CD Projekt Red hopes to finish the new Witcher saga beginning with The Witcher 4 within six years, which is a tall order in its own right for a trilogy of hefty RPGs. Consequently, the studio doesn't see much room for expansions a la The Witcher 3's Blood and Wine or the newly announced Songs of the Past, suggesting the new games won't receive any major add-ons.
CDPR joint CEO Michał Nowakowski fielded a question about potential expansions for the new Witcher saga during the company's latest earnings call.
The question was: "Given the very ambitious project pipeline, does the company see room for developing expansions for the new Witcher saga?"
Nowakowski is doubtful. "As you mentioned in the question, the plans are pretty ambitious," he begins. "Specifically, it's to release three Witcher games within a six-year period. It would be difficult, to be very honest, for us to add an expansion to the upcoming trilogy. This is where we are here and now with this particular issue."
The Witcher 3 received numerous small add-ons over the years, as well as two major expansions. The game was released in May 2015, and its first expansion, Hearts of Stone, arrived in October 2015. In May 2016, the Blood and Wine expansion arrived. In this same call, CDPR suggested that Songs of the Past, set for 2027, is close to Blood and Wine in scope.
The expansions released for The Witcher 3 managed a pretty high attach rate and ended up delivering quests and moments that many call the peak of the series, so it may be a bit of a bummer to hear that The Witcher 4 and its follow-ups won't get the same room to breathe.
The obvious counterpoint is that, if CDPR can stick to its six-year plan for the new Witcher saga (and I'll bet my bottom dollar it cannot, purely because game dev almost never goes according to even the best of plans), we shouldn't go more than a few years without a whole new RPG. However it shakes out, The Witcher fans will hopefully be eating better than their fellows across the pond: The Elder Scrolls fans, perpetually hungry for something, anything new.
