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What is the future of The Witcher games?

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While still involved in the production of the recently postponed Cyberpunk 2077, it's no secret that developer CD Projekt Red will return to The Witcher universe for the production of new games from the Witcher series. Although nothing has been revealed in any concrete way by the Polish producer, no one is being particularly shy when expressing the company's desire to explore the setting again.

Co-founder of CD Projekt Red, Marcin Iwiński is one of the examples of studio developers who spoke openly about the topic. “We like this world a lot. We invest 15 years of our lives in it and a lot of money. So, let's think about [another Witcher game] at some point,” he said in a question and answer session with investors in 2017.

CD Projekt, by the way, seems to be already taking the first steps towards producing new titles for The Witcher. In December of last year, the producer closed a new agreement with Andrzej Sapkowski, author of The Witcher books, “solidifying the relationship” between the two parties. The new agreement replaced the previous terms, in which Sapkowski received a one-time payment for transferring the rights to The Witcher game production to CD Projekt, without royalties for the sales of the games – which would become some of the most popular RPGs in the world.

According to the company, the new agreement guarantees The Witcher's intellectual property in video games, comic books, board games and merchandise, in addition to “fully satisfying the needs and expectations of both parties”, preparing “a basis for future cooperation between both sides”. If that doesn't mean “new The Witcher is coming,” we don't know what that means.

The Witcher series has been revamped on Netflix, making it a worldwide success. (Image: Netflix)

It is important to note, however, that a lot has happened to the “The Witcher” brand in the last five years, since the release of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, the final episode of the trilogy. From a franchise known only in Poland, the game enshrined the witch as a global phenomenon, hailed by many as one of the best RPGs of all time.

Hitchhiking on the franchise's popularity, Netflix launched, in December last year, the first season of The Witcher's live-action series. The production is one of the most popular of the streaming service in years, and has caused a new explosion of player interest in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

Without blinking and predicting this success, Netflix has already confirmed the second season of the series even before the premiere of the first. And it didn't stop there: last Wednesday (22), the company confirmed that an anime by The Witcher is in production by Studio Mir, which has The Legend of Korra on its curriculum.

It is not hard to imagine, therefore, that all this will influence, in one way or another, the future of the series' games. The universe, of course, remains the same, but new locations, characters and stories from the vast work created by Sapkowski can be explored. And it doesn't hurt to speculate on some of these possibilities.

Bye, Geralt

If you haven't played The Witcher series games and still plan to do so, it's worth leaving the alert here: SPOILERS AHEAD. After all, to talk about the future of The Witcher, we have to make some references to the games of the past. If you want to be free of spoilers, better not move on.

That said: of the little concrete information we have about the future of The Witcher games, one of them is that the story of Geralt de Rivia, the protagonist of the series so far, has come to an end. This is no secret for anyone who has reached the end of the trilogy of games released so far, by the way.

The Witcher 4 is off the charts. (Image: CD Projekt Red)

In addition to what is shown by the games, CD Projekt itself has already made that clear – no matter what the next step of The Witcher is, the thing it will definitely not be is “The Witcher 4”. “The Witcher was designed as a trilogy and a trilogy cannot have a fourth part, can it?” Asked Marcin Iwinski in a question and answer session with investors in 2017.

That said, nothing prevents Geralt from appearing in any future game. As indicated by John Mamais, executive producer at CD Projekt, in an interview with Polygon in 2013, Geralt is a “very flexible” character who can still live for many years, so it is possible that he will appear in the future. “We just need to talk about it and find out what we're going to do next,” he said.

The developer has already stated that the series will not be continued, but nothing prevents the studio from exploring the gate opened by Thronebreaker to narrate other stories in future The Witcher. Whatever CD Projekt's decision, one thing is certain: the production company will return to producing The Witcher games in the future. Although they are completely different than the ones we've played so far.

Brazilian, 23 years old, I follow eSports since 2010 with a good experience in Counter Strike Global Offensive, Fortnite, League of Legends and Valorant with articles and news published in the electronic sports scene.