What Songs of the Past Is and Why It Matters
Songs of the Past is a large-scale Witcher 3 expansion that returns players to Geralt of Rivia more than a decade after Wild Hunt’s release, designed as a narrative bridge toward The Witcher 4 while refreshing interest in one of the most acclaimed RPGs ever made. Announced via CD Projekt Red’s social channels after an early hint on the RED Launcher, the Witcher 3 expansion launches in 2027 on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. Co-developed with Fool’s Theory, a studio filled with veterans of the original trilogy and also responsible for The Witcher 1 remake, the Songs of the Past DLC is framed as a “proper big expansion” closer in scope to Blood and Wine than a minor add-on. Crucially, Geralt remains the playable hero, giving fans “one more adventure before he passes the torch to Ciri” and tying up lingering threads from his past.
A Delayed Launch and Lessons from Past Problems
Songs of the Past was initially slated for 2026, but CD Projekt shifted the Witcher 3 expansion to 2027 “to achieve the best possible result from the consumer standpoint.” According to CD Projekt’s joint CEO Michał Nowakowski, the team’s priority is “a great experience to fans; a really cool expansion that's gonna make people happy to come back to The Witcher 3 setting.” That language carries extra weight after earlier CD Projekt Red news around troubled launches, making this delay feel less like a setback and more like a deliberate reset of expectations. The expansion will not appear on last‑gen consoles, which keeps the scope focused and avoids cross‑generation headaches. At the same time, the company plans to keep the existing game playable by allowing players to roll back to earlier versions if their hardware cannot meet the new requirements.
Technical Ambition: New Specs, Windows 11, and DX12 Only
To support Songs of the Past, CD Projekt Red is raising The Witcher 3’s minimum system requirements and dropping support for Windows 10 and HDDs. The updated spec lists an AMD Ryzen 5 2600 or Intel Core i5‑8400 CPU, an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 or AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT 8GB GPU, 12GB of RAM, 6GB of VRAM, and 70GB of SSD storage on 64‑bit Windows 11. CDPR says that after Microsoft ends Windows 10 support on October 14, 2025, it will no longer test its games on that OS, nor on hardware without active driver support. The game will run exclusively on DirectX 12, enabling continued technical improvements and smoother asset streaming. Players on older machines can still access Wild Hunt by reverting to a pre‑update version, but the Songs of the Past DLC will clearly target more modern PCs and current‑generation consoles.
How Geralt’s Return Sets the Stage for Witcher 4
Songs of the Past puts Geralt back in the spotlight within The Witcher 3’s framework while The Witcher 4 development moves toward a new protagonist, widely expected to be Ciri. CD Projekt describes the expansion as “indirectly” a reminder and “a prologue – not in a verbatim way – to the actual The Witcher 4,” suggesting story beats that echo forward into the next saga rather than directly setting up its first mission. Reports indicate the DLC is set closer to Velen, hinting at a return to early-game locations with new context and consequences. By revisiting Geralt’s unresolved history instead of jumping straight into Witcher 4, CDPR can close his arc on its own terms, give long‑time players closure, and frame the handoff to Ciri as a deliberate creative choice rather than a hard reboot of the franchise’s identity.
A Bigger Studio and a Future Without Expansions
Behind the scenes, Songs of the Past lands during CD Projekt’s busiest period yet. The studio has expanded to 513 developers as it enters the “most intensive phase” of Witcher 4 production, with a roadmap that includes three new Witcher games over six years. Interestingly, Nowakowski notes that this new trilogy will “most likely not release expansions” in the style of Hearts of Stone, Blood and Wine, or Songs of the Past. That makes the Witcher 3 expansion feel like both a finale and an exception: a last, large add‑on before the series moves to a different release model. Witcher IP revenue is already rising, up 36% in the first quarter of 2026 to PLN 44.7 million (USD 52.5 million; approx. RM246.8 million), and The Witcher 3 has surpassed 65 million sales, giving CDPR a strong base as it shifts focus from post‑launch DLC toward bigger, self‑contained entries.
