The Witcher 3 is considered one of the best games ever released. That’s been a while now. Still, the game is being worked on. Because a version that is going to make perfect use of the power offered by the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X needs to come out.
At least, that was the intention. The development of The Witcher 3 on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X has been outsourced by developer CD Projekt RED to Saber Interactive. This is an American company, but the studio that makes the game is based in St. Petersburg. And that, in turn, is in Russia.
The Witcher 3 is not coming out for now
Via Twitter, the developer announced that development of The Witcher 3 on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X will continue in-house. So that means it has been taken away from the Russian developer. It had been chosen to work with that party because they were also previously responsible for the port to the Nintendo Switch. And the so-called 4K version of the game was also made there.
Twitter won’t load because you didn’t give permission.
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. 1/2
– The Witcher (@witchergame) April 13, 2022
There’s no specific mention that development of The Witcher 3 on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X is being taken away from there because of the war Russia has started against Ukraine. But there’s a good chance it has to do with it. I can very well imagine that conflict playing extra for a Polish developer because it’s so close. In addition, the sanctions may simply make it difficult to cooperate with a Russian party. As a result, the new version has been postponed indefinitely.
Long in development
The Witcher 3 on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X was announced back in the fall of 2020. The game should feature several visual improvements, as well as take advantage of faster loading times. The game was actually supposed to come out last year, but due to the messy launch of Cyberpunk 2077, CD Projekt Red decided to take extra time to make sure the game transfers properly. And because of this choice, there’s a good chance we won’t see the game until sometime next year. Until then, we can watch the series on Netflix.