The Witcher 3: Songs of the Past Is a Massive Expansion—And CDPR Won’t Let You Call It a DLC
Call it a DLC in front of CD Projekt Red, and their community manager will show up to set you straight. Songs of the Past, the brand-new Witcher 3 expansion, is being hyped as a “massive monster”—and the studio wants everyone to get the message loud and clear.
Between the accidental leak on the RED Launcher and devs scrambling to explain the difference between a DLC and an expansion, the announcement of Songs of the Past has been anything but boring. Co-developed with Fool’s Theory, this fresh content for The Witcher 3 is coming soon to PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, just as players have been rediscovering new ways to enjoy the RPG.
Image credit: CD Projekt Red
CD Projekt Red insists: “It’s an expansion, not a DLC!”
It might sound like splitting hairs, but at CD Projekt Red, this is practically gospel. Marcin Łukaszewski, the studio’s community manager, wasted no time correcting fans: “It’s real. It’s coming. And for the last time—it’s not a DLC, it’s an expansion!” He went on to clarify the studio’s philosophy: DLCs are small, free add-ons—like those extra outfits Witcher 3 players got back in the day. Expansions, on the other hand, are major content drops, packed with new stories, characters, and hours of gameplay—and yes, they’re paid.
To really drive the point home, Paweł Sasko, associate game director on Cyberpunk 2, shared a video of Idris Elba—Solomon Reed in Phantom Liberty—laying it out with his trademark swagger: “It’s not a DLC. It’s an expansion. Why? Because we make expansions—a big, massive monster… We don’t do DLCs. We give those away.” The message couldn’t be clearer: Songs of the Past aims to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine, the two expansions that supercharged Geralt’s journey back in 2015 and 2016.
A surprise reveal after a decade-long wait
It’s been ten years since Blood and Wine—an eternity in gaming. And yet, the reveal of Songs of the Past didn’t go as planned. CD Projekt Red meant to unveil the expansion during their REDstreams show on May 28, but a leak on the RED Launcher forced the studio’s hand. The official account owned up to it with a mix of self-deprecating humor and pragmatism.
On the development side, Songs of the Past is being co-developed with Fool’s Theory, a Polish studio that knows the Witcher universe inside out. Several team members worked on The Witcher 3 back in the day, and the studio is also handling the remake of the very first Witcher. It’s a reassuring choice for anyone worried about narrative and artistic consistency. The expansion is set for release in 2027 on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, with more details promised by the end of summer. Let’s not forget: The Witcher 3 has sold over 60 million copies and snagged more than 250 Game of the Year awards—a rock-solid foundation for brand-new adventures.
New PC requirements: Windows 11 and SSD now mandatory
The arrival of Songs of the Past comes with a change that won’t thrill everyone: for the first time in four years, the minimum PC specs are getting an upgrade. CD Projekt Red says this update is needed to “ensure smooth performance and future compatibility.” These new requirements will kick in with the next game update—not just for the expansion.
We originally planned to make this big reveal during our REDstreams tomorrow, but let’s say we found something we didn’t yet expect on RED Launcher. 🐺⚔️May 27, 2026
— (@cantworkitout) date
Here’s what you’ll need to keep roaming the Continent:
- Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 or Intel Core i5-8400
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 or AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT 8GB
- RAM: 12 GB
- Storage: 70 GB on SSD (HDDs are no longer supported)
- Operating System: Windows 11 64-bit (Windows 10 is out)
- Graphics API: DirectX 12 only
Dropping Windows 10 and HDD support is a big shift. The studio explains that, without security updates or GPU driver support, they’ll no longer test their games on Microsoft’s old OS. For players who can’t—or don’t want to—upgrade their hardware, there’s a fallback: you can roll back to an earlier version of the game. It’s a compromise that keeps everyone in the game, even if it means missing out on future technical upgrades.
While Songs of the Past is taking shape at Fool’s Theory, CD Projekt Red hasn’t hit pause on The Witcher 4—499 developers are currently working on the next chapter of the saga. Today’s REDstreams should finally shed some light on the expansion, and the end of summer promises a flood of new info for Witcher fans.
PC, PlayStation 5, The Witcher, Xbox Series X|S
