The Witcher III is proving to be one of CD Projekt RED’s most ambitious projects. While the game was originally scheduled to release next February, the title has now been pushed back into May of next year.

Based on the Polish book series from author Andrzej Sapkowski, The Witcher trilogy follows the tale of Geralt of Rivia, one of few remaining “Witchers”; Witchers are monster-slaying mercenaries, skilled at both physical combat and magic. Noted for its mature political and social themes, The Witcher saga features a heavy usage of player-choice; unlike many other games with a moral system, many decisions lack a clear “black-and-white” distinction, and may not affect the plot until much later in the game.

While The Witcher III: Wild Hunt was originally scheduled to release next February, CD Projekt RED announced through a statement on Facebook that the release date has been pushed to May 19. With the original deadline quickly approaching, the team decided to push the release date back, as the current build includes “many details that need to be corrected”. As the team believes that Wild Hunt may be the “most important game in the studio’s history”, they need extra time to make absolutely sure that The Witcher III meets the standards of the fans. The full statement is as follows:

“Ever since we started working on The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, we knew it would be an ambitious game. We wanted, and still aim, to give you an incredible experience, an epic adventure in a vast, completely open fantasy universe.

The sheer size and complexity of The Witcher, key features of the title, have had a decisive impact on production. Now, nearing the end of our work, we see many details that need to be corrected. When we release the most important game in our studio’s history, we must be absolutely sure that we did everything we could to limit any bugs to a level that will allow you to enjoy the game thoroughly.

With this in mind, we took another look at current workloads and what they mean for the team. Even though everyone is working at full speed, we concluded that we need another 12 weeks, so we are shifting the release date of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt to May 19th, 2015.

We owe you an apology. We set the release date too hastily. It’s a hard lesson, one to take to heart for the future. We know what we want to do to make Wild Hunt one of the best RPGs you will ever play. And we continue to work hard to achieve just that. So, we apologize and ask for your trust.

Thank you for the all support you show us on a daily basis. We truly do appreciate it. It has fueled us in our passion since the start and will continue to do so.”

The Witcher III: Wild Hunt is the final chapter of the trilogy, and will act as a prequel tale to the first game. Again, The Witcher III: Wild Hunt will release for PC, Xbox One and PS4 on 5/19/2015.

Source: Facebook
Image courtesy of CD Projekt RED