CD Projekt Red announced that they would release a next-gen version of The Witcher 3 would be coming at some point in 2021. The studio announced this free, next-gen upgrade back in September 2020, but as 2021 is nearing an end CD Projekt Red realized that they just won't make their deadline.
The development studio just announced that they are pushing back the release date from a nebulous 2021 window to a still rather nebulous "second quarter of 2022." In addition, the next-gen release of Cyberpunk 2077 has been pushed into the first quarter of 2022.
The next-gen release of The Witcher 3 will reportedly include improved visuals, faster load times, and even the addition of real-time ray tracing.
The delay really wasn't unexpected given the everything that has been going on with CD Projekt Red in the past year. Like most studios, they've been impacted by COVID-19 issues. The studio has also been busy trying to fix Cyberpunk 2077 while also working on new content for that game. In February 2021, CD Projekt Red was hit by a huge cyberattack that resulted in the theft of internal data and employee details.
