10 Dumbest Controversies That Dogged Popular Video Games

4. The Witcher 3 Gets A "Downgrade"

As a term, "downgrade" tends to refer to any graphical changes between first look and release, but with The Witcher 3, CD Projekt RED actively refuted the claim, saying that the game's scope and technical abilities should also be factored in.

Stating that the game looked better because they were yet to actually finish the vast majority of it (therefore meaning processing power could be focused on visuals over gameplay and the game's size, and it was natural for visuals to change as the project went on), the conversation could at least be had around what qualifies as a "downgrade".

Naturally, the nuance of this debate was lost, and for months CDPR had to weather a storm of supposed "fans" tossing the downgrade term their way, despite the fact that Wild Hunt's size vs. graphics ratio was clearly expertly refined.

Of course yes, we can point to two states of visuals for the same game and see the differences, but does The Witcher 3 maintain a gorgeously high bar for graphics AND deliver a few hundred hours of gameplay?

If you answered "yes", then all things considered, the game wasn't downgraded. Simple.