Netflix rejuvenates The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, sets new record on Steam

By Aaron Mamiit Published January 5, 2020

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has set a new record on Steam for concurrent players, largely due to renewed interest in the game after the release of The Witcher series on Netflix starring Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia, Anya Chalotra as Yennefer, and Freya Allan as Ciri.

Netflix rolled out all eight episodes of the first season of The Witcher on December 20, but a month before it premiered, Netflix had already renewed the series for a second season. After several days, The Witcher claimed the title as the biggest show worldwide, taking the throne away from Disney+’s The Mandalorian.

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The popularity of the show, which was based on the dark fantasy novels by Andrzej Sapkowski, has rejuvenated the games based on the same material, particularly The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Originally launched in May 2015 for the PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One before being ported to the Nintendo Switch last October, the RPG has soared to new heights on Steam.

According to Steam Charts, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt set a new record of 103,329 concurrent players, as the game broke through the 100,000-mark for the first time since its launch more than four years ago. The data reveals that interest in the RPG steadily increased since The Witcher was rolled out on Netflix, eventually breaking the game’s previous record of 92,268 concurrent players that it set when it was first released.

Meanwhile, as of January 5, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was in the top 10 games by current player count on Steam at 63,986 players, landing at 7th place just behind Destiny 2 in an impressive feat for a game that is more than four years old.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was also added to the Xbox Game Pass before Netflix released The Witcher, so subscribers who got hooked on the series will be able to play as Geralt of Rivia in the massive RPG.

Fans of the franchise have a lot to look forward to, though the second season of The Witcher on Netflix is not expected to arrive until early 2021. Meanwhile, CD Projekt Red inked a new deal with Sapkowski, ending a feud over compensation and hinting at future projects set in The Witcher universe.

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A new Witcher trilogy and Cyberpunk game are in development at CD Projekt Red

Geralt drawing his sword in The Witcher 3 promo art.

CD Projekt Red announced several long-term projects, which include a new Witcher trilogy, a Cyberpunk 2077 sequel, and a new IP.

The Warsaw-based developer gave a presentation on Tuesday giving an update on how the company has grown since Q1 2022, the performance for the original Witcher trilogy and Cyberpunk 2077 (they sold over 65 million and 20 million copies, respectively), and what its strategy will be to continue its growth going forward. During that presentation, it unveiled the three new Witcher games under the working titles Project Sirius, Project Polaris, and Project Canis Majoris, and a Cyberpunk game with the working title Project Orion.

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The Witcher 3’s long-delayed upgrade is finally coming

Geralt from The Witcher 3 promo material.

The current-gen edition of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, which will upgrade the game on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, will now launch in the fourth quarter of 2022 according to a tweet from developer CD Projekt Red.

This comes on the seventh anniversary of the original game's release in May 2015. It's still unclear when the current-gen version will launch, but we can expect it by the end of the year -- hopefully in time for the holidays.

Gaming

CD Projekt Red isn’t slowing down, for better or worse

Ciri looking over her shoulder in The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt

The past year-and-a-half havs not been kind to Polish developer CD Projekt Red. The studio -- part of CD Projekt Group, a company that also owns the online games marketplace GOG -- faced enormous criticism with the release of Cyberpunk 2077 and has since been busy fixing the game. In the time since, the studio has faced setback after setback, with its announcements leaning more toward a project being delayed rather than good news for fans.

Outwardly though, the company is appearing to shake off the dust of Cyberpunk 2077. While its short-term ambitions are pointed exclusively at past releases, the studio has future plans. It's looking forward -- and in a big way. A recent earnings report from the company revealed that it's working on numerous unannounced projects, one of which is being co-developed by another studio, The Molasses Flood, and will be based on one of CD Projekt Red's franchises.
Flooding the pipeline
CD Projekt Red's current content plans seek to reinforce what the studio already has out there. Cyberpunk 2077 recently received a current-gen update and will get its first major story expansion next year. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is also set to get its own current-gen update, though its release date has been postponed indefinitely following CD Projekt Red's decision to bring development in-house.