The Witcher 3 for PS5 and Xbox Series X Not in Development Hell, Says CD Projekt Red

The Witcher 3 developer CD Projekt Red has stated that the game's new Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 ports aren't in any form of development hell. In 2020, just ahead of the launches of the new consoles, CD Projekt Red confirmed it would be making a new version of The Witcher 3 for these consoles. It would come with all sorts of new fancy bells and whistles, ensuring it would be one of the best ways to play the acclaimed RPG. Since that initial announcement, there hasn't been much substantial news outside of repeated delays. There are no trailers, no screenshots, and many are left wondering what's going on. Earlier this week, CD Projekt Red stated that The Witcher 3 was delayed for an unknown amount of time. There's currently no release window as CDPR has taken over development after outsourcing it to a Russian studio.

All of this news led to some fans to wonder if it's in some sort of strange development hell. During an investors call, CD Projekt's senior vice president of business development Michał Nowakowski denied these thoughts and explained what's going on. "I've been looking at the headlines that popped up here and there over the internet, and I've seen one that really drew my attention, which is, 'Witcher 3 next-gen delayed indefinitely,' which sounds like the game is in some sort of development hell," Nowakowski said. "I want to state this is not the fact. There's been a lot of insinuations that we're going to launch, like, June next year or something like that. That's completely not the case.

"Everything we're saying is—we have taken the development of the game in-house. The game is going to be finished in-house. We're evaluating our time, that requires a bit of investigation—that's all we're saying. Nobody's saying the game is delayed [with] some monumental time gap ahead of us. That's as much as I can say about Witcher next-gen, but I really want to emphasize that fact."

It sounds like CD Projekt Red still has to evaluate how much time it will take given it has essentially taken over development itself. With that said, it likely wanted to tell people that they shouldn't expect the game this summer. As of right now, there's no clear indication when it could release, but based on Nowakowski's statement, it should release well before next summer.

Are you excited for The Witcher 3's next-gen port? Let us know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @Cade_Onder.

[H/T PCGamer]