According to IGN, CDPR will end support for The Witcher: Quintessence, keeping only a few staff members to keep the game running, and the rest of the developers will move to other projects.
The Witcher: Quintessence will be updated with new cards and an eSports tournament in 2023, so the update will end in 2024. Specifically, the game will release 72 cards in three expansion packs in April, July and September 2023, as well as two eSports tournaments, before moving to a community-focused maintenance phase with community votes to change the balance.
Paweł Burza, senior manager at CDPR, responded to IGN saying, “When it comes to The Witcher: Quintessence and its community, I’d say the game isn’t over and the game will see another great year (and more).”
The Witcher: Quintessence, first released in October 2016 in closed beta and celebrating its fifth anniversary in public beta in May 2022, is a card game derived from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
CDPR does have several projects on the go at the moment, including the next-generation Witcher series trilogy, the first episodic material for Cyberpunk 2077, a remake of The Witcher first generation, and even a sequel to Cyberpunk 2077 lined up. Freeing up staff to meet the development of large projects may prevent the next Cyberpunk 2077 launch nightmare.
