While a lot of the Witchery chatter so far this year has been about an extra Witcher 3 DLC rumoured to be in the works, one of the projects we know for sure CD Projekt have on the go is a remake of the first Witcher game. Ahead of the remake's arrival, a key dev on the 2007 RPG has just finished a developer commentary run through it, which makes for a great way to pass some time between Witchery things.
In a recent interview, Geralt's voice actor Doug Cockle offered his personal ranking of romances in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. His take differs considerably from the usual fan debate over Geralt's romance options in the game by placing a comparatively minor The Witcher 3 character ahead of the two entrenched favorites.
The long-awaited remake of the first Witcher game is seemingly on the back-burner as CD Projekt Red has reportedly added support studio Fool's Theory to the massive development effort of The Witcher 4. Moreover, there have been recurring rumours of an all-new Witcher 3 DLC made by the same studio. Meanwhile, original lead story designer Artur Ganszyniec has been revisiting Geralt of Rivia's first big RPG adventure, giving longtime fans all-new insights into the game's making.
There are strong indications that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt will receive a new DLC, reportedly focusing on Zerrikania, with sources from IGN Poland and PPE.pl supporting this anticipation for 2026.
It's been a busy year so far for a game that's over 10 years old. If you've not been following, last week, we asked "is there really going to be a new Witcher 3 expansion this year?", responding to comments from Borys Nieśpielak, a trusted source of Polish games industry information. Following his remarks, a Noble Securities analyst then added fuel to the fire this week.
Netflix has today confirmed that the fifth and final season of The Witcher will air on the streaming service this year. It follows Season 4 in rapid succession - that series having launched at the end of October last year.
The analyst who forecasted a Witcher 3 expansion release in 2026 has told me they're "100 percent certain [CD Projekt Red] will release significant new content this year".
More than five years after its troubled original release, Cyberpunk 2077 continues to be one of the most relevant open-world RPGs of the modern era. Much of its success comes from the believable relationships it quickly establishes between its key characters and V, but the pre-disaster prologue with preem choom Jackie was never meant to go on for too long.
Polish developer Rebel Wolves has unveiled the main musical theme for its promising dark fantasy role-playing The Blood of Dawnwalker, and surprise surprise, it sounds a lot like The Witcher 3.
The first week of January 2026 finds CD Projekt Red in the middle of a structural overhaul. After years of quiet work following the Phantom Liberty launch, the studio cleared its plate. They sold GOG, moved their entire tech stack to Unreal Engine 5, and started pushing The Witcher into a permanent release cycle.
CD PROJEKT co-founder Michał Kiciński acquires GOG for 25M dollars
For players, this protects the DRM-free mission. Kiciński wants GOG to return to its original purpose: reviving classic games and ensuring digital ownership. The studio will still launch future titles like The Witcher 4 on GOG, but the storefront can now focus on its Preservation Program without needing to compete with Steam’s scale or answer to quarterly earnings reports.
The Witcher 3 “Bridge” Expansion: Ciri and the Lynx
This DLC connects the original trilogy to the new saga. It focuses on Ciri after the main game ends. The marketing features the School of the Lynx medallion, a new Witcher order that represents a break from the dying traditions of Kaer Morhen. Playing as Ciri lets us see the founding of this school, which positions her as the anchor for Project Polaris.
Ciri likely as main character of Witcher 4 CD Project Red
The internal Warsaw team isn’t developing this. Fool’s Theory—the studio remaking The Witcher 1—is handling it. This team includes many lead developers who built the original Wild Hunt. They’re using the familiar REDengine to deliver a standalone-style expansion (projected at $30) while the main CDPR staff stays focused on the new engine for The Witcher 4.
Technical Shift: The Unreal Engine 5 Revolution
The transition to Unreal Engine 5.x is the foundation for everything CDPR plans between now and 2030. The State of Unreal tech demo showed how this shift affects actual gameplay.
Nanite Foliage means the forests of Kovir (the rumored setting for Polaris) use high-fidelity geometry. Trees and grass no longer pop in as you get closer.
