The Witcher 3 is joining the growing list of games that plan to bridge the generational gap, and notably the 5-year-old title isn’t charging current-gen owners a penny to upgrade to the next-gen version.
CD Projekt Red announced today that it’s working on an upgraded version of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt that brings the game to the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X generation with some added visual and technical improvements.
In addition to promises of ray tracing and faster loading times for the base game and expansions alike, CDPR has also revealed that the souped-up next-generation version will be a free upgrade for anyone that already owns the game on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, or even PC.
Even half a decade after its release, The Witcher 3 remains a top earner for CD Projekt. While its possible the November launch of CDPR’s Cyberpunk 2077 will finally dethrone The Witcher 3 in terms of revenue, this announcement gives the saga a chance to push forward even after players start transitioning over to new Xbox and PlayStation consoles later this year.
More and more studios are announcing next generation overhauls for their current generation (or, in the case of Grand Theft Auto V, last generation) games as we near the Holiday 2020 new console debut. In some cases, studios are moving forward with pay-to-upgrade or even free upgrade pathways for those re-releases, though some studios like Control dev Remedy Entertainment have received some criticism over the announced upgrade requirements (via The Verge).