'Cyberpunk 2077,' 'Witcher 3' Updates For PS5, XBox Won't Be Launched This Year

CD Projekt Red said the next-gen updates for "Cyberpunk 2077" and "Witcher 3" on the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S may be delayed until later this year.

According to WCCFTech, the firm's SVP of business development Michal Nowakowski indicated during a webcast that the next-gen updates for "Witcher 3" and "Cyberpunk 2077" will not be launched during their expected periods.

The main goal for CD Projekt was to release the "Cyberpunk" upgrade by the end of the year. The development team appears to be taking as much time as they need to produce the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S versions, owing to that game's terrible debut.

The PS4 and Xbox One versions of "Cyberpunk 2077" are notoriously buggy. The last-gen version arguably suffers the most from gameplay, performance, and graphics difficulties. According to The Verge, upgrading to next-gen might significantly improve the game's performance.

According to Nowakowski, "The Witcher 3," takes a somewhat different approach. Saber Interactive, not CDPR's own team, is responsible for most of the game's next-gen enhancements.

It's worth noting that Saber was also in charge of another "Witcher 3" port, this time for the Nintendo Switch, which was released in 2019. This project established Saber Interactive as an expert in porting games across a wide range of platforms at the time. This could indicate that the next-gen upgrade for "Witcher 3" is in good hands.

The catastrophic data breach that CD Projekt Red suffered early this year, which Eurogamer reported, might cause the ports' delay. During the attack, source codes for "Witcher 3" and "Cyberpunk 2077" were purportedly taken and sold for millions on the dark web. CDPR developers may have had to redo most of the ports' assets from the ground up as a result of the attack, potentially causing the delay.

Despite its terrible reputation among gamers, CD Projekt Red told Reuters that they will not give up "Cyberpunk 2077." Many of these fans are anticipating the next-gen upgrade as a "re-release" of sorts for the ailing game.

Patch 1.3, the game's most recent major update, was released on August 16th. It's still uncertain whether the improvements made in prior patches will be carried over to the next-gen edition of "Cyberpunk" but it's quite likely.

Meanwhile, with Netflix's announcement that the show's second season will premiere on December 17, a next-gen upgrade to "Witcher 3" would seem to be another excellent cause for players to rediscover the game.

This isn't the first time that a Netflix series has had an impact on a six-year-old game's player base. According to Hypebeast, season 1 of the show single-handedly pushed "Witcher 3" player numbers to record-highs nearly overnight when it launched two years ago. Since the first-ever Witcher Con in July, it was revealed that free DLC themed by the Netflix series would be introduced to the next-gen version of "Witcher 3." there's no reason not to expect it will happen again.