CD Projekt says The Witcher 3’s new-gen upgrade isn’t in ‘development hell’

CD Projekt has stressed that development of the upcoming new-gen upgrade for The Witcher 3 isn’t struggling as badly as some media reports claim.

The publisher stated on Wednesday that the new-gen versions had been delayed again, and that development had been brought in-house to complete the project.

However, in an investors call made on Thursday (as transcribed by PC Gamer), senior vice president of business development Michał Nowakowski stressed that the game wasn’t in “development hell”.

“I’ve been looking at the headlines that popped up here and there over the internet, and I’ve seen one that really drew my attention, which is ‘Witcher 3 next-gen delayed indefinitely,’ which sounds like the game is in some sort of development hell,” Nowakowski stated.

“I want to state this is not the fact. There’s been a lot of insinuations that we’re going to launch, like, June next year or something like that. That’s completely not the case.

“Everything we’re saying is – we have taken the development of the game in-house. The game is going to be finished in-house. We’re evaluating our time, that requires a bit of investigation. That’s all we’re saying.

“Nobody’s saying the game is delayed [with] some monumental time gap ahead of us. That’s as much as I can say about Witcher next-gen, but I really want to emphasize that fact.”

Witcher 3’s new-gen release was originally scheduled for last year, but in October it was delayed to the second quarter of 2022, before being delayed again on Wednesday (though a new launch window wasn’t announced).

The PS5 and Xbox Series X/S editions of the game were being developed externally by Saber Interactive, which also previously handled the game’s Nintendo Switch port.

Further reading

Witcher 3’s new-gen release has been delayed again as CD Projekt brings development in-house

Saber Interactive had previously been handling development

However, development has now been moved in-house, with CD Projekt stating on Wednesday: “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.”

When it’s released, the game will be available as a standalone purchase for PC, Xbox Series X/S and PS5, and as a free update for players who already own it on PC, Xbox One and PS4. The title will also include DLC inspired by the Netflix series.