The Witcher player count jumps on the back of Netflix show’s release

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has seen a significant increase in players coinciding with the release of Netflix’s adaptation of the fantasy series.

The game attracted an estimated one million players across all platforms in December, several hundreds of thousands more than it has at any point in the past two years, according to player engagement website PlayTracker.

The first season of Netflix’s The Witcher launched on December 20 and Wild Hunt subsequently hit 48,000 concurrent players on Steam, its highest total since the May 2016 release of the game’s final DLC, the Blood and Wine expansion.

The original Witcher game reached over 5,000 concurrent players on Steam, almost triple its previous 2019 peak, while The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings topped over 3,000 concurrent players, doubling its previous 2019 high.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt also joined Xbox Game Pass for console on December 19.

The showrunner for Netflix’s The Witcher has said she’s mapped out stories for seven seasons which will take the franchise in a different direction to CD Projekt’s game series, which has helped popularise The Witcher with over 40 million sales across three titles.

Earlier this month, CD Projekt signed a new agreement with The Witcher author Andrzej Sapkowski which will see both parties continue to work together.

It grants CD Projekt extra rights, as well as confirming the company’s title to The Witcher intellectual property in video games, graphic novels, board games and merchandise.