In an October 26 blog post, Witcher game developers CD Project Red confirmed that one of their recently announced projects, Codenamed Canis Majoris, is actually a remake of the first Witcher game rebuilt from the ground up for Unreal Engine 5. They will be collaborating with Polish developer Fools Theory to create this remake. This electrifying news has prompted fans to question when does the Witcher remake come out?
Witcher Remake Release Date Speculation
At the moment, there’s no official release date for the Witcher Remake and the official blogpost has mentioned that the game is early in development. It’s likely, given the recent nature of the announcement, that we won’t see the Witcher remake for at least a year or two. However, there’s plenty of speculation and theories as to when it could come out.
The blogpost itself is very light on details and asks for patience when it comes to the project as a whole. This, and the lack of a trailer, indicates that this project really is early in development. We also know that this project is mostly third-party, though the post also said that there would be Witcher veterans working with Fools Theory.
Fool’s Theory is also working on its own game, itself early in development, called Codename Vitriol and CD Project Red has a lot on its plate. Given all this, it is highly unlikely we will see the Witcher remake in 2023. It’s also worth noting that, while often exciting, remakes are rarely the number one priority of any given game studio, and CD Project Red is likely no exception. At this point, too little is known to make any real speculations, but post-2023 is a pretty safe bet.
You could speculate a little easier, however, about the month that the remake would come out. The original Witcher came out in October of 2007. While nothing they said specifically indicates that they would release in October, the Blogpost’s language was very sentimental which indicates they could go for an anniversary release. It would also be a good time to release the game, as it wouldn’t compete too much with a super heavy hitter in November and it would be very fitting to release a monster-focused game around Halloween.
Even when we get a release date, we shouldn’t necessarily trust it 100%. CD Project Red are perfectly willing to delay games if they feel they need to work on them more. Cyberpunk 2077 is the most famous example, but the Witcher 3 was also delayed a couple of times before release.
So there isn’t a lot of solid information with which to make a prediction, but we can speculate on some elements. We know this game won’t come out soon and it’s possible it may release in October, but we can’t be sure when the Witcher remake will release.
Update: As of the 28th of November, CD Project Red presented its financial results for G3 2022 and also provided some new information on the Witcher 1 remake. Now we know that it will come out no sooner than the Witcher 3 sequel, Code Named Polaris. A concrete release date has yet to be given.
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