After this morning’s surprise announcement of the brand-new The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt DLC, Songs of the Past, officially set to launch in 2027, it seems the long-running rumors have finally been proven true. As you might expect, gamers worldwide are on a serious high, with more information regarding the DLC expected to release soon.
As rumors have suggested in recent months, the new DLC is likely to bridge the narrative gap between The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and The Witcher 4, which is set to release in late 2027 or more likely 2028 now that we know we’re getting a brand-new DLC next year for certain. However, it’s not all great news today, with The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and the upcoming DLC becoming unplayable for a huge portion of gamers (via CDPR).
In preparation for CD Projekt Red’s Songs of the Past DLC, they’ve officially announced a series of upcoming changes to minimum system requirements that will exclude thousands of gamers from being able to play The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and any associated DLC. The updated minimum requirements for PC gamers are as follows starting with the next major update:
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600, Intel Core i5-8400
- GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660, AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT 8GB
- VRAM: 6 GB
- RAM: 12 GB
- Storage: 70 GB SSD
- OS: 64-bit Windows 11
These changes will only affect gamers with older GPUs, or those generally considered lower-midrange gaming PCs by 2026 standards. While many PC users will be in the clear and won’t need to upgrade their rig, these minimum specs are still very common among PC gamers, particularly those who are on a tight budget.
That said, it’s not entirely surprising given the direction of modern gaming and the need for more powerful PCs. CDPR has also offered the following rationale for these updated minimum requirements:
- Windows 11 will be the minimum required OS for both The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 following Microsoft’s end of support for Windows 10 on October 14, 2025. Without ongoing security updates, official platform support, and continued GPU driver support, we will no longer test our games on Windows 10.
- HDDs will no longer be supported, as SSDs offer faster load times, smoother asset streaming, and improved overall performance.
- The game will exclusively run using DirectX 12, which allows us to support ongoing technical improvements and modern hardware more effectively.
- Only processors supported on Windows 11 will be supported by us.
- Only graphics cards with ongoing active driver support for gaming on Windows 11 will be supported.
While it’s certain to affect a huge portion of PC gamers worldwide who are reliant on lower-end PCs or who can’t afford expensive new machines, it’s par for the course in terms of modern PC gaming. If you fall into that boat, and with The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt officially getting brand-new content with the Songs of the Past DLC next year, it might finally be time to start saving up for an upgraded rig.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
9/10
- Released
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May 19, 2015
- ESRB
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M for Mature: Use of Alcohol, Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Nudity, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content
- Engine
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REDengine 3