Summary
- CD Projekt Red's REDkit modding tool for The Witcher 3 was incredibly difficult to create.
- Developers had to go through the entire code of the game line by line, and also had to streamline many of the game's technical interfaces.
- Despite being almost 10 years old, The Witcher 3 continues to pull in thousands of players each day.
CD Projekt Red has revealed why its REDkit modding tool for The Witcher 3 took so long to release, detailing the difficult process behind its development. As the game approaches its 10th anniversary, The Witcher 3 remains one of the most beloved open-world RPGs in gaming history, with thousands of players still stepping into Geralt of Rivia's shoes daily.
The success of CD Projekt Red's action RPG cannot be understated, with The Witcher 3 selling 50 million copies as of March 2023. As with many large-scale open world titles available for PC, the game quickly amassed a dedicated modding scene, with creative players quickly crafting new quests, quality-of-life additions, and much more. CD Projekt Red didn't offer official mod support until 2024, prompting many longtime fans to wonder why it took so long. The developers have always been supportive of The Witcher 3's modding scene, but as it turns out, developing an official tool for the process was much more difficult than many in the community realized.
7 Best The Witcher 3 Mods For Beginners
The Witcher 3 is great fun, and it can be made even better with some external additions. Here are some of the best Witcher 3 mods for beginners.
During the 2025 Game Developers Conference (and reported by PC Gamer), creating the REDkit modding tool for The Witcher 3 required developers to remake portions of the game's engine, as what the Polish studio used internally may not be something modders could utilize. Beyond making The Witcher 3's technical interfaces easier to use and understand, CD Projekt Red also had to add something called Projects, which is used by creators to organize each mod they make. The most time-consuming part of the process, however, required the developers to check the game's code line by line, ensuring that things meant to stay secret wouldn't make their way into the public eye. The response to REDkit has been overwhelmingly positive since its release, with many players calling it more of a full engine than a simple modding tool.
Creating REDKit for The Witcher 3 on PC Required Devs to Check the Game’s Entire Code Manually
While CD Projekt Red didn't initially set out to create official mod support back when the game first launched in 2015, the developers didn't expect The Witcher 3 to continue to pull in so many players nearly a decade after launch. "As our final goodbye to The Witcher 3, we wanted to extend its life by empowering the modding community so that they can keep improving and expanding the game," said publishing producer Oleg Shatulo. Plenty of festivities to celebrate the title's big milestone are planned, with a Witcher 3 concert tour coming to North America and Europe throughout 2025 and 2026.
As audiences continue to embark on Geralt's grand adventure, The Witcher 4 was revealed during The Game Awards 2024, teasing Ciri as its protagonist. It remains unclear when the game will launch, though CD Projekt Red confirmed that the game entered full production in November 2024.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 93 /100 Critics Rec: 95%
- Released
- May 19, 2015
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Use of Alcohol, Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Nudity, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content
- Developer(s)
- CD Projekt Red
- Publisher(s)
- CD Projekt Red
- Engine
- REDengine 3
- Cross-Platform Play
- yes
- Cross Save
- yes
