The Witcher 3 next-gen edition has officially been delayed for both PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, CD Projekt RED has announced.
Work on the glammed up RPG epic is now being handled by CDPR internally, with Saber Interactive being taken off the project. Why? This is due to the studio in question being based in Russia (though Saber has teams elsewhere). With companies seeking to cut ties with the country amid the ongoing war and atrocities in Ukraine, this has a direct impact on The Witcher 3 and its eagerly awaited debut on new consoles.
Originally slated for Q2 2022, CDPR didn’t give a new release date with the project being put on hold indefinitely. Here’s the full statement:
We have decided to have our in-house development team conduct the remaining work on the next-gen version of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. We are currently evaluating the scope of work to be done and thus have to postpone Q2 release until further notice. We’ll update you as soon as we can. Thank you for your understanding.
It’s unclear just how much of an impact this will have in terms of the release timeline. Saber was tagged in due to its existing knowledge of The Witcher 3, its crew having wrangled the RPG onto the Nintendo Switch.
As keen as we are to see Geralt strut his stuff on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, CD Projekt RED won’t be rushing to complete the game. Although it’s in a lot better shape now, Cyberpunk 2077 was broken mess upon release back in 2020, resulting in a mega backlash from gamers.
Looking further ahead, CDPR recently announced its next Witcher game, which will be running on Unreal Engine 5. The Polish company is touting this as a new Witcher saga, correcting those who have been calling it The Witcher 4. Meanwhile, season 3 of the Netflix TV show has begun filming.
Source: Twitter (@witchergame)
Dominic L
Didn’t the Series X version have some kind of upgrade already? Or did I imagine that?