The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — Remastered

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — Remastered is CD PROJEKT RED's 29 September 2026 overhaul of the 2015 open-world RPG, co-developed with Yigsoft. It is a free upgrade for owners on Steam, GOG, Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, the first native Nintendo Switch 2 version of the game, and the first Battle.net storefront via a CD PROJEKT RED–Blizzard Entertainment partnership. Steam still sells app 292030 as The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Complete Edition; Remastered is not a new Steam app. It is not the 14 December 2022 Next-Gen Update, and it does not include the paid 2027 expansion Songs of the Past (Steam 5006530, set in Letten).

2015 original, 2022 Next-Gen, 2026 Remastered

Searchers mix three products that share a name. The 19 May 2015 original is the paid launch of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt on PC and then-current consoles. Steam still dates that SKU to 18 May 2015 in some store locales; CD PROJEKT RED's English history treats 19 May 2015 as the launch day. That SKU later absorbed Hearts of Stone (October 2015) and Blood and Wine (May 2016) as paid expansions, then as Complete Edition bundles.

The 14 December 2022 Next-Gen Update is a free Complete Edition patch on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC. CD PROJEKT RED's press notes list ray-traced modes, a photo mode, Netflix-inspired extras, and bundled expansions. That patch is not Remastered. Do not copy 2022 patch notes into a 2026 shopping decision.

Remastered was announced at gamescom Opening Night Live on 25 August 2026 for a 29 September 2026 ship date. It is a further free overhaul: upgraded visuals, enhanced combat, improved traversal, new Signs FX, revamped mount handling, enhanced monster behaviours, a skill tree revamp, transmogrification, an expanded photo mode, and new finishers. Photo mode already existed in 2022; Remastered expands it. Press the wax seals above to swap SKU name, date, and owner cost without leaving the folio.

Platforms and the 29 September 2026 date

CD PROJEKT RED lists one shared date for every announced platform: 29 September 2026. Existing PC channels are Steam app 292030, GOG, and Epic Games Store; those three treat Remastered as a free upgrade for current owners. Battle.net is the new PC storefront, the first CD PROJEKT RED–Blizzard Entertainment release of this game, and it is a pre-purchase / new-buy path rather than an upgrade of an old Battle.net library copy.

On consoles, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S owners on those generations receive the free upgrade. Xbox Wire adds Xbox Play Anywhere across Xbox Series X|S, PC, and Xbox-supported handhelds. Nintendo Switch 2 receives the first native Nintendo version of Remastered. Switch 1 owners claim a separate Switch 2 download with its own Home-menu icon; it is not described as a patch to the Switch 1 cartridge.

CD PROJEKT RED has not published a frame-rate, resolution-mode, or Switch 2 quality-mode table before launch. Trailer footage is not a spec sheet. IGN mentions PlayStation 5 Pro support and unnamed Switch 2 exclusives without a CDPR list. Use the platforms folio for the seven storefronts; use Battle.net and Switch 2 as the two genuinely new claim paths.

Free upgrade versus a new purchase

On GOG, Steam, Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, CD PROJEKT RED says Remastered is a free upgrade on 29 September 2026. From announcement day, current base-game owners also receive Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine at no extra cost; both expansions ship inside Remastered. Xbox Wire states Xbox One base-game owners are included: digital copies appear in the library and disc owners claim the expansions from the Store.

Nintendo Switch owners follow a claim path, not a same-cartridge patch. Nintendo's eShop (observed on the Brazil listing and quoted by Nintendo Life) says Switch owners can claim The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — Remastered free on Switch 2 as a separate download. New Switch 2 buyers without a Switch 1 copy, and new Battle.net buyers, pay for Remastered. Pre-purchase is announced for Battle.net and Nintendo Switch 2.

Steam PC requirements currently note that system requirements will change on 2026.09.29. There is still no independent Remastered Steam page. If you already own app 292030, you are on the free Steam path; if you only own Songs of the Past's wishlist page (5006530), that is a different product.

gamescom, sales context, and what is not in the box

CD PROJEKT RED revealed Remastered at gamescom Opening Night Live on 25 August 2026 and scheduled REDstreams around the show for both Remastered and Songs of the Past. Reuters places the reveal against a report that The Witcher 3 has sold more than 65 million copies. None of that changes the store identity: Steam remains 292030 Complete Edition; Songs of the Past remains Steam DLC 5006530 for 2027.

Songs of the Past takes Geralt to Letten, described as an idyllic rural realm with a hidden secret; Xbox Wire identifies it as Dandelion's homeland. Fool's Theory co-develops that expansion. Buying Songs of the Past on Battle.net unlocks a Geralt-inspired Diablo 4 skin, with more detail promised at BlizzCon in September. Remastered does not contain Letten, Fool's Theory's expansion work, or that cosmetic.

The official English announcement trailer is YouTube IGk17XQ7IrQ on The Witcher channel. The ten on-screen cards in that trailer are the canonical Remastered change list on this site. Editorial briefings add immersive meditation, cross-platform mods, and a PC stack of DLSS 4.5, FSR 4, XeSS 2.0, path tracing and ray reconstruction; those items are observed from press, not a CDPR spec table, and they are not 2022 Next-Gen notes. Steam PC requirements currently note that system requirements will change on 2026.09.29, which is a launch-day flag on app 292030 rather than a new store page.