The Witcher 4 is targeting a 2028 release window, CD Projekt has confirmed.
The announcement comes via a special video message from Michał Nowakowski, Joint Chief Executive Officer, CD Projekt Red. Assuming CD Projekt hits 2028 for The Witcher 4, and the company sticks to its ambitious release strategy for this new The Witcher trilogy, we could see The Witcher 5 in 2031 and The Witcher 6 in 2034.
Nowakowski said CD Projekt will show off The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt expansion Songs of the Past at gamescom this week, including “a taste of its dark story” and the new content.
Eslewhere, Nowakowski confirmed The Witcher 4 will not be at gamescom 2026. “Our team here at CD Projekt Red HQ is hard at work on a brand new saga, one with Siri at the helm. We have more than 500 incredibly talented developers working to create something truly special for you. The Witcher 4 features a huge and immersive open world, intense and action-packed gameplay, and a deep, impactful story that we hope will stay with you for a long time. Simply put, this is our biggest, boldest, and most ambitious game to date.
“Now I know you’re eager to learn when it’s coming. That’s the question we’re hearing from you all the time. So while we’re not showing The Witcher 4 at the event, and we’re not ready to share an exact date, I can tell you this: The Witcher 4 is targeting a 2028 release window.
“I know it’s a bit of a wait and you’d love to play it sooner, but let the team cook. It will be worth the wait. Until then, there will be plenty more of The Witcher to come, including Songs of the Past when it launches in 2027. And you can be sure gamescom is also in our plans for the coming years.”
Songs of the Past is the third expansion for CD Projekt’s fantasy masterpiece, and is due out 12 years after the original game came out and 11 years after the much-loved second expansion, Blood and Wine. CD Projekt is co-developing the expansion with Fool’s Theory, a team comprising “industry veterans” who worked on The Witcher 3. Here’s what we know so far.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Songs of the Past first details:
- Songs of the Past is the third expansion for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
- It will launch in 2027 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC
- CD Projekt Red is co-developing Songs of the Past with Fool’s Theory
- Songs of the Past will return players to the role of legendary monster slayer Geralt of Rivia for a brand new adventure when it launches in 2027 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
CD Projekt has suggested Songs of the Past will help set the stage for the upcoming The Witcher 4. While telling a standalone story starring Geralt set after the events of The Witcher 3, the new adventure will also act as a prologue of sorts to The Witcher 4.
Speaking to investors in May, Nowakowski was questioned on how the expansion is being positioned in the franchise, why it will launch in 2027 after previously being expected this year, and whether any of CD Projekt’s new trilogy of The Witcher games will also receive expansions, as The Witcher 3 has.
“First and foremost, we really wanted to deliver a great experience to the fans, a really cool expansion that’s going to make people happy that they can come back to The Witcher 3 setting,” Nowakowski said, discussing why Songs of the Past was being made in the first place.
“Of course, indirectly, yes, it is a reminder [of the franchise for fans]. It is, in a way, a prologue, although it’s not a prologue in a verbatim way of [being] a prologue for the actual The Witcher 4. Yes, you can look at it as it’s a way to maintain certain chatter on The Witcher 3. All of those are side effects, additional side effects. The core thing for us, from our perspective, is really delivering a high-quality, fun experience to the existing fans of The Witcher.”
“We had a moment where our plans assumed that Songs of the Past would be released this year,” Nowakowski said, when questioned why the expansion was launching later than expected. “We decided together with the development team, that the game will be launching in 2027, to be honest, to achieve the best possible result from the consumer standpoint, which in the end, frankly speaking, is the only ultimate thing that really matters.”
During a livestream aimed at The Witcher fans, CD Projekt gave a few further hints on the expansion’s focus, teasing the importance of Geralt’s new third sword — as glimpsed in a recent piece of artwork released to celebrate a springtime festival. Geralt’s bard buddy Dandelion is also present.
“We won’t give too much away right now because we want you to experience it as you play,” senior community and social media manager Laura Beitzel teased during the 10th anniversary livestream designed to celebrate Blood and Wine.
“But as a few eagle-eyed people have already seen over the past 24 hours, there are some hints waiting for you on a very important evening in Witcher lore, Belleteyn Night, in our Belleteyn celebration that we shared a few weeks ago. So… keep looking for clues.”
Here, Beitzel is referencing a piece of artwork and a poem it posted on social media in April. It shows Geralt resting by a bonfire as Dandelion plays the lute while villagers dance. More importantly, though, it shows Geralt with a mysterious new sword — the same sword he’s also holding in Songs of the Past’s reveal artwork, which sports an unusual ornate curved crossguard.
“So yes, Geralt is holding a sword,” CD Projekt’s Amelia Korzycka continued, referencing Songs of the Past’s key artwork. “It is a very important sword for the story and you will get to know it when the game comes out. So a few more streams before that when [we] reveal it.”
Beitzel also discussed the size of the expansion. “Songs of the Past will be aligned with what you’re familiar with in Blood and Wine, and what you’ve come to experience and expect from us when we do our expansions,” Beitzel explained. “It’s an expansion, let’s make it clear.”
We also have confirmation that Songs of the Past will include more Gwent cards, and that CD Projekt was still working on cross-platform mod support for The Witcher 3, to launch at some point in the future.
CD Projekt has yet to show Songs of the Past off in any way since it announced the expansion in May, so I expect we’ll see a trailer and, hopefully, some gameplay at ONL on August 25. The show kicks off at 11am PT / 2pm ET / 7pm UK time / 8pm CEST.
The Witcher 3 recently hit an astonishing 65 million copies sold (it only seemed right that The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim hit the same sales milestone just a few months later).
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
