CD Projekt Red targets first quarter of 2022 for the Cyberpunk 2077's next gen console update and second quarter for the Witcher 3's remaster
Today, on October 20 2021 CD Projekt Red posted a short message on their social media accounts announcing what many of us already expected.
Dear all,
We have an important update regarding next generation updates for Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt for consoles and PC. Based on recommendations supplied by teams supervising the development of both games, we decided to postpone their releases until 2022.
Our current target for Cyberpunk 2077 is the first quarter of 2022, and second quarter of 2022 for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
Apologies for the extended wait, but we want to make it right.
My first reaction was, of course: “noooo?”
But this is the most logical step they could take if they want to redeem themselves after the incredibly problematic launch and first year of Cyberpunk 2077.
Earlier in 2021 the polish studio revealed a roadmap for Cyberpunk 2077‘s post-launch update schedule. It featured a un-specified number of small and large updates and patches. It also listed the next gen update for consoles as coming up some time in the second half of 2021.
We are now in Cyberpunk 2077 Update 1.31, which released about a month ago.
We haven’t seen all of the DLCs promised yet, but the developers did include the first three DLCs with Cyberpunk 2077 Update 1.3, which released in August.
Not long before that we also get an updated roadmap image featuring not only the Cyberpunk 2077’s next gen update, but the similar update that the studio is preparing to release for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt!
From this more recent roadmap the studio delivered everything apart from the next gen updates for both titles.
Today’s announcement was to be expected, because we have been hearing rumors from some time now about a delay coming. This post just made them all official.
So, when exactly can we expect the Cyberpunk 2077 and Witcher 3 next gen updates in 2022?
Cyberpunk 2077’s target window is first quarter of 2022. Nothing big and important is usually released in January by default. I expect to see the update some time in late March. We should start seeing more frequent updates and hints at a possible release date around that time.
The Witcher 3’s next gen update will include massive graphical overhaul for both PC and consoles. It is targeting a release date in the second quarter of 2022. This means that we can expect it to be done some time in June.
Given the bad feeling CD Projekt Red left in many of its loyal fans with the unstable and problematic launch of Cyberpunk 2077 for consoles (and PC, but to a much lesser extend), I don’t think they will be afraid to keep postponing the release dates for the next gen updates until they feel more than 100% comfortable with the product.
I would not be surprised if they release some DLCs early in 2022 for Cyberpunk 2077 and then announce another delay for the next gen projects. This way we will have something positive to help mitigate the negative news.
And in December we will have more than enough Witcher action as the second season of The Witcher Netflix series is about to premiere. If you are a Star Wars fan The Book of Boba Fett on Disney Plus would also be landing this Holiday season.
So if we can’t play out favorite games, we can at least watch our favorite franchises on the small screen at home!
Only time will tell! And we’ll ne here, waiting!
