The Witcher 3 Remastered Is a Smash Hit, but CD Projekt Admits It Has Serious Problems

Geralt of Rivia's return has been the big hit of September 2026. As reported by Vida Extra, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered has left the rest of the month's releases far behind, and a large part of the community is already calling for the game to be back in the running in several categories at The Game Awards, which take place this December. Few remasters manage something like this: not just selling well or generating buzz, but working their way back into the conversation about the best games of the year.

But the success comes with fine print. CD Projekt itself has released a statement in which it acknowledges that the new version suffers from serious problems and says its team is already working to fix them as soon as possible. There is no date for the fixes, and everything suggests they won't arrive within hours, but the studio has owned up early. In an industry used to awkward silences after a rocky launch, that is a signal worth looking at carefully.

What you need to know

• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered has been, by a wide margin, the standout release of September 2026.
• A significant share of players believe it should once again be in contention for awards at The Game Awards in December.
• CD Projekt has publicly admitted, in an official statement, that the remaster has major flaws.
• The studio is already working on updates, though without a specific timeline: the fixes won't happen overnight.
• According to the available information, performance is reportedly one of the two most serious issues the upcoming patches will need to address.

Commercial success, technical debt

There is something paradoxical about the situation. The game works as a product: it draws players in, gets people talking and dominates the month. However, the technical experience doesn't live up to that reception, at least not for everyone. It's the kind of contradiction we see more and more often with big releases: demand pushes games out the door on a fixed date, and the polish comes later in the form of patches.

In CD Projekt's case, the context matters. The Polish studio has already been through a very troubled launch with Cyberpunk 2077, and since then its relationship with the community has depended largely on how it handles moments like this. The fact that it acknowledged the problems quickly this time, without waiting for the pressure to become unbearable, suggests some lessons have been learned. What remains to be seen is whether the speed of the statement will be matched by the speed of the fixes.

Who does it affect?

Performance problems don't hit everyone equally. Casual players can put up with the occasional frame drop, but for anyone who streams, records content or attempts speedruns, stability is everything. A game that doesn't perform consistently makes capture harder, messes up videos and makes any comparison of times or routes less meaningful. For creators, timing also matters: a remaster's peak of interest is now, not several weeks from now.

Our take

Here at Underworld Lordz, we're clear on this: a great game doesn't excuse a bad launch. The fact that The Witcher 3 is still a massive achievement isn't to this remaster's credit, and that's exactly why a new version should, at the very least, run better than what we already had. Strong sales don't turn bugs into footnotes.

That said, we appreciate the transparency. Acknowledging the problem early is the bare minimum, but not everyone does it. Still, a statement is not a patch. We would have liked to see a rough timeline or at least a clear list of priorities, because players and creators need to know whether to play now or wait. Uncertainty has a cost too, especially for those who make a living producing content.

As for The Game Awards, we'll be critical: nominating a game again for its remaster, with technical problems acknowledged by the studio itself, seems hard to justify unless solid fixes arrive before December. Nostalgia shouldn't outweigh the actual quality of what's being released today. If CD Projekt fixes it in time, we can talk; if not, the recognition should go to games that launched ready.

What do you think?

Are you already playing it, or would you rather wait for the patches? Have the performance problems affected your matches or streams? We want to hear from you. Drop by the team chat or our Discord and tell us: does The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered deserve a spot at The Game Awards with its current flaws, or should it only earn that place if CD Projekt makes it flawless?