Within the wake of the announcement of The Witcher 3 Songs of the Previous, CD Projekt workers have taken to social media to insist it ought to be thought of an enlargement, somewhat than DLC — even utilizing an IGN interview with Cyberpunk star Idris Elba to hammer residence the purpose.
Yesterday, CD Projekt introduced the third enlargement to its vastly profitable fantasy role-playing recreation The Witcher 3. It’s due out in 2027, 12 years after the 60 million-selling The Witcher 3 got here out in 2015, and 11 years after the second enlargement, Blood and Wine, got here out in 2016. The Witcher 3’s first enlargement, Hearts of Stone, was launched in October 2015.
We don’t have a lot to go on, save an official description that confirms Songs of the Previous will return gamers to the position of legendary monster slayer Geralt of Rivia for a model new journey on PlayStation 5, Xbox Sequence X and S, and PC. That’s left a void for dialogue across the measurement and scope of Songs of the Previous, however all the pieces CD Projekt workers have stated following the announcement suggests followers can count on one thing fairly massive.
“Let me remind you the definition of the Enlargement,” Paweł Sasko, Affiliate Recreation Director on Cyberpunk 2 and former developer on Cyberpunk 2077, its enlargement Phantom Liberty, and The Witcher 3 itself, tweeted alongside a clip of Idris Elba, who performed Solomon Reed within the 2023 enlargement. Within the clip, which is taken from an IGN interview, Elba stresses that CD Projekt releases DLC totally free, however expansions are a distinct proposition.
“Simply to be clear, it’s not DLC. It’s an enlargement. You realize why? As a result of we do expansions — Large! Large! Monster! We don’t do DLCs, and once we do, we give them away.”
If Songs of the Previous is an enlargement, then, we’re protected to imagine will probably be, as Elba places it, “massive, huge, monster.” However different CD Projekt builders have additionally chimed in.
“For us at CDPR, DLCs are small items of content material we launch totally free — like the extra outfits for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt,” Marcin Łukaszewski, Group and Social Media Supervisor, tweeted in response to a fan query.
“Expansions, then again, are main items of content material offering numerous hours of gameplay, together with new story, characters, and so on.”
So whereas Songs of the Previous is technically DLC as a result of it’s content material you obtain, it ought to be considered in a different way. (One latest report pointed to the potential of a ‘Dune-style’ location for the brand new enlargement.) CD Projekt will host an official particular anniversary stream for Blood and Wine right now, Might 28. Maybe we’ll discover out extra there.
It’s a vastly busy time for CD Projekt. The Witcher 4 manufacturing continues, though CD Projekt has cautioned followers to not count on its launch till 2027 on the earliest. The corporate plans an bold six-year roadmap through which it would additionally launch The Witcher 5 and The Witcher 6.
Whereas additional DLC for The Witcher 3 is now confirmed to be in growth, CD Projekt has dominated out extra DLC for Cyberpunk, suggesting followers will certainly have to attend for Cyberpunk 2 to return to its much-loved dystopian universe. And the wait appears like it is going to be vital; Cyberpunk 2 is additional behind The Witcher 4, and CD Projekt co-CEO Michał Nowakowski has prompt Cyberpunk 2 received’t be out till at the least 2030.
Wesley is Director, Information at IGN. Discover him on Twitter at @wyp100. You’ll be able to attain Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.