The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has sold over 50 million copies worldwide, publisher CD Projekt Red confirmed. The ridiculous feat, combined with the overall sales of the franchise, which includes 2007’s The Witcher and The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, makes it one of the most successful series of all time, with over 75 million units sold. The Witcher 3 now ranks ninth on the list of the best-selling titles in history, just short of Red Dead Redemption 2, which has sold 53 million copies. Those numbers are expected to grow in the coming years, largely bolstered by the newly released next-gen update, which brings ray-tracing support, improved performance on consoles, and a slew of quality-of-life changes.
“This shows the tremendous strength of the franchise,” Piotr Nielubowicz, CFO, CD Projekt Red said in a video summarising the company’s Q1 financial results. “This makes us even more excited with what the future holds, and with our upcoming projects set in the Witcher universe.” The studio currently has a brand-new Witcher trilogy in the works and plans to release it within a six-year period, after the first one — codenamed Witcher Polaris — drops. The first of the said saga was unveiled in March last year with a snowy key art to go along. CD Projekt Red confirmed that it would be ditching its in-house engine for Unreal Engine 5. Of course, the sequels in the trilogy will benefit from the groundwork laid out in the first game, hence the plan doesn’t seem unrealistic for the team.
The School of the Wolf is growing! ? Over 50 million people joined Geralt of Rivia on his Path of finding Ciri and defeating the Wild Hunt!
Thank you for your enormous support over the years! ?? pic.twitter.com/lhMHmgF34z
— The Witcher (@witchergame) May 29, 2023
The studio will continue gaining support from Epic Games for its full-blown remake of the first Witcher game. Codenamed Canis Majoris, the reimagining will take an open-world approach, while charting the same story as the original 2007 game, which saw the gruff monster hunter Geralt of Rivia on a quest to regain his memories. And while it did receive a remaster with new models and general stability, this would be the first time CD Projekt Red is remaking a game from its portfolio. Also, there’s the multiplayer spin-off title — codenamed Sirius — which underwent an internal overhaul, earlier this month. Its lead developer The Molasses Flood laid off 29 employees, citing a developmental restart to define a new framework for the game. Indeed, a story mode will be at the core of The Witcher multiplayer game.
We’ll also be hearing about CD Projekt Red’s other big title, Cyberpunk 2077, soon at the Summer Game Fest — specifically, regarding the Phantom Liberty expansion, which stars Idris Elba (The Suicide Squad) as Solomon Reed, an FIA Agent for the New United States of America. The presentation has been included in the Play Days category, which is a special invite-only preview event for media and influencers. Geoff Keighley’s Summer Game Fest kicks off June 9 at 12:30am IST in India/ June 8 at 12pm PT in the US, live from the YouTube Theatre in Los Angeles. The event will be available to stream on all major live-streaming platforms, including YouTube, Twitch, Twitter, and TikTok.
The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, and Nintendo Switch.
