PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X / S upgrade to The Witcher 3 not coming soon. In fact, CD Project Red announced today that it has been delayed indefinitely. This follows the decision to bring the development of the next generation version back into the house after it was previously in the hands of Saber Interactive’s Russian office.
“We have decided to let our in-house development team carry out the remaining work on the next generation of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt“CDPR wrote on Twitter on Wednesday. “We are currently evaluating the scope of the work to be carried out and therefore need to postpone the release of Q2 until further notice.”
Announced again September 2020PS5 and Xbox Series X / S upgrade to The Witcher 3 promised a “series of visual and technical improvements – including beam tracking and faster loading times.” CDPR then confirmed that Saber Interactive, which somehow succeeded port game to Nintendo Switch in 2019, would lead the development of next-generation versions. “They already know our technology very well,” CDPR president Adam Kiciński told investors at the time.
While Saber Interactive is headquartered in Florida, its first game studio was established in St. Louis. Petersburg, Russia, the same study as carried out work on the 4K and Switch versions of The Witcher 3. After the invasion of Ukraine in February, however, the CDPR became condemned Russia’s attack and halted the sale of its games and services in the country. Other companies followed suitwith some give up the ties to Russian game studios about the war.
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It is not clear whether CDPR’s decision to complete the next generation version of The Witcher 3 in-house is related to the war or the result of other considerations. Rumors of the change first surfaced among reports on Russian-language gaming sites late last month.
“We have no further comment or comment to make at this time,” a spokesman for CDPR said Kotaku when asked about the connection. Saber Interactive did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The PS5 and Xbox Series X / S version was supposed to arrive last year, but was delayed until this summer. After the harsh launch of Cyberpunk 2077, CDPR has since had its hands full continuing to repair, update and polish the game, which received a next-generation upgrade earlier this year. The company also recently revealed that it has already begun work on one new open world Witcher game using Unreal Engine 5.
From next year, The Witcher 3 will be eight years old, though it would not be the first to get a next-gen version so far after release. GTA V has now appeared on three consecutive generations of consoles despite its launch in 2013.