The Witcher 3 Remastered: CD Projekt RED Promises Five Major Fixes

CD Projekt RED has announced five fixes currently in development for The Witcher 3 Remastered, with performance optimizations for PS5 leading the charge. The studio hasn't provided a firm release date for this update, but the message is unmistakable: the remaster, available since late 2022, is still not considered a finished product.

This status update, reported notably by Numerama, comes as CD Projekt RED allocates much of its resources to Witcher 4. Continuing to patch a game released nearly four years ago raises a straightforward question: how long can a studio maintain an older title without delaying the next one?

Broken Promises from 2022

The Witcher 3 remaster was marketed as a complete technical overhaul: revamped lighting, improved character models, and crucially, performance standards aligned with PS5 and Xbox Series capabilities. In reality, player feedback highlighted recurring frame rate drops in dense areas like Novigrad, and textures that failed to load promptly during fast travel.

CD Projekt RED announcing more performance fixes for PS5 now demonstrates these issues were not cosmetic details but structural limitations of the port. The studio hasn't disclosed the precise technical scope of the five fixes, leaving doubt about their real impact against the expectations of players who received a free update but hoped for a polished product at launch.

That CD Projekt RED still communicates about performance correctifs on PS5 shows these problems were not just surface-level but represented fundamental constraints in how the game was ported to current hardware. The studio remains vague about what exactly these five fixes will address, which only fuels skepticism among players who paid for an update expecting a finished product from day one.

A Remaster That Can't Afford to Stumble

The Witcher 3 remains the flagship of the franchise before Witcher 4 arrives. Every new player discovering Geralt through the PS5 or PC remaster forms part of the audience CD Projekt RED aims to retain for the sequel. A game that stutters or displays visual glitches in 2026—seven years after the original release and four years post-remaster—sends the wrong signal about the meticulous studio image CD Projekt RED has worked to rebuild since Cyberpunk 2077's botched 2020 launch.

The decision to publicly communicate about upcoming fixes rather than quietly roll them out reflects the transparency stance CD Projekt RED adopted after the Cyberpunk crisis. But transparency cuts both ways: it reminds players the delivered product was incomplete, and that CD Projekt RED is still managing the fallout from a rushed launch.

The Real Risk Lies Elsewhere Than PS5

The announced performance gains primarily target Sony's console, sidelining PC players who've also reported stability issues, particularly on configurations using ray tracing. If the five fixes focus narrowly, segments of the community will keep waiting for answers on bugs dating back to the remaster's release.

There's also an internal prioritization challenge. Every hour spent patching a 2022 title is an hour not spent on Witcher 4, expectations for which already run high following the Unreal Engine 5 announcement and internal studio leadership changes. CD Projekt RED walks a tightrope between honoring remaster commitments and not stretching its workforce thin.

This status update on The Witcher 3 Remastered confirms one thing: CD Projekt RED now treats releases as evolving projects rather than finished products. It's more honest than silence, but carries reputational risk if fixes take months longer. The studio would be wise to ship these five corrections quickly and document precisely what they change, rather than letting ambiguity fester and erode trust before the far more critical Witcher 4 deadline arrives.