It was announced earlier in the week that CD Projekt Red would be taking over the development of the next gen versions of The Witcher 3. Previously, the game was being developed by Saber Interactive, which handled the Switch port of The Witcher 3 and the 4K graphics update. After the game’s most recent delay, CD Projekt Red has made a statement hoping to calm those who believe they may never get their hands on The Witcher 3’s next-gen upgrades. Specifically, the developer’s Senior Vice President of Business Development Michal Nowakowski wanted to make it clear that the game is not in “development hell.”

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“I want to state this is not the fact,” Nowakowski said in relation to some headlines insinuating that the game was in a poor development state. As well as claiming the games weren’t in development hell, Nowakowski also implied that the game wasn’t far from completion. “There’s been a lot of insinuations that we’re going to launch, like, June next year or something like that. That’s completely not the case,” he said later in an investors call. While this could be read as Nowakowski denying that the game will be releasing even as close as June next year, another statement from CD Projekt Red’s joint CEO Adam Kicinski has fans believing that the game isn’t too far off.

Kicinski believes that there won’t be many developers needed to finish the work on The Witcher 3’s next gen upgrades. There was an estimate that about 15 developers plus some external support staff would be needed, and Kicinski seems confident that taking over The Witcher 3’s next-gen development will not affect production of the studio’s next game.

Even with these statements, without an official release date, many fans may find it difficult to believe that the game is coming anytime soon. Development hell has affected plenty of games and movies, often leading to a rushed or disappointing product when it finally launches or a title that fans will never see. Rarely will a game studio admit that a project is stuck in a development nightmare. However, when a title is delayed over multiple years, such as Dead Island 2 that is rumored to be in development hell, the signs become clear.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is available now on PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One, with PS5 and Xbox Series X/S versions in development.

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Source: PC Gamer