Last year, CD Projekt had a lot on its hands with the development and release of Cyberpunk 2077, the long-anticipated follow-up to the studio's breakout hit The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, which was one of the most critically and commercially successful RPGs of all time. While the release of Cyberpunk 2077 was met with many controversies, the publisher announced quietly in the middle of 2020 that The Witcher 3 would receive a next-generation upgrade in 2021. Now, well over a year after this announcement, it appears the next-gen version of The Witcher 3 is gearing up for release.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was originally released in 2015. The game was instantly met with critical and commercial success, becoming one of the best-selling video games of all time and receiving over 260 game of the year awards – the most award-winning game of all time until 2020's The Last of Us Part 2. Needless to say, the game was a major success and has become a modern classic video game. While the game originally launched for PS4 and Xbox One alongside the PC release in 2015 (a first for the series, as all console releases had previously come years later), a Nintendo Switch version was released in 2019.
In August 2016, after all of the game's DLC had been released, CD Projekt Red launched The Witcher 3: Game of the Year Edition, which appears to be the same for the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S versions, as a new rating from PEGI (Pan European Game Information) has revealed that The Witcher 3's next-gen port is nearing release, as rating boards such as PEGI usually only classify games when they are very close to release.
CD Projekt previously confirmed that The Witcher 3's PS5 and Xbox Series X/S versions are being handled by Saber Interactive, the development team responsible for bringing the game to Nintendo Switch as well as porting other titles to various platforms. Most recently the team assisted development with the Crysis Remastered Trilogy for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch. Given the success of the Nintendo Switch port, and the fact that CD Projekt Red is busy with Cyberpunk 2077's next-gen port, this is likely good news. The next-gen upgrade for The Witcher 3 will also be free for owners of the PS4 and Xbox One versions.
As for when the upgrade will release, CD Projekt Red confirmed that the date of October 19th, 2021 on the PEGI rating was not indicative of the upgrade's release date, meaning we will likely see the port in December, when Netflix releases season 2 of its The Witcher TV series.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is available now for Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, and Xbox One.