As of this writing, The Witcher season 2 has been live on Netflix for two weeks now. It released on December 17, and it has proven to be quite divisive. For every single person who really loves it, there’s someone who hates the changes and direction it took. This is reflected on Rotten Tomatoes, where Witcher season 2 has a 94% Tomatometer critic rating but a 61% audience score. However, the reason for this is probably pretty simple: fans love The Witcher and have high expectations for it.
That popularity has bounced from the Netflix series to the 2015 video game, The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt. Since Season 2 teases The Wild Hunt and The Witcher 3 resolves it, it is a nice pairing to watch one and then play the other.
Specifically, according to the Steam database, there has been a flood of players in the past two-week span, or the span by which The Witcher season 2 has been live. The 24-hour peak of this time period was 62,000 players, and it’s worth remembering that this is on Steam alone. If it’s happening here, there’s a good chance that PlayStation, Xbox Games Store, and even Switch owners of The Witcher 3 may have picked it up following the Netflix show’s release. Comparatively, The Witcher 3 was in the mid-20K range on Steam prior to this time period.
This player spike is substantial, but it does fall short of The Witcher Season 1. That is to say, there was a flood of players to all three Witcher games following Season 1’s release. This happening with season 2 is history repeating itself, but the first season released about two years ago now. Two years ago following its release, The Witcher 3 hit its all-time peak on Steam with 103,000 players.
Indeed, The Witcher’s popularity as an IP speaks for itself, and this is likely to happen again whenever the next season of The Witcher airs on Netflix. Many fans would like to see the video game series too, despite the recent launch of CD Projekt Red’s latest IP, Cyberpunk 2077. Slowly but surely, Cyberpunk 2077 has picked itself up and dusted itself off, and fans are finding some of that CDPR charm in there.
It's unknown if The Witcher 4, or an equivalent, is in development, and it should probably stay that way. One issue with Cyberpunk 2077 was how early it was revealed; however, one would think that CDPR would return to this IP somehow. At the very least, fans can expect to play The Witcher 3 on PS5 and Xbox Series X, with all the new bells and whistles, early next year.
The Witcher 3 is available now on PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
Source: Steam Charts (via Reddit)