CD Projekt Red shifting to Unreal Engine 5 focus on game rather than engine
Lumen Lighting makes all lighting dynamic. If you cast a Sign or walk past a light source, the shadows and reflections update instantly without the performance hit of traditional ray-tracing.
FastGeo Streaming is a tool CDPR co-developed with Epic Games. It streams massive amounts of data instantly, which matters for the dense urban environments planned for the Cyberpunk sequel.
The 2026–2030 Roadmap
The current plan splits development geographically so The Witcher and Cyberpunk don’t fight for the same resources.
Project
Lead Team
Current Status
Expected Release
W3 Expansion
Fool’s Theory
Finishing Touches
May 2026
Polaris (W4)
CDPR Warsaw
Full Production
Late 2027
Sirius (Multiplayer)
CDPR / Molasses
Conceptual
2028
Orion (CP2)
CDPR Boston
Pre-production
2030
Project Polaris: The New Saga
Over 400 people in Warsaw are working on Polaris. It starts a new trilogy that CDPR plans to release over six years. By using a shared UE5 technical base, they expect to release The Witcher 5 and 6 much faster than previous sequels.
The Witcher 4 known as Project-Polaris
Project Orion: The Future of Night City
The Boston hub is now home to the Cyberpunk sequel. Lead designers from Phantom Liberty are building the team in North America. They want to integrate multiplayer directly into the core experience this time, turning Night City into a social hub instead of just a single-player playground. The game entered pre-production in May 2025 with an expected release no earlier than 2030.
The DRM-free PC game store GOG has been acquired by CD Projekt and GOG co-founder Michał Kiciński, branching it off from the CD Projekt Group and going private.
There’s no plans to change GOG’s business model, which continues to focus on providing a source for classic games, now with a dedicated preservation programme to ensure a select library continue to run on modern systems, and to sell all titles (old and new) without DRM.
While now independent of CD Projekt Group, they have immediately penned a deal to ensure that CDPR games remain on GOG going forward.
So, why the change? Was GOG in trouble? All parties say that no, it was doing well and is profitable on its own terms, but the CDPR want to focus fully on developing games.
“With our focus now fully on an ambitious development roadmap and expanding our franchises with new high-quality products, we felt this was the right time for this move,” said Michał Nowakowski, Joint CEO of CD Projekt. “For a long time now, GOG has been operating independently. Now it’s going into very good hands — we are convinced that with the support of Michał Kiciński, one of GOG’s co-founders, its future will be full of great projects and successes.”
Kiciński was a co-founder of both CD Projekt in 1994, and then also their digital storefront Good Old Games (rebranded simply as GOG) in 2008. He left the company at the end of 2010, but has remained one of its largest shareholders, with 9.99%, and his brother is a chair on the board.
In the announcement, he said, “CD Projekt and GOG share the same roots and values: freedom, independence, and a genuine sense of ownership. I believe that CD Projekt, with its exceptional AAA games, will stand, as always, behind the GOG offering — making GOG the best place on the planet to purchase The Witcher and Cyberpunk games, both existing titles and the new ones we all anticipate so much.
“GOG and Michał Kiciński are aligned by a shared belief that games should live forever,” said Maciej Gołębiewski, Managing Director of GOG. “In a market that’s getting more crowded, more locked-in, and forgets classic games at an increasing pace, we’re doubling down on what only GOG does: reviving classics, keeping them playable on modern PCs, and helping great games find their audience over time.”
The upcoming unannounced The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt DLC seems to be the new worst-kept secret in gaming. Details about the new content began to surface last year, revealing that it will bridge the gap between the 2015 RPG and The Witcher 4. The latest report reveals even more details about the DLC, including where it will be set.
What are the new details for the upcoming unannounced The Witcher 3 DLC?
In a new report from IGN Poland, it is revealed that the publication knew about The Witcher 3 DLC years ago, but did not report on it as they only had information from one source. However, now that it seems all but confirmed, they are sharing what they were told about the upcoming DLC.
