‘Huge, Massive, Monstrous’: CD Projekt RED Compares Third Witcher 3 Expansion to Cyberpunk 2077’s Phantom Liberty
CD Projekt RED has officially confirmed that ‘Ballads of the Past’ will not be a simple downloadable content pack, but rather a full-fledged expansion for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. The Polish gaming giant, working in collaboration with development partner Fool’s Theory, has announced that this ambitious project will launch on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series consoles in 2027. What makes this announcement particularly noteworthy is the studio’s bold comparison of the upcoming expansion to Phantom Liberty, the critically acclaimed and commercially successful expansion for Cyberpunk 2077 that redefined what players could expect from post-launch content.
The developers have not been shy about describing the scale of Ballads of the Past, using words like ‘huge,’ ‘massive,’ and ‘monstrous’ to characterize the expansion’s scope. This language deliberately echoes the praise that Phantom Liberty received upon its release in September 2023, when it delivered approximately 20-30 hours of new content, an entirely new district called Dogtown, and a storyline featuring Hollywood actor Idris Elba. If CD Projekt RED intends to match or exceed that benchmark with Ballads of the Past, players can expect a substantial amount of new content that could rival standalone games in terms of depth and breadth.
This announcement marks a significant moment in gaming history, as The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt originally launched in May 2015, meaning the game will be twelve years old when Ballads of the Past arrives. The base game has already received two major expansions: Hearts of Stone in October 2015 and Blood and Wine in May 2016. Both additions were praised for their quality, with Blood and Wine in particular being celebrated as one of the greatest expansions in gaming history, introducing the entirely new region of Toussaint and providing approximately 30 hours of additional gameplay. The decision to return to this beloved title after more than a decade demonstrates CD Projekt RED’s confidence in the enduring appeal of Geralt of Rivia’s world.
The collaboration with Fool’s Theory represents an interesting strategic decision for CD Projekt RED. Fool’s Theory is a Polish studio founded in 2015 by industry veterans, including former CD Projekt RED employees who worked on the original Witcher titles. This partnership allows CD Projekt RED to simultaneously develop multiple projects, including the next mainline Witcher game (codenamed Polaris) and a new Cyberpunk project, without overstretching their internal resources. The arrangement also ensures that Ballads of the Past will be crafted by developers who understand the DNA of the franchise intimately.
The timing of this expansion’s release is strategically significant within the broader context of CD Projekt RED’s ambitious roadmap. The company has announced plans for an entirely new Witcher trilogy, with the first installment currently in development. By releasing Ballads of the Past in 2027, the studio can maintain player engagement with the Witcher universe while building anticipation for the next generation of games. This approach mirrors their successful strategy with Phantom Liberty, which not only revitalized interest in Cyberpunk 2077 but also helped rehabilitate the game’s reputation following its troubled launch in December 2020.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has sold over 50 million copies since its release, making it one of the best-selling role-playing games of all time. The game received a next-generation update in December 2022, bringing enhanced graphics, ray tracing support, and various quality-of-life improvements to modern consoles and PC hardware. This update demonstrated that there remains a substantial audience eager for more Witcher content, and it likely provided valuable data that influenced the decision to develop a third expansion. The continued commercial success of the game, particularly following Netflix’s Witcher television series starring Henry Cavill, has proven that Geralt’s adventures resonate with audiences across multiple generations of gaming hardware.
Industry analysts have noted that CD Projekt RED’s approach to expansions sets them apart from many competitors in the gaming industry. While some publishers focus on microtransactions and live-service models, CD Projekt RED has consistently delivered substantial single-player content that expands their game worlds meaningfully. Phantom Liberty earned widespread acclaim not just for its content volume but for its narrative quality, introducing moral complexity and political intrigue that enhanced the Cyberpunk 2077 experience. If Ballads of the Past can achieve similar success, it could establish a new standard for how legacy games can be supported and expanded years after their initial release, potentially inspiring other developers to revisit their classic titles with equally ambitious content additions.