The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is now up to an incredible 60 million copies sold, CD Projekt has announced as part of its latest financial report.
The 60 million figure includes sales of the base game and the GOTY version, but excludes expansions sold separately.
It’s close to overtaking the latest sales figure we have for Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. In a June 2023 interview with IGN, Bethesda development chief Todd Howard said Skyrim had sold over 60 million copies. So, we now have a potential tie for the best-selling role-playing game of all time.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt launched in May 2015, and recently celebrated its 10-year anniversary. Here’s Adam Badowski, joint CEO of CD Projekt, on The Witcher 3 sales milestone:
Without a doubt, the third part of Geralt’s adventures marks a pivotal point in our history. The game earned hundreds of awards and solidified our studio’s standing, but more importantly, it brought untold hours of adventures and emotions to millions of games the world over. I am proud to announce that since its release The Witcher 3 has sold over 60 million copies, securing a place among the bestselling video games in all history, and motivating us to carry on with intensive work on the next trilogy set in this universe.
That’s a reference to The Witcher 4, which is currently in full production. 422 out of 730 developers at CD Projekt are working on the sequel, which won’t be out until 2027 at the earliest.
Last week, Doug Cockle, the voice of Geralt, hit back at criticism of The Witcher 4 focusing on Ciri — and told so-called fans of the franchise to “read the damn books.”
“That’s just stupid,” Cockle said of the backlash against The Witcher 4, sparked due to it featuring Ciri as its protagonist for the first time instead.
“It’s not woke,” Cockle continued, speaking during a video published by Fall Damage. “There’s nothing woke about it. [Ciri]’s a cool character from The Witcher, and they’re gonna focus on that character, and that’s awesome.”
Speaking exclusively to IGN ahead of The Witcher 4 reveal, executive producer Małgorzata Mitręga said Ciri was “the very organic, logical choice.”
“It was always about her, starting from Saga when you read it in the books. She’s an amazing, layered character. And of course, as a protagonist we said goodbye to Geralt previously. So this is a continuation. I guess for all of us it’s like she was meant to be. That was always her.”
And in February, the director of The Witcher 4 clarified that a new video featured the same in-game model of Ciri after some had thought her face looked different.
We’ve got plenty more exclusive content on The Witcher 4, including a trailer breakdown and an interview with CD Projekt where the developer explains why The Witcher 4 will avoid a Cyberpunk 2077-style launch disaster.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
