The Witcher 3 Songs of the Past is an expansion and not DLC, says CD Projekt Red, teasing a "major" release with "lots of hours of gameplay"

The Witcher 3 is back in the limelight thanks to CD Projekt Red's announcement of its RPG's new expansion, Songs of the Past – an expansion that the developers stress is not just any old DLC, thanks to its sheer size.

If you're out of the loop, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is indeed getting new content, even as work on The Witcher 4 cracks on. A lengthy decade has passed since Blood and Wine, the game's previous expansion, launched in 2016, after all.

Many folks have understandably dubbed Songs of the Past "DLC," seeing as… well, it's technically DLC. CD Projekt Red feels differently, however.

That's because Songs of the Past is big – very sizable, in fact, it would seem. In an online post, community manager Marcin Łukaszewski teases as much, first stating, "It's real. It's coming. And for the last time – it's not DLC, it's an expansion!"
In the comments, a fan asks what the difference between the two terms implies for CD Projekt Red. "For us at CDPR, DLCs are small pieces of content we release for free," replies Łukaszewski. "Like the additional outfits for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt."

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Unlike DLC, expansions are a bit wider in scope, apparently. "Expansions, on the other hand, are major pieces of content providing lots of hours of gameplay, including new story, characters, etc."

That makes Songs of the Past sound, well, massive. Or, maybe it's just wishful thinking on my part – but the community lead isn't the only dev that has me excited.

Paweł Sasko, associate game director on Cyberpunk 2, shares a clip of Phantom Liberty star Idris Elba describing the difference between DLC and expansions, writing, "Let me remind you the definition of the Expansion."

In the video, Elba clarifies – in this case, regarding Cyberpunk 2077's own Phantom Liberty, "Just to be clear, it's not a DLC. It's an expansion. You know why? Because we do expansions – big massive monster... We don't do DLC."

And when CD Projekt Red does do DLC? "We give them away." It's amusing, but it does make sense, I suppose… but more importantly, it also means that the new The Witcher 3 DLC – er, expansion, sorry – is going to be a heck of a launch.

The Witcher 3 system requirements change for the first time in 4 years as CDPR wants "to ensure smooth performance and compatibility going forward" for Songs of the Past.