CD Projekt RED announced The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — Remastered on Aug. 26, setting a Sept. 29, 2026 release date for PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch 2, with pre-orders already open.
The upgrade scope is broad: improved visuals and performance, revamped combat, new witcher sign effects, enhanced monster behaviors, a full skill tree overhaul, transmogrification (a system letting players change gear appearance independently of stats), updated mount handling, new finishers and an expanded photo mode.
CD Projekt RED is co-developing with Yigsoft, a team that previously worked on The Witcher 3. Using a studio already familiar with the codebase reduces the risk of introducing new bugs into a decade-old title.
The studio also teased Songs of the Past, a paid 2027 expansion set in Letten, a rural region built around harvests and festivals. The expansion introduces enemies new to the franchise and is being co-developed with Fool's Theory, whose leadership includes original Witcher 3 veterans.
Existing Witcher 3 owners received free access to the two original expansions—Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine—starting Aug. 26. The move lowers the barrier to engagement before the remaster launch without requiring a purchase.
The most significant commercial move is a distribution partnership with Blizzard Entertainment. The Witcher 3 — Remastered and Songs of the Past will be available on Battle.net, Blizzard's PC gaming platform. Buyers purchasing the expansion through Battle.net unlock a Geralt-inspired skin in Diablo 4.
The Battle.net deal reflects disciplined channel strategy. CD Projekt RED's GOG platform competes directly with Steam and Epic Games Store for PC sales. Distributing through Battle.net reaches Blizzard's active player base without cannibalizing GOG sales. The Diablo 4 cross-promotion incentivizes Blizzard to market Witcher to its own users—a low-cost marketing channel for CD Projekt RED ahead of the September launch.
The original The Witcher 3 released in May 2015 and has sold more than 50 million copies across all platforms. An 11-year gap between release and remaster is unusually long for an actively played title still widely available. The Nintendo Switch 2 native version is the primary commercial driver: it opens the title to a hardware install base that did not exist in 2015 and that the technically limited original Switch version served poorly.
The 2027 expansion timeline creates two distinct revenue events—the remaster in late 2026 and the expansion in 2027—spreading monetization across fiscal years and giving the studio runway to develop Songs of the Past without same-day launch pressure. The company did not specify whether the remaster will carry a premium price or be positioned as a free upgrade for existing owners on certain platforms.
