A new statement from CD Projekt Red’s joint CEO indicates that expansions likely won’t be on the table for the upcoming trilogy of The Witcher games. This may be disappointing to fans of The Witcher franchise, but the nature of the games’ development makes the statement understandable.
The continuation of The Witcher franchise was revealed back in 2022, with news later revealing it would kick off the start of a new trilogy. The next game in the series will move on from series protagonist Geralt of Rivia, with The Witcher 4 instead putting Ciri in the lead role. While Geralt will still appear, with Doug Cockle reprising the role, Ciri has been recast, and will be played by actress Ciara Berkeley this time around.
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CD Projekt Red CEO Talks Possibility of Future Witcher Expansions
During the latest CD Projekt Red earnings call, the joint CEO, Michal Nowakowski, talked about the possibility of The Witcher 4 and beyond receiving expansions, as The Witcher 3 has. Specifically, the question pointed to the “ambitious project pipeline” planned for the franchise, and whether the company saw room for developing expansions for the new trilogy. The CEO responded that the team’s plans are indeed ambitious, and that it will already be quite difficult to release all three Witcher games within a six-year span, as CD Projekt Red intends. While he didn’t offer a concrete “no” to the question, the CEO noted “it would be difficult” to do so, so fans shouldn’t hold their breath for significant DLC to The Witcher 4, 5, and 6.
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The goal is indeed ambitious for CD Projekt Red. Releasing three major games over the course of six years is a high bar to clear for most studios, and all the moreso when looking at CD Projekt Red’s history. For example, the development of Cyberpunk 2077 kicked off its full development period in 2016, and launched 2020, in a notably bug-riddled state. Similarly, the development of The Witcher 3 took about three and a half years. However, CD Projekt Red has added a number of devs to work on the new games, which will surely help. Fans of the franchise are hopeful that the deadlines are met while still delivering a solid experience comparable to the original Witcher trilogy.
With that said, there’s still a chance that expansions could arrive someday, but it would likely be at the tail-end of the new trilogy. Once The Witcher 4, 5, and 6 are released, the studio could theoretically work on expansions at its leisure, with fewer pressing expectations following that six year window. The Witcher 3 got its first DLC the same year that the base game launched for most platforms, with its Blood and Wine expansion releasing a year later. However, now The Witcher 3 is getting a third expansion with Songs of the Past, which is launching 12 years after the base game. As a result, players could theoretically see an expansion in the years following The Witcher 6‘s release.
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Even if the next Witcher trilogy doesn’t get DLC or expansions, it’s an exciting time to be a fan of The Witcher franchise. However, gamers still have to wait a while for that trilogy to kick off. Piotr Nielubowicz, CD Projekt’s CFO, previously stated that The Witcher 4 won’t release prior to 2027, and no official release window for the game has been established yet.
Source: GamesRadar