The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is seeing a huge jump in Steam players after CD Projekt Red released its Remastered version. The game crossed its previous all-time Steam player record within hours of the update going live, bringing thousands of players back to the 2015 RPG.
According to data from Techlomedia Gaming, The Witcher 3 reached an all-time peak of 110,627 concurrent players on Steam today. This is significantly higher than its previous record of 103,329 players, which was set in January 2020. The earlier spike came several years after the original release and around the time the Netflix series helped renew interest in the franchise.
The timing of the new spike is not difficult to explain. CD Projekt Red has released The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Remastered as a free upgrade for existing owners. The upgrade went live on September 29 and is available on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch 2. Existing owners on qualifying platforms can upgrade without buying the game again.
This is more than a simple graphics update. The Remastered version brings improvements to visuals, performance and gameplay. CD Projekt Red has updated textures and models, improved lighting and foliage, added visual improvements for Witcher Signs and skills, and introduced other changes designed to modernize the game for current hardware.
The update also gives players another reason to return to the game even if they completed it years ago. The Remastered version includes the two major expansions, Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine. Existing owners of the base game also get access to both expansions at no additional cost.
The size of today’s player jump makes the story interesting. As per Steam data recorded by Techlomedia, The Witcher 3 had a daily peak of only 21,752 players on September 28. A few hours after the Remastered launch, the peak had already crossed 108,000 players. This shows that the game attracted roughly five times as many concurrent players within a day. The number continued to rise after that report.
This also shows why a free upgrade can create a much bigger player spike than a normal remaster launch. CD Projekt Red already has a huge audience that owns The Witcher 3. Those players do not need to make another purchase to try the updated version. They only need to download the update and return to the game.
There is also a bigger reason for the renewed attention around The Witcher franchise. CD Projekt Red has announced Songs of the Past, a new expansion for The Witcher 3 that is scheduled to launch in 2027. It will take Geralt to the new region of Letten for another adventure. The expansion is being developed with Fool’s Theory, a studio that includes developers who previously worked on The Witcher 3.
For a game released in 2015, reaching a new Steam player record in 2026 is notable. The Witcher 3 is not getting a traditional sequel or a completely new release today. Instead, an existing game has been given a major upgrade, and players are responding by returning in large numbers.
The Steam numbers also show that the interest is not simply coming from people buying the game for the first time. A large part of the audience already owns The Witcher 3 and is coming back to experience Geralt’s adventure with the new improvements.
With Songs of the Past coming next year and The Witcher 4 still in development, CD Projekt Red is giving players multiple reasons to return to the franchise. For now, however, it is an 11-year-old game that is making the biggest noise on Steam.
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