The Witcher 3 Remastered Breaks the RPG’s All-Time Steam Record on Launch Day
Eleven years after Geralt first set out on the Path, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has never had more people playing it at the same time on Steam. Just hours after The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered went live on September 29, 2026, CD Projekt Red’s RPG climbed past 120,000 concurrent players according to SteamDB, breaking a record that had stood since January 2020.
A Record That Stood for More Than Six Years
Before launch day, the top mark was 103,329 concurrent players, set on January 5, 2020, when the first season of Netflix’s The Witcher sent a wave of new fans to the game. The original 2015 launch peaked at roughly 92,000 players, and the free next-gen update in December 2022 brought the game close to 90,000 again. Remastered beat all of those numbers within a few hours, with the concurrent count sitting at nearly 121,000 by Tuesday evening European time, according to SteamDB figures.
CD Projekt Red Thanks the Players
CD Projekt Red celebrated the milestone on the official Witcher account on X, writing that “more witchers are now walking the Path across the Continent than ever before.” The studio added that seeing so many players start the journey for the first time, or return to it once more, means a great deal to the team.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered is now live on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch 2.
Why So Many Players Are Coming Back
The price tag likely plays a big part. Remastered is a free upgrade for existing owners on Steam, GOG, Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, while players who own the game on the original Nintendo Switch can claim the native Switch 2 version at no extra cost. On supported platforms, Remastered replaces the Complete Edition, so Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine are included as well, even for players who only ever owned the base game.
The update itself goes well beyond a texture pass. Co-developed with Yigsoft, Remastered brings a reimagined skill system, reworked combat with new finishers and an adaptive camera, overhauled animations for Geralt and Roach, path tracing on PC, dedicated PS5 Pro support and cross-platform mod support through mod.io. On top of that, The Witcher 3 is available on Battle.net for the first time.
Steam Only Tells Part of the Story
Keep in mind that SteamDB only tracks players on Steam. Remastered launched simultaneously on GOG, Epic Games Store, Battle.net, the Microsoft Store, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch 2, so the total number of witchers back on the Path is higher still. With the first weekend still ahead, the Steam peak could climb even further in the coming days.
What Comes Next for The Witcher 3
The record-breaking return also sets the stage for Songs of the Past, the paid expansion CD Projekt Red is co-developing with Fool’s Theory for a 2027 release. If you want to catch up on how we got here, take a look at our earlier coverage of the Witcher 3 Remastered release date and the global release times.
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Picture Source: CD PROJEKT RED