“We have a confession to make. We’ve known about work on a potential new expansion behind the scenes for a very long time,” reads IGN’s article. We don’t want to reveal exact dates to protect our sources, but the topic first appeared on our radar years ago. Our source — someone who has repeatedly provided us with reliable, insider information — confirmed directly that a new expansion was in the works, albeit at a very early stage.”
“At the time, we were hearing signs that the team was fascinated by a completely different destination than the frozen north,” the article continues. “There were many indications that the developers were keenly interested in exploring Zerrikania.”
For those unaware, in The Witcher series, Zerrikania is a desert region located to the east of the Northern Kingdoms and the Nilfgaardian Empire. Although the article provides some logic behind Zerrikania being the location for The Witcher 3 DLC, they do not that this information was given to them years ago and development could have changed since then.
“However, we must remember that years have passed since we first learned about a potential DLC set in the desert, and concepts in game development sometimes evolve,” reads the article. “Perhaps the new DLC, after evolving the concept, will take us to the same regions as The Witcher 4.”
Will The Witcher 3 DLC be set in the deserts of Zerrikania or the snowy mountains of Kovir? We’ll just have to wait and see.
Gerry from the River rides up to a noticeboard for the second time this week. Between contracts, he scans the pinned scraps for a fresh job to take on, only for his eyes to rest on another particularly peculiar bit of prose. 'There's a mysterious extra DLC for The Witcher 3 in the works', this bit of paper claims. 'Oh yeah, I heard about that,' Gerry's brain responds. 'Also, it reportedly might be set in Zerrikania,' says the paper. 'Ooh, that's new,' the Witcherman's noggin thinks.
No, I'm not busy. Ignore the very famous actor acting moody in the corner, he'll be quiet if you pay him no mind. Also, do like I am and just pretend my holo-phone doesn't have a million urgent messages about some relic sitting in its inbox. Just sit here on the sofa, in this Cyberpunk 2077 flat, and watch as the big flying thing with Dogtown's military dictator's face on it floats between my futuristic kitchen and lounge, thanks to a new mod.
Cyberpunk 2077's narrative really kicks into gear when, after a job gone wrong, metal-infused merc protagonist V realises they're now living in the shadow of a Keanu Reeves-shaped clock. Despite this, you're free to while away hours doing a million things other than confronting your urgent mortality problem. It's something even CD Projekt themselves have joked about.
Gerry from the River rides up to a noticeboard. Between contracts, he scans the pinned scraps for a fresh job to take on, only for his eyes to rest on one particularly peculiar bit of prose. 'There's a mysterious extra DLC for The Witcher 3 in the works', this bit of paper claims. 'Oh, you mean that anniversary patch which was delayed last year?' Gerry's mutant brain asks in response. 'No, seemingly not that one,' the sentient scrap replies.
Gerry grumbles to himself in mild confusion. The RPG's a decade old at this point, and while CD's love of relentlessly adding more stuff to their games is well-documented, they're surely busy focusing on the likes of The Witcher 4 and Cyberpunk 2?
If a CEO says their company is going to do that something sounds ridiculously unrealistic, or borderline unachievable if you actually take a second to think about it, you can probably assume that this is for the ears of shareholders. With that said, CD Projekt Red recently held a financial call (thanks, IGN), where co-CEO Michał Nowakowski made some comments about The Witcher 4… and The Witcher 5 and 6, all of which are apparently planned to be released within a six-year period. Right!
So, an ambitious Cyberpunk 2077 multiplayer mod called CyberMP has been in development for a little while now, and the folks behind it have just concluded its "most stable and successful" closed beta test yet. Tweaks to key elements like vehicle and player synchronisation, as well as a new interface and custom lobbies went down well with testers, while technical gremlins were minimal.
If this is your first time hearing about CyberMP, it's a project that's currently being worked on by a team of 10, having first come to prominence last summer. Its goal is to offer multi-person deathmatches and races to Cyberpunkers, rather than full GTA Online-style co-op missioning or gigging.
