CD Projekt Red announced that it will end support for Gwent: The Witcher Card Game. The news comes in the same year that Gwent received the Rogue Mage expansion, adding PvE elements to the game.
Gwent was announced in 2016 and spent 2 years in beta until it was officially released in 2018. The title is based on a card game mentioned in Sapkowski's novels, and a reinvention of the mini-game of the same name that players can play within The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Geared toward a competitive play style similar to Hearthstone, in Gwent players are commanders and the cards are their forces. Gwent is played in a series of best-of-three rounds, where players cast spells and summon units with special abilities. The goal is to use tactics and bluffing to trick the opponent and win the round. With CDPR's announcement players found out what is in store for the future of the game.
CDPR has confirmed that it will support the game during 2023 by releasing new cards and organizing esports tournaments, but this will end in 2024. Gwent will then follow a community-focused approach that is being called internally Project Gwentfinity. This project will add a seasonal progression system, rewarding creative deck building along with a voting system for the community to decide what balancing changes they want to see in the game. CD Projekt Red says, however, that there will be restrictions to prevent manipulation and changes that "break the game." Since Gwent will continue online only with a different system, it is still time for novice players to explore the game including the best monster factions in Gwent.
CD Projekt Red told IGN that from this point on Gwent will be maintained by a small team of developers, while the rest of the team members will be transferred to other projects of the studio. One theory could be that the staff will be directed to developing the sequel to Cyberpunk 2077, announced as Project Orion, but that's unconfirmed at the time of this writing.
Ending support for a game is the kind of news that always makes an impact, and with the Gwent community, it was no different. In the comments of the 2023 roadmap video, in which the end of support for Gwent was announced, fans lamented the news but thanked the developers for their work. Several comments recalled positive memories, the hours spent playing Gwent, and speculated what lies in the future for the game. Since Gwent is not coming to an end but is coming to an end the way fans have come to know it, players can still improve their gameplay by learning what not to do in Gwent, exploring the contents of the Rogue Mage expansion, and having plenty of fun.
Gwent: The Witcher Card Game is available on Mobile and PC.
Source: IGN