CDPR launched a free remaster of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt at the end of September and it fundamentally changed the commercial course of the game. The remaster triggered a multi-fold breaking of the peak concurrent players record on Steam. It showed that even classic titles can easily top modern commercial charts.
CDPR director admits surprise at player engagement levels following free remaster launch
The level of engagement is high, showing that remaster of quality can "resurrect" long-running franchises without hardware upgrades. Now, both those who used to ignore the game and those who played it before are starting to get back to the game. And, more so, they're starting to enjoy the game again.
The remaster is aimed both at PC and console players. It offers an improved version of the classic open-world RPG. According to CDPR director Michal Nowakowski, they didn't expect so much engagement from the remaster by itself.
The company was saving this level of player interest for the story add-on that's coming soon in the future. The name of the upcoming add-on is Songs of the Past. Its premiere will take place in 2027. The shift of focus is a rather curious decision, as it shows that remaster may act as a sort of gateway to new content instead of being the finish line by itself.
As statistics show, the effect of the remaster goes far beyond just the "rush" during its premiere. Even after the autumn discounts that we see every year, the game continues selling better than it did before the remaster. These figures make the developer quite happy.
They say that the number of players surpassed the expected inner projections. All of this stability in terms of sales and the number of players who are active online means that the new story add-ons can be based on solid ground.
What will happen next? Now, CDPR will shift their focus to The Witcher 4, which is currently being worked on. The new main part of the game will feature new story and gameplay mechanics to show its uniqueness compared to the remaster.
As for the new story add-on that's coming soon (the mentioned Songs of the Past), it's going to be a continuation of the current story. And the premiere will happen before the release of the next big game. The company will launch the add-on in 2027. There's a clear plan for the franchise's development.
The popularity of the remaster proved that the design concept of The Witcher 3 is still relevant. That's why CDPR now has even more players who are active online. They'll be a good basis for supporting the franchise for the next 10 years.
CDPR is so sure in the success of the remaster that they can focus on The Witcher 4 without having to excessively monetize legacy content. So, we can wait for a stable supply of new story content until the next main part comes out.
Source: IXBT
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