The Witcher 3's next-gen upgrade is finally back on the calendar

News
By last updated

CD Projekt says the oft-delayed update will be out near the end of this year.

Tub Geralt
(Image credit: CD Project)

The Witcher 3's big next-gen expansion is now officially un-delayed: CD Projekt announced today that the long-awaited, long-overdue upgrade is now set to arrive sometime in the fourth quarter of the year.

"Let's make this 7th anniversary even better, shall we?" the studio tweeted. "We're delighted to share that the Next Gen version of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is planned to release in Q4 2022. See you on the Path, witchers!"

More from the Witcher world

The Witcher 3 - Geralt artwork

(Image credit: CD PRojekt RED)

The Witcher 4: What we know
The Witcher season 3: Trailers and cast
Witcher 3 mods: Good hunting

It's been a long time coming. The upgrade was announced in September 2020, but the expected 2021 launch was eventually pushed into 2022 as CD Projekt was forced to focus on cleaning up the Cyberpunk 2077 mess. In April it was delayed again, "until further notice," an ominous phrase that forced the company to release a statement the following day insisting that the upgrade was not trapped in development hell. 

As the name suggests, the next-gen upgrade of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is being developed for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X-S consoles, but is also coming to PC owners as a free update. Specifics about the upgrade haven't been announced yet: CD Projekt Red global community director Marcin Momot said on Twitter that "there will be a time for that," but that the studio doesn't have any details to share just yet.

Andy Chalk
Andy Chalk
US News Lead

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.

Read more
Ciri in The Witcher 4
The Witcher 4 won't be out until sometime in 2027 at the soonest, CD Projekt says
The Witcher 4 - Ciri
CD Projekt Red boss says 'around 100' Witcher 3 designers still work at the company, while the Witcher 4's story director is 'the same person since Witcher 1'
Image of The Witcher 4 mocap session from The Witcher 4 – Cinematic Reveal Trailer – Behind the scenes
The Witcher 4 reveal trailer took 14 days of mocap, and CD Projekt wants you to think about what happened after it ended
Witcher 3's Geralt having a think
The Witcher 3's now 2-year-old bonus quest is our first taste of the 'vibe' CD Projekt is going for in The Witcher 4
bathtub geralt
I regret to inform you that The Witcher 3 is a decade old this year, but you can forget about unceasing mortality for a few hours at the anniversary concerts
The Witcher - Liam Hemsworth first look as Geralt of Rivia wears a white wig with yellow eyes.
The Witcher season 4: Everything we know about Hemsworth's debut on The Continent
Latest in The Witcher
A close-up of a scared young girl's face as she stumbles through the woods, a crown of twigs and flowers upon her head.
CD Projekt says it's not using generative AI on The Witcher 4 because it's 'quite tricky when it comes to legal IP ownership'
Tub Geralt, just chilling in his tub.
The new Witcher novel is a prequel called Crossroads of Ravens where Geralt is 18 years old, and it'll be available in English in September
The Witcher 3
Geralt will definitely appear in The Witcher 4, Doug Cockle confirms (again): 'I can't wait to see what they do'
bathtub geralt
I regret to inform you that The Witcher 3 is a decade old this year, but you can forget about unceasing mortality for a few hours at the anniversary concerts
Geralt thumbs up
Witcher author reveals that Geralt is 61 years old in The Witcher 3, with even weirder ramifications for Henry Cavill's Netflix performance
A still from the cinematic reveal trailer of The Witcher 4, showing unt Witcher
CD Projekt had to nerf Ciri for The Witcher 4 after she fully unlocked her spacetime teleportation powers in the previous game: 'Something totally happened in-between'
Latest in News
A long bendy arm stealing money from people in a subway car
'You're a very long arm. You steal things. It's a comedy game,' explains developer of comedy game where you steal things with a very long arm
The heroes are attacked by monsters
Pillars of Eternity is getting turn-based combat to mark its 10th anniversary, and that means PC Gamer editors will soon be arguing about combat mechanics again
Image of Ronaldo from Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves trailer
It doesn't really make sense that soccer star Ronaldo is now a Fatal Fury character, but if you follow the money you can see how it happened
Junah beginning a battle in Metaphor: ReFantazio.
Today's RPG fans are 'very sensitive to feeling like they wasted time' when they die, says Metaphor: ReFantazio battle planner—but Atlus still made combat hard anyway
Image of Cersei Lanniser from Game of Thrones: Kingsroad Steam early access trailer
A new Game of Thrones RPG is coming to Steam today with a cast of 'familiar faces,' which is good because it's really the only way to tell it's a GoT game at all
The new Prime Asset featured in the upcoming update for the Outlast Trials.
The Outlast Trials puts its already paranoid players under surveillance for a time-limited story event
More about the witcher
A close-up of a scared young girl's face as she stumbles through the woods, a crown of twigs and flowers upon her head.

CD Projekt says it's not using generative AI on The Witcher 4 because it's 'quite tricky when it comes to legal IP ownership'
Tub Geralt, just chilling in his tub.

The new Witcher novel is a prequel called Crossroads of Ravens where Geralt is 18 years old, and it'll be available in English in September
Blue Protocol players dancing minutes before the game closes forever

What will we do at the end of the world? If MMOs are any indication: mostly what we already do, plus a lot of dancing

See more latest
Most Popular
A long bendy arm stealing money from people in a subway car
'You're a very long arm. You steal things. It's a comedy game,' explains developer of comedy game where you steal things with a very long arm
The heroes are attacked by monsters
Pillars of Eternity is getting turn-based combat to mark its 10th anniversary, and that means PC Gamer editors will soon be arguing about combat mechanics again
Image of Ronaldo from Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves trailer
It doesn't really make sense that soccer star Ronaldo is now a Fatal Fury character, but if you follow the money you can see how it happened
Junah beginning a battle in Metaphor: ReFantazio.
Today's RPG fans are 'very sensitive to feeling like they wasted time' when they die, says Metaphor: ReFantazio battle planner—but Atlus still made combat hard anyway
Image of Cersei Lanniser from Game of Thrones: Kingsroad Steam early access trailer
A new Game of Thrones RPG is coming to Steam today with a cast of 'familiar faces,' which is good because it's really the only way to tell it's a GoT game at all
The new Prime Asset featured in the upcoming update for the Outlast Trials.
The Outlast Trials puts its already paranoid players under surveillance for a time-limited story event
A Viera looking confused in Final Fantasy 14.
Old armor continues to fall victim to Final Fantasy 14's bizarre two-channel dye system, unless you're super into changing the colour of teeny-tiny eyelets: 'Why even bother at this point?'
Otter AI Meeting Agent
As if your work meetings weren't already fun enough, now Otter has a new all-hearing AI agent that remembers everything anyone has said and can join in the discussion
Starfield: Shattered Space
By the time Bethesda was on Starfield, you'd 'basically get in trouble' for breaking schedule, says former dev: 'A lot of the great stuff within Skyrim came from having the freedom to do what you want'
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide Ogryn
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide adds a psychic horde murderzone mode and makes Ogryns even smashier