CD Projekt Red made it official on May 28, 2026 — The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is getting a third expansion called Songs of the Past, launching in 2027 on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. More than ten years after the original game’s release and over a decade since Blood and Wine wrapped up Geralt’s story, CDPR is bringing the White Wolf back for one more adventure. And based on everything that came out of the earnings call that accompanied the announcement, this isn’t a small victory lap — it’s a full-scale expansion designed to be comparable in scope to Blood and Wine, and it may serve as your most important homework before The Witcher 4 arrives.
Why 2027 and Not 2026
CDPR joint CEO Michal Nowakowski addressed this directly and didn’t sugarcoat it. Early plans had Songs of the Past targeting a 2026 release. The studio made a deliberate decision to push it to 2027 to ensure the quality matched what players expect from a Witcher expansion. His exact framing: the delay was made to “achieve the best possible result from the consumer standpoint, which in the end, frankly speaking, is the only ultimate thing that really matters.”
Given CDPR’s history — most memorably Cyberpunk 2077’s troubled launch — the willingness to delay rather than rush something out the door reads as the studio taking a lesson seriously. Songs of the Past was always going to be compared to Blood and Wine, one of the most celebrated expansions in RPG history. Arriving in worse shape than that game would have done lasting damage to the franchise’s reputation heading into The Witcher 4. 2027 it is.
Blood and Wine Scale — What That Actually Means
This is the detail that should excite every Witcher fan. Nowakowski confirmed that Songs of the Past will be closer in scope to Blood and Wine than to Hearts of Stone. For context: Hearts of Stone runs roughly 10 to 17 hours depending on how thoroughly you explore. Blood and Wine runs a minimum of 15 hours and tops out around 40 hours for full completion. It introduced an entirely new region — Toussaint — with its own visual identity, politics, characters, questlines, and economy. It was, by most measures, better than most standalone games that released the same year.
CDPR’s social media manager Laura Beitzel also described Songs of the Past as “aligned with” the previous expansions in terms of quality and ambition. Around 190 developers are working on it, most of them from Fool’s Theory — the studio co-developing the expansion alongside CDPR and currently best known for working on the remake of the original Witcher game.
What We Know About the Story
Official details on the plot are minimal at this stage. What’s been confirmed is that Songs of the Past will star Geralt, and the expansion will see him reunited with Dandelion — Geralt’s oldest friend and the narrator of the Witcher saga. Given that The Witcher 4 will shift the protagonist role to Ciri, Songs of the Past positions itself as a final chapter for Geralt — a swan song for the character who has anchored the series for over fifteen years.
The key art for Songs of the Past has already generated significant fan theory activity. A sword visible in the key art has led to speculation that it will eventually be passed to Ciri, serving as a physical narrative link between the expansion and The Witcher 4. CDPR hasn’t confirmed this, but the deliberate placement of the sword in the artwork suggests it’s not an accident.
Is It Actually a Prologue to Witcher 4?
This is where the earnings call language got deliberately vague in an interesting way. CFO Piotr Nielubowicz described Songs of the Past as “a prologue to The Witcher 4, not in a verbatim way, but a prologue” — meaning it comes before Witcher 4 chronologically and thematically, and may establish narrative groundwork, but it isn’t a direct story setup in the way that, say, a Marvel post-credits scene functions.
Nowakowski echoed this framing when asked a similar question separately. The clearest read of both statements is that Songs of the Past will provide emotional and thematic context for why Geralt is stepping back as the central figure — establishing the transition to Ciri’s era rather than directly teasing Witcher 4’s plot. Think of it less as a stinger and more as a closing chapter that makes the opening of the next book feel earned.
Nielubowicz also emphasised that the core priority is delivering a high-quality experience for existing Witcher 3 fans first. The connection to Witcher 4 is a bonus layer, not the primary design goal. That’s the right approach — an expansion that feels like it exists only to set up the next game would be deeply unsatisfying for players who just want more Witcher 3.
Platform Availability — Who Can Play It
Songs of the Past launches on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. Full stop. PS4 and Xbox One are not in the picture, which makes sense given the development timeline and the fact that current-gen-only releases are the standard in 2027. Nintendo platforms are conspicuously absent from the confirmed list, though CDPR hasn’t explicitly ruled out a Switch 2 version. The studio was one of the earliest and most enthusiastic supporters of the Switch 2 — Cyberpunk 2077’s Switch 2 port received significant praise — and CDPR may be holding a Switch 2 announcement for a later date, possibly tied to the Nintendo Direct rumoured for June.
When Will We Learn More?
CDPR confirmed that Songs of the Past will be featured at Gamescom 2026 in August. Based on how the studio has handled previous Witcher reveals, expect a guided demo presentation rather than a hands-on floor experience — Nowakowski specifically noted that CDPR believes hands-on demos don’t suit the kind of games they make, and that a guided walkthrough more accurately represents the experience. Additional details are also expected in late summer 2026 through the official channels ahead of the Gamescom showing.
The Bigger CDPR Roadmap
Songs of the Past sits within one of the most ambitious development roadmaps any studio has publicly committed to. CDPR’s current plan is three Witcher games in approximately six years — Songs of the Past in 2027, The Witcher 4 sometime after that, and eventually a remake of the original Witcher game developed by Fool’s Theory. The Witcher 4 entered full production in late 2024, and a 2028 or later release is the current expectation based on the production timeline.
For players, the practical reading is this: if you want to be fully prepared for The Witcher 4, Songs of the Past is not optional viewing. Play it. It’s Blood and Wine-sized, it reunites you with Geralt and Dandelion one last time, and it will apparently set the emotional and narrative table for Ciri’s era in a way that the base Witcher 3 story alone doesn’t fully do. That’s the ideal position to be in when The Witcher 4 eventually launches.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — Songs of the Past launches in 2027 on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. Gamescom 2026 in August is your next major date for new information.
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