD Projekt Red for their comment on this latest development, only to receive another "no comment".

So while the game isn't technically cancelled, according to Widescreen Games it definitely isn't progressing at the moment. We expect CD Projekt Red to issue its own statement in the near future.

Update: The CD Projekt Group's joint CEO Michal Kicinski responded to allegations brought on by Widescreen boss Olivier Masclef in an interview with VG247, in which he alleged that CD Projekt had missed several payments to the company for its work. The following response was posted in the comments section of VG247.

It is sad that we cannot talk with WSG in normal business way, but communicate through media. It is absolutely not our style of making business, and we answer here as we feel forced to do this to clarify the unclear information:

1. All payments were done on time according to milestone plan.

2. Truth is that payments were later than originally planned but this was solely due to delays in production. The delays were growing in the project due to WSG continued to miss the deadlines.

3. Delays and risks of further development by WSG were unacceptable by CD Projekt (this happened even though CDProjekt RED was constantly increasing main team involvement to help in the production). The most important fact is that development process didn't make planned release date possible and moreover propositions of the new release date were changing few times. Besides the schedule, technical incapability created a risk of missing planned quality which is absolutely unacceptable. And this brought an end in our cooperation with WSG.

4. Currently the works are on hold. We are evaluating all possible options to continue the production.
Making this decision was extremely difficult and sad as we know that many people are waiting for this project. We do our best to find a way out of this situation. But final decision must guarantee high quality of the product, otherwise we won't continue the production no matter what consequences it will bring. We are committed to the highest quality of all our games, and this is unnegotiable for us.

So no matter what the final decision or solution we will find, please be sure that it will be the best for the game quality, and satisfaction of gamers, which is the most important for us!

Michal Kicinski
Joint CEO
CD Projekt Group

So there it is, laid out in a very odd forum. There's no telling who is in the right at this point. Here's hoping that the differences can be settled and Rise of the White Wolf will one day rise again.

The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf 'Frozen' [Game Banshee]

The rumor first surfaced at Polish site Polygamia, which simply stated that reliable sources had informed them that The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf had been canceled. We contacted CD Projekt Red for a comment on that story, only to receive the following response:

We don't comment on rumors or speculation; any future plans for The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf will come through official channels.

Now a thread regarding the cancellation has appeared on the game's official forums, discovered by reader Elyk via a thread on NeoGAF. A response from PR and Community Manager Eriash simply states that "We will comment on this in official release soon".

Given the amount of enthusiasm that CD Projekt has shown for The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf and the popularity of the original PC version, it's hard to imagine that they'd cancel this release so suddenly, especially considering that new assets have been released as recently as a month ago.

Still, asking a developer if their game is canceled generally elicits a no if the game has not been canceled, so we're very curious to see what CD Projekt has to say on the subject once an official statement is released. All we can do now is wait.

Konsolowy Wiedźmin skasowany? [Polygamia]

Before the significant increase in atmospheric oxygen almost all life that existed was anaerobic, that is, the metabolism of life depended on a form of cellular respiration that did not require oxygen. Free oxygen in large amounts is poisonous to most anaerobic bacteria, and at this time most life on Earth vanished. The only life that remained was either resistant to the oxidizing and poisonous effects of oxygen, or spent its life-cycle in an oxygen-free environment. This main event is called the Oxygen Catastrophe. Also the first Grypania fossils and the first Eukaryotes appeared during this time.

Yeah, you aren't reading this. Here are two more screens, sans boobie. What's up with that half-topless look? In or out? Wench, maketh up thy mind!

The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf Screenshots with Digital Nipple Slippage [Troll in the Corner]
Paleoproterozoic [Wikipedia]

The thing I love about PC games being ported to consoles is the fact that I no longer have to worry about system requirements. The thing I hate about PC to console ports is the sacrifices made to move them from the more versatile platform to a fixed one, usually in the area of graphics. Judging from these three screens, I'd say the developers are doing a fine job of avoiding that particular nuisance with the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of The Witcher. If they can maintain this sort of quality while still delivering a game with a solid frame rate, I'll be sold all over again.

That's the company line, anyhow. To me, I'd say the game involves David Carradine walking the earth looking for supernatural asses to kung fu. The game is due out this fall; Atari's the publisher.

In fact, if CD Projekt's Tom Ohle is to be believed (and why shouldn't he be?) to call The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf a port is to do it a disservice.

"We’re not just slapping together a port and are actually making a game built from the ground up to be an amazing console RPG," said Ohle, "We’ve gone back and motion-captured a lot more combat animations for the new combat actions, like parries, counter-attacks, enhanced evasion, special attacks, etc. We’re also enhancing the enemy AI to make them more aggressive and perform a wide range of offensive and defensive actions to make the combat a bit more action-oriented."

The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf Q&A — Console DLC Confirmed! [GameCyte]

The console version, as previously reported, features a revamped combat system for action-hungry Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 owners, and if this video at all reflects the way Geralt is going to move in the game, it should definitely be an experience that even the biggest fans of the PC title will want to get their hands on.

Hit the jump for a set of in-game screenshots that display just how nicely the move to consoles is being handled.

As yesterday's rumor indicated, the full title of the console port is The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf. Following the same story as the original PC version, consoles will see a new graphis engine and a revamped combat system to make things more entertaining for the analog stick crowd. Basically they are rebuilding the title from the ground up for its console debut, so even folks like me who've played through the PC version 4 times since release might want to give it another go.

"We're thrilled to continue our great relationship with Atari, whose refreshing focus on quality fits squarely with our own, to bring Geralt and the Witcher franchise to an even larger audience - fans who expressed to us very clearly that The Witcher would be a natural fit on consoles," said Adam Kicinski, CEO, CD Projekt RED.

The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf is currently scheduled for a Autumn 2009 release.

'The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf' Coming Autumn 2009 to PLAYSTATION(R)3 System and Xbox 360(R)

NEW YORK, Dec. 2 NY-Atari-TheWitcher

- Award Winning, Million-selling Role-playing Franchise Coming to Consoles with Thrilling New Dynamic Combat, State of the Art Visuals and Unparalleled Story -

NEW YORK, Dec. 2 — At the ATARI LIVE showcase event in London today, Atari and CD Projekt RED announced plans for the global release of The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf on PLAYSTATION(R)3 computer entertainment system and Xbox 360(R) video game and entertainment system from Microsoft in autumn 2009.

Based on the story of multi award-winning million-selling PC role-playing game The Witcher and completely rebuilt pixel by pixel for the new generation of consoles, The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf brings the unrivalled RPG experience to Xbox 360 and PLAYSTATION 3 with a brand new combat system for thrilling dynamic action, and a new engine delivering matchless state-of-the-art visuals. The game is underpinned with the evocative and enthralling story which helped secure the original game's status as PC role-playing game of 2007, based on the mature and compelling universe created by renowned Polish fantasy writer Andrzej Sapkowski.

"The creative vision and dedication to the quality of the player experience that CD Projekt RED bring to the Witcher games is extraordinary, and it's great to be working with them to bring the Witcher universe to console gamers," said Phil Harrison, President of Infogrames Entertainment, the parent company of Atari. "Taking this brilliantly realised world to PLAYSTATION 3 and Xbox 360 gamers for the first time is a breakthrough in the development of this important franchise."

"We're thrilled to continue our great relationship with Atari, whose refreshing focus on quality fits squarely with our own, to bring Geralt and the Witcher franchise to an even larger audience - fans who expressed to us very clearly that The Witcher would be a natural fit on consoles," said Adam Kicinski, CEO, CD Projekt RED. "Console gamers' tastes are maturing; they're looking for deeper story-driven experiences that are very hard to find in today's console market. We're developing this remake based upon the compelling narrative that helped The Witcher on PC sell more than a million copies and win more than 100 awards, building everything else from the ground up to be the definitive console RPG."

Based on the universe created by best-selling Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski, The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf puts players in the role of Geralt, a professional monster slayer who exists on the fringes of a complex society troubled by the kind of problems more commonly found on the front pages of newspapers than in a fantasy universe. Taken as a child, mutated, and trained in the arcane ways of the witchers, Geralt is a reluctant hero, who nonetheless finds himself all too frequently in the heat of battles that are not his own. In this world there is no right or wrong, only decisions and consequences.

With The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf, the best PC RPG in recent years is being completely remade as the ultimate console RPG. The title is being developed by a core team from CD Projekt RED working alongside France-based Widescreen Games who provide their cross-platform DaVinci engine technology. For more information about The Witcher visit www.thewitcher.com and for more details about Atari's entire product line up visit www.atari.com.