Why does Witcher 2 suck on the rMBP and What can I do about it?

Try an SMC reset. Dowload the latest drivers.

 

You should review the specs for that game as listed in the Mac App Store:

MINIMUM SPECS: OS X 10.7.5 or later. Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo. Memory: 4GB RAM. Graphics: GeForce GT 650M 512MB (on 1440x900, medium), Radeon HD 5770 1GB (on 1440x900, low). Hard Drive: 25 GB free space on HDD.

Don't expect to be getting very good performance in a game when your graphics card barely passes the minimum specs.

In other words, Witcher 2 is not a game that is geared towards being played on a laptop right now. I'd skip that game for now, and try it again in a couple years on the then-current MBP, or play it on a desktop.

 

Witcher 2 drags down dedicated gaming laptops at 1920x1080. How do you expect that a far less powerful machine will get similar performance at an even higher resolution?

 

Get an Alienware m18x with 680m sli config... That is a laptop that can play witcher 2 on high settings.., will be heavy & ugly and cost like $3400... But I suppose that is besides the point....

 

My guess is that you'd probably be better off running it through bootcamp.

 

He is.

 

In any case I would also recommend playing in Boot Camp if possible. Some of these OS X ports are terrible (another example would be Driver San Francisco).

 

Sorry, I mis-read. I agree that Bootcamp would help performance.

 

My washing machine was also very expensive and can't play a 20 dollar game.
Maybe you try to use a toaster, but i would advise you to use a gaming computer for playing games.

 

The Witcher 2 is one of the most graphically demanding games out there. You can't expect to have fantastic performance on a mobile GPU. That said, if you bought it on the Mac app store, you may be entitled to a download of the PC version through goodoldgames.com. It would depend if you have a serial, I suppose.

 

Come on, you can't exactly compare a rMBP to a a toaster. It's not like the rMBP is completely incompetent at playing games. In fact it's very capable of playing games well. You just have to temper your expectations.

In the world of gaming I would consider the rMBP in the league of a mid-range mainstream Windows notebook. A mid-range Windows notebook can also play games competently, it's just not its primary purpose